War of the Wolf (Saxon Tales)

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Thome de Viridi Campo, valleto regine, de dono regis in recompensacionem laboris quem sustenit circa facturem Lupus Guerre quem rex fieri ordinavit pro insultu castri de Stryvelyn, …, xl li. Uhtred learns that Edward has called a Witan at Tamweorthin, summoning Sigtryggr, but not him. He goes anyway. He sees Æthelhelm there too. Eadgifu, Edward's wife, tries subtly enlisting his support against their mutual enemy, Æthelhelm; later Æthelhelm tries to have him killed, but fails. Sigtryggr agrees to a treaty with Edward so that he can turn his full attention to avenging his wife. Then, Æthelstan swears an oath to never fight against Uhtred or invade Northumbria (if he becomes king of Wessex) while Uhtred lives; in exchange, he gets Uhtred to swear to try to kill Æthelhelm. Strong narrative, vigourous action and striking characterisation, Cornwell remains king of the territory he has staked out as his own' SUNDAY TIMES When disassembled, the weapon would fill 30 wagons in parts. [ citation needed] It reportedly took five master carpenters and forty-nine other labourers at least three months to complete. [3] But Leofstan was a gentle and kind man. Lord Osferth is troubled. He doesn’t think God loves him, poor man.” Mus, I thought, was a gentle and kind woman. I gave her the last two of my gold coins.

And paradoxically, of course, it’s not true --- it’s all fiction --- and it’s to Cornwell’s credit that readers believe Uhtred, at least while they are reading the book. Cornwell is universally regarded as the best current writer in English of battle scenes --- whether it’s Napoleonic-War rifle companies or Saxon shield-walls. Battle scenes are great things to have in novels because they have stakes --- there’s a winner and a loser, and you don’t need a crew of zebra-striped NFL referees huddled around a monitor to tell you which is which. There are real consequences to a battle won, and even more final consequences for a battle lost. Nevertheless, Uhtred is bound by his word, so once again, he must strap on Serpent’s Breath — his great killing sword — and fight England’s foes. For the Danes are threatening England again and they want Uhtred dead. Cornwell draws a fascinating picture of England as it might have been before anything like England existed’ THE TIMES Outside of the inconsequential scuffle at the start of the book, and the large set-piece battle at its end, there isn’t a great deal of martial action in WAR OF THE WOLF. What there is, unfortunately, is a good deal of palace intrigue. The good news here is that Uhtred has (seemingly) learned his lesson about making oaths to Saxon kings, but this doesn’t keep him out of politics. The unification of the English crown, over the long term, is going to require the conquest of Northumbria and the end of the uneasy accommodations that Christians and pagans have made in that community. Uhtred, as a thoroughgoing pagan, can only look at the rise of Christian England with disgust --- and has to endure the spectacle of his pagan son-in-law undergoing baptism to placate the Saxons.And if this is not enough to contend with, King Edward, the late King Alfred’s son and the now would be king of all England, is nearing his death. This situation has Edward’s family at each others throats and when the kingdom is indulging in a deal of blood letting who you gonna call? Uhtred of Bebbanburg of course. So the poor buggers got a lot on his plate. Cornwell was sent away to Monkton Combe School, attended the University of London, and after graduating, worked as a teacher. He attempted to enlist in the British armed services at least three times but was rejected on the grounds of myopia. Constant philosophical battle between paganism and Christianity that depicts given period precisely.

Uhtred finds himself more than once at the wrong place, and at the wrong time. This is what engenders his thoughts of being cursed by the gods (those being the Norse gods).

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Be that as it may but when a Norse chieftain gathers a formidable army with the intention of taking Bebbanburg and calling himself ‘King of Northumbria’ Uhtred is the first to gather his horse, shield and sword in preparation for war. Bernard Cornwell’s epic story of the making of England continues in this eleventh installment in the bestselling Saxon Tales series—"like Game of Thrones, but real" ( The Observer)—the basis of the hit Netflix television series The Last Kingdom. I have fought many battles. I have stood in shield walls and heard the sound of axes biting willow boards, I have heard men howling, heard them screaming, I have heard the butcher’s sound of blades cleaving flesh, the heart-wrenching sound of grown men weeping for heir mothers’ comfort. I have heard the grating breath of the dying and the lament of the living, and in all those fights I have fought for one thing above all others. To take and to keep Bebbanburg.” When a new Viking invader decides to set up his own kingdom in the lawless Western Northumbria, fate pulls Uhtred down a difficult new path of sorrow, pain, and renewed entanglements with Wessex. There are several surviving references to the War Wolf in some of the original parchment rolls of the accounts of King Edward. Two , in Latin read:

Uhtred’s quest is complicated, as always, by his sense of duty toward those he’s vowed to protect, and the various ways in which their culture and religion clash with his deeply instilled Danish values and warrior upbringing. Thus, Uhtred must resolve his personal struggle between his divided loyalties while fulfilling his burning quest to revenge himself upon Sköll. As a child, Cornwell loved the novels of C.S. Forester, chronicling the adventures of fictional British naval officer Horatio Hornblower during the Napoleonic Wars, and was surprised to find there were no such novels following Lord Wellington's campaign on land. Motivated by the need to support himself in the U.S. through writing, Cornwell decided to write such a series. He named his chief protagonist Richard Sharpe, a rifleman involved in most major battles of the Peninsular War. Then on the other hand, the contents of War of the Wolf are familiar, evocative and unfortunately somewhat stale. Northumbria is under threat. The kings of Wessex struggle to hold together Alfred's dream of England. New Vikings show up to ravage the land. The hero loses something important and requires vengeance. It is more of the same, and of course it's fun reading despite the advanced years of our protagonist, but it does not carry the same thrill as it once did. Christians like to dream of the perfect world, a place where there is no fighting, where sword-blades are hammered into plowshares, and where the lion, whatever that is, sleeps with the lamb. It is a dream. There has always been war and there will always be war. So long as one man wants another man’s wife, or another man’s land, or another man’s cattle, or another man’s silver, so long will there be war. And so long as one priest preaches that his god is the only god or the better god there will be war.”It has been no easy road to for Uhtred to achieve his life’s ambition and I have fought by his side from day one. My issue with the way Cornwell kill off his characters aside, War of the Wolf is one of the finest installment in the entire series. Uthred’s dialogues and interactions with other characters were engaging, and Cornwell’s battle scenes remain great as always. War, valor, faith, reputation, family, life, and death are key themes of the entire series, and War of the Wolf has some of the best presentations of it. I have only two books left to read now. I am both sad and happy that I’m so near the end. I hope the next and last two books, Sword of Kings and War Lord, will be even better than this. PDF / EPUB File Name: War_of_the_Wolf_-_Bernard_Cornwell.pdf, War_of_the_Wolf_-_Bernard_Cornwell.epub In each of the previous books, Uhtred comes up with a clever plan to overcome his adversaries. In this book, he does not conceive of a good plan, and his adversaries look overwhelmingly strong in a fortified position. So, the book cleverly held me in suspense. Will Uhtred come out of this battle alive? He cannot retreat--that would mean a slaughter. He cannot go forward; the unscalable walls have battle-hardened enemies on the ramparts. The ending--I won't spoil the ending here, I just want to emphasize that Bernard Cornwell really knows how to keep his readers in suspense. That the Easter meeting of the Witan was to be held at Tamweorthin was proof that the rebellion in Mercia was over.