The Flame Bearer

With The Flame Bearer Bernard Cornwell brings the tenth entry in his vivid Last Kingdom series (once known as the Saxon Chronicles). In it Lord Uhtred continues to focus his energy and his followers on retaking his ancestral home, the fortress at Bebbanburg. The action continues apace, with vivid, expertly done battle scenes, and theatrical set pieces where Uhtred holds center stage at court, adroitly turning the tables on ambitious nobles and venal churchmen. Yes, all the usual thrills are here for your delectation.

While the campaigns with their vivid 10th Century battles do not come as frequently as in other Last Kingdom novels, Flame Bearer makes up for it with its climax. Uhtred must lull his usurping cousin into a false sense of show more security (through use of strategically placed misinformation) while running a blockade set by a fierce Norseman. Throw into the mix a third enemy, no less than the feared army of Scotland, led by its King Constatin, and you have unusually long odds, even for Uhtred. Suffice it to say the final battle scene makes up for the occasional - and comparative - calm that precedes it. Excellent stuff.

This is an escape I savor every time a new Uhtred of Bebbanburg book comes out. Cornwell excels at this writing, and is widely admired for it. It isn’t just every series that is made into a Netflix series - I was deeply interested to start watching it, but with my schedule that’s all I could manage - just the start. I am glad and proud that others have noticed the quality of the thrills, plots, characters, and yes, the truth of these tomes. Cornwell puts into his hero’s mind and speech the consciousness of war’s horrors, the plain if covered-up truth of men’s fear on the eve of battle, the honest and frank description of shit, and blood, and guts, and screams, and stench of it all. If these are things to escape to, let Cornwell be your guide. I have no idea now how many more books he will bring out in this series. I feel like I’ve been on borrowed time for a couple of books now, anything else has been and will be a bonus.

Escape to 10th Century Britain. You couldn't find a finer time machine. show less

The quest for Bebbanberg continues as B Cornwell weaves once more; frail skeins of history into another engaging Saxon Tale. Peace in Britain during this period means that everyone is choosing sides to go to war. Uhtred has a plan which requires selecting allies from his many enemies and creating sufficient confusion that his meager army can divide, multiple and conquer. It is hard not to like a warlord who's directive, when all else fails is: " we will kill them". Cornwell is the consumate teller of stories in this venue.

(23) I have lost track of what number in the series this is. What is clear to me is that my interest is waning. In this one, the only Danish kingdom that is left to conquer is Northumbria, ruled by Uhtred's son-in-law. Will he possible fight against the Saxons this time? Or will he finally, at long last, pursue his dream of the conquest of Bebbanburg. His ancestral lands are now besieged by the Scots and his cousin may be aligned with King Edward. . . what is a blood-thirsty warrior to do?

The plot felt particularly formulaic this time - perhaps finally circa book number 10 or so, the magic failed to take hold. The writing was pedestrian and the storytelling fell a bit flat this time. I expected Uhtred's son to have a bit more character show more - there really is no other character but Uhtred in this one. I dunno, despite what should be really the climax of the series - I felt a bit bored.

I think there is maybe one more that has been published though I am not sure that it is a true ending. I still would love to watch another Netflix season, but overall, my interest has waned since King Alfred died. I am looking forward to some sort of wrap-up to the series. This one was almost a bit of a chore. show less

"The Flame Barer" didn’t match up to the excitement of the previous book in the Saxon series, nor with most of the others, but I still enjoyed thee past-paced narrative with its vivid imagery.

Uhtred is in my opinion Bernard Cornwell’s best character creation. I never tire of the scenes when some cocky youth fancies his chances in a duel, only for the “old man” to announce his identity, thus quashing any boldness from young challengers. In short, they pee themselves.

The author’s depictions of battle scenes are vivid and believable in all his works, but more so in the Saxon tales because Uhtred’s personality helps the reader – this one at least – to feel part of this charismatic warlord’s fights.

Any confrontation, be it show more physical or verbal, is expertly portrayed. The typical humour, especially Uhtred’s conversations with priests, is as entertaining as ever.

In my view, what prevents Mr Cornwell from being an even better writer than he is already, is his dialogue attribution. The actual dialogue is excellent, but for 90+ per cent of the time he interrupts the flow by needlessly reminding the reader who’s speaking, more often than not inserting this pointless information – pointless because it’s obvious who’s speaking – in the middle of sentences.

Mr Cornwell maybe doesn’t realise that the strength of his characters make it clear to the reader who’s talking, just as he fails to grasp how irritating it is to have his believable dialogue swamped with superfluous attribution, which sometimes includes unnecessary adverbs.

I dislike the author’s elements of English style in the most part, especially his overuse of the word “then” – arguably the laziest choice for moving a story forward – and the amount of long-winded sentences he uses. Some of his books are worse than others for these annoying traits.

He tends to overuse “and” too much as well, as though determined to make his sentences as long and clunky as possible. Like with using “then”, repeating “and” in this way changes Uhtred’s strong warrior voice to that of an excited child.

Anyway, style aside, Mr Cornwell’s done a good job with the story side of "The Flame Barer" show less

Time is as inexorable as fate, and we have come to Uhtred's last attempt on Bebbanburg. I shall not tell you how it goes except to say there is a tactical situation of byzantine complexity at the end of the book. Quite fun, as usual and Cornwell's historical note at the end is illuminating.

I found this book pacier and more entertaining than some of the recent editions in this series. I was glad that Uthred was focused on the Northumbrian situation chiefly. Is this the near end of the series?