Warriors of the Storm: A Novel (Saxon Tales) (edition 2016)

Grumpy Uhtred of Bebbanburg once more tries to make people understand the wisdom of doing things his way. the survivors, anyway. This a quite bloody tale set in the gaps in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and good fun it is too. Uhtred tries to manage his unruly family, and in turn they try to support his efforts. There is an ugly picture of some of the grimmer aspects of Norse religion, and some education on the workings of the Norse and Saxon vassalage systems. As usual early British christianity gets some shade. and one of Uhtred's early love affairs concludes, along with the exit of a mid-range player of long standing.. ( )

This series has been so enjoyable, but the last book (before this one) was not my favorite. This one, however, was really well-done. Uhtred... my hero! ( )

(52) You know I just breeze right through these books and then I get to the end and realize it was exactly the same story as the last one, just with a different enemy. Oh well. Still entertaining. This one features his daughter and her Norseman husband, Sig-something or other. He has an evil brother who comes to take over Northumbria and raid Aethelflaed's land in Mercia. Well, big surprise. He loses. We also see a return of Uhtred's prodigal son the priest, his first love Brida, and an adoption of a 9 year old boy whose father Uhtred kills in battle - a very heavy-handed nod to Uhtred's early childhood.

I don't have much else to say really. Cornwall is a master story-teller - However, he just seems to tell the same one over and over. But the funny thing is -- I keep listening. . . ( )

This is the ninth book in the seemingly interminable Uhtred of Bebbanburg series. The historical backdrop to this book is the struggle by Ethelfleda, Lady of the Mercians (and daughter of Alfred the Great) to recapture North Mercian towns like Chester from the Danes. This was the usual course of attacks, sieges, bloodshed, betrayal and the set piece battle at the end. Having placed his son in law Sigtryggr on the throne of Northumbria, Uhtred is heading north to recapture his ancestral home, currently occupied by his cousin. That hook will keep me reading, I am sure, despite my periodic weariness with the bloodshed. ( )

A bloodbath of skull bashing and sword swinging and brutal, violent war. England's history is one of war and Bernard Cornwell paints it vividly in Warriors of the Storm, the ninth book in the accailmed series.

A Northman pirate king is driven out of the nearby shores of Ireland and seeks new land. He seeks to find it in Britain. But the Saxons of the growing kingdom of England will have none of it. Led by a famous and stalwart warrior of many adventures, a defiant and outnumbered army boldly defends their lands from the invaders. When our hero's daughter's life is threatened, a mad rescue attempt is made all the way on the shores of Ireland where she's beseiged by the Irish on one side and the pirate king's men on the other.

But our hero isn't just a valiant warrior, he's also intelligent. Recruiting former enemies, he marches a tiny force into the pirate king's back door in a brazen attempt to snatch the newly concquered kingdom out from the Northman's nose. But will they survive when the pirate king turns his forces back around to destroy his old enemy? Read to find out.

I think my favourite part of the novel just might be Mus, the whore. And how she escaped capture. And how she was later 'cheered'. I literally burst out laughing at that part.

The novel is a nice little work of historical fiction. It feels grey at times, like a storm brewing, and then explodes with furious action and death, like a storm raging. There's no colourful varnish, no romance in the way they kill each other. It's real, it's brutal, it's filled with blood. A tale of heroism and a window into how tragically cheap life can be. The setting and characters are excellently portrayed and it really does feel as if the reader is right there along for the gory, exciting ride. ( )