Customer Reviews

The Pale Horseman (The Saxon Chronicles Series #2)

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This novel is the sequel to THE LAST KINGDOM and it continues the exciting tale of Uhtred and King Alfred (better known as Alfred the Great). Uhtred and King Alfred's relationship is still tenuous at best, however, Uhtred is has formed respect for this resilient king. Uhtred is still divided between his allegiance to King Alfred and his Danish foster-brother, Ragnar.

He knows that in the great battle that is to come he must choose between them. Uhtred is ultimately unhappy with the wife and farm he is given by Alfred as there is a great debt attached to it. He's bored and misses his raiding days. He eventually embarks on a raid with his former shipmates (under King Alfred) and disguises his ship as a Danish/Viking raider. His raiding adventures bring him to the Shadow Queen; Iseult who leaves with him after her husband's kingdom is destroyed.

The adventures continue and you can feel Uhtred frustrations with both King Alfred and his former allies. This second installment was even better than the first and I look forward to the next with great anticipation!

Uhtred is back with a vengeance in this continuation of Cornwell's treatment of the reign of Alfred the Great. Born a Northumbrian ealdorman, but raised by the Danes who captured him, Uhtred is a man with mixed loyalties. He loves and respects the pagan Danes, and dislikes the Christian Saxons, but is drawn to those who speak his language and share his heritage.

Uhtred is a typical Cornwell hero--brash, proud, and sometimes unthinking. However, he does manage to be a sympathetic character, and we admire his courage and loyalty. Cornwell exercises his fascination with ancient feminine magic by introducing Iseult, a Briton "shadow queen" with whom Uhtred promptly becomes infatuated.

It is Alfred's struggle with the Danes that drives this story, however. Will he manage to pluck victory from the jaws of defeat? You will find out after one of Cornwell's famous battle descriptions, and will be waiting impatiently for the next volume in this series.

In this second novel of what I have independently dubbed (and forgive a fan's presumption, Mr. Cornwell) the 'Uhtred Series'; the hard fighting, hard drinking and hard wenching hero, is for my money probably the best historical portrait I've ever seen.
In THE LAST KINGDOM, where we are introduced to Uhtred as a young boy, the ending of the book as he grows to a young man, just leaves you wanting more. Happily for all lovers of real history mixed with compelling characters, Bernard Cornwell has obliged.
As a writer and former history teacher, I am so in awe of the way in which he has taken a character out of the 'dark ages' of warring Saxons and Danes and brought him to vivid life. Especially since it would have been so easy to turn this sword wielding protagonist into a cartoon 'Conan the Barbarian' type hero. Mr Cornwell doesn't let that happen. Uhtred lops off heads where needed, steals when it's expedient and romps with abandon even though it inevitably leads to tragic consequences.
I've read the majority of Bernard Cornwell's work and while the history and charaters are always first rate, I can say without reservation, that The Last Kingdom and Pale Horseman, are his best yet.
Write quickly Mr. Cornwell - I can't wait for the next!

Bernard Cornwell, perhaps our best writer of the historical adventure novel today, again scores high with the second book in his Saxon Stories. I'm a devoted follower of Cornwell, and in my opinion, these books rank with the better Sharpe stories and exceed The Heretic.

The Pale Horseman tells the historical story of the 9th-century Danish (Norse or 'Viking') invasion and Alfred's struggle for the survival of Wessex and his idea of a united England. The Danes have already defeated Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia. Then the Danes broke the truce and Alfred's kingdom shrunk to an area of vast swamps and tidal flats known as the Somerset Levels.

With the help of our fictional warrior, Uhtred, a man caught between loyalty and desire, Alfred rallies the fyrd - a people's army of sorts - to the great battle of Ethandun in 878 CE.

Alfred's victory saved Wessex and indeed the possibility of "England" - a Danish victory and perhaps that island would be called Daneland (although had the Danes never invaded Alfred would never have had the opportunity to unite the disparate Saxon kingdoms). In any event, much remains to be done. Alas, we must await Cornwell's third installment, The Lords of the North due out in the US in January 2007.

Highly recommended for fans of Cornwell or anyone who enjoys historical adventure stories. The battle descriptions put the reader right in the clash of steel, the chanting, the roaring insults, banging of shields, blood, earthy human odors, the bloodlust, the horrible injuries and brutal deaths.

I had to think a long while before giving this book only 4 stars. However, this continuation of the story of Uhtred and Alfred the Great started painfully slow for me. The author provided A LOT of background information from the first book and while it was a nice refresher before picking up the story, it seemed as if he repeated himself far too often in regard to Uhtred's dislike of Alfred. It almost felt as if the author didn't know where to go with the story and so was almost "thinking out loud" yet filling pages in the process while the story lagged. I expressed my dislike of the book's opening to an author friend who encouraged me to press on saying the book picked up well in the middle. He was correct -by the middle of the book, the story was moving and the "cliff hangers" at the end of each chapter left me salavating for more of the story. I really loved the book - after about the first 90 pages or so. Excitement reigned supreme and I could not turn the pages fast enough! I closed the book hungry for more and eagerly anticpate the 3rd in the series! Cornwell spins an amazing tale when he gets going - his characters are vivid and interesting. His stories are gripping and addictive. I highly recommend this book but have to encourage lovers of The Last Kingdom not to be discouraged at the slow start in The Pale Horseman.

"The Pale Horseman," by Bernard Cornwell, continues Cornwell's "Saxon Stories" trilogy that began with "The Last Kingdom." Cornwell's title to the trilogy is probably more accurate than the popular description of these books as "Cornwell's story of Alfred the Great."

It's true that Cornwell has chosen as the backbone of his story Alfred's defeat of the Danes (aka "Vikings," but Cornwell properly pointed out in "TLK" that "viking" is a verb) against seemingly impossible odds. Alfred is an important player in the books as the King of Wessex, the last of the four kingdoms of England that have not been conquered by the Danes.

But this is not a story primarily about Alfred -- those looking for a hagiography of England's only officially "Great" king will be disappointed. "The Pale Horseman" is primarily the story of Uthred, a Saxon of Northumbria, who was raised by Danes, admires and loves them, but now finds himself fighting them alongside Alfred and the Saxons.

Uthred and Alfred make for a jarring comparison, with Alfred generally getting the shorter end of the stick from Mr. Cornwell. Uthred is a fun character while Alfred is often disappointing. Uthred is a lusty pagan whereas Alfred is a pious Christian (to be fair, Cornwell makes clear that in his youth, Alfred did his fair share of wenching). Uthred is a mighty warrior, whereas Alfred is sickly and thin. Uthred knows that the Danes must be beaten with the sword, while Alfred is quick to offer Christian charity to his vanquished foes -- often to have those same foes rise up against him again. Uthred has faith in his pagan gods (who seem to be able to pull off a miracle or two every now and then), while Alfred doggedly follows the Christian god and his leech-like, ineffective priests. Uthred is a true warrior, Alfred is a poor politician.

And so it goes. What saves "The Pale Horseman" from being a second-tier book is Cornwell's mastery of the details of the period. Short of a time machine, Cornwell's "Saxon Stories" are as good as it gets as far as tossing the reader into the harsh Wessex countryside -- this is a land of rough hills, dense swamps, bitter cold, numbing rain, and occasional splendour. Cornwell captures all of this with his trademark economy, and eventually you feel like you're walking and talking with Uthred and his comrades rather than reading about them.

I have to say that "The Pale Horseman" is not my favorite Bernard Cornwell book. I don't think it rises to the heights he has attained with his other novels, and I think that may be more me than Cornwell. Cornwell's Alfred is an interesting character, but I grow impatient with him. The thesis of the books so far is that if Uthred hadn't been around, Alfred would never have amounted to much. At some point, Cornwell's going to have to show some of Alfred's mettle -- so far, Alfred has been Cornwell's most frustrating character since his take on Lancelot in the "Warlord" trilogy.

And for some odd reason, the battle scenes in "Horseman" feel a bit truncated compared to Cornwell's other works. Nobody writes a better real-world battle scene than Cornwell, and while "Horseman" builds and builds and builds to a climactic battle, it doesn't quite deliver the goods in the way that so many other Cornwell battle scenes do. Hmm. Maybe he's just spoiled me over the years.

As an aside, Cornwell takes an interesting step here and ever-so-slightly connects two trilogies. In Uthred's time, King Arthur is cherished by the Saxons as a warrior-king. Yet Uthred observes that Arthur was King of the Britons, and he fought the Saxons (the "Sais") -- in battles that Cornwell described so vividly in his earlier trilogy. Uthred wonders, if Arthur came back, as so many Saxons pray, wouldn't he just fight the Saxons, too, as well as the Danes? These are the kinds of unexpected thoughts that Uthred has that make him so much fun.

Again, this is not Cornwell's best novel. But he's written about fifty excellent books so far, so we can't expect him to keep topping himself. If you're a fan of Cornwell's works, check this one out. If you haven't read Cornwell yet, I'd recommend starting with Richard Sharpe, or the "Warlord" trilogy, or "Stonehenge," or the "Grail Quest" trilogy, or "Redcoat," or . . .

Bernard Cornwell is the master of historical fiction. I didn't think he could write a better series of books than his Arthurian trilogy, but "The Pale Horseman" puts this series slightly ahead. I have actually laughed out loud and jumped up in triumph while reading this book. "The Pale Horseman" is in a very tight race with "Shogun" as my favorite novel. Well done, Mr. Cornwell.

As Cornwell points out in the his section on historical facts for the book, there was a point where "England" consisted of a few square miles in southwestern England. Just how close the country came to being "Daneland" and the language being Danish and not English is something few people know. This book tells that story, and the story of how the West Saxons (let's not call them the "English" just yet) managed to hold off the Danes and return to win a decisive battle to secure the country long enough to regroup.

Many other reviewers have spoken about the main character Uhtred. It's in this book where he makes the transition from being brash, irresponsible, and somewhat disagreeable to one of the more fascinating characters around. He can be obnoxious, impulsive, and even murderous. He also can be fiercely loyal to his beliefs and even to a king he intensely dislikes.

What I'd like to capture in my review is Cornwell's skill with descriptive writing. Many people have spoken of how well he depicts the carnage and terror of a early medieval shieldwall, and they're right. But it's in the non-battle scenes where Cornwell really shines. Most notably, the way he talks about a trip in a longship around Land's End and the fear that Uhtred and the men feel about the great nothingness in the open ocean. Other examples would be the descriptions of how a sword is made (admittedly, from the first book), or of how they prepare for battle.

The book is an easy read (and I mean that as praise), and the end will leave you feeling drained, elated, and saddened.

Lastly, Cornwell also does an excellent job in his epilogue in explaining what is historical fact, what is reasonable conjecture, and what is essentially pure fiction in his writing. Not many writers do that.

I'm an avid reader. I read everything from history to technical and self-help to autobiographies and adventure books and fiction, everything from thrillers to sci-fi.
The Pale horseman (and the Last Kingdom) ranks among the most entertaining of my reads. It is totally gripping, engulfing you in Uthreds world that at times you can so vividly feel your self in his shoes that it is almost frightening. The historical background further adds to the entertaining value. It makes you wonder that maybe there existed a man or men like Uthred in that era? The storytelling aspect is also very fit for this tale. With Uthred's 1st person account of events, telling the story presumably in old age. He lays judgement on his actions or inactions and his companions. Also, he sometimes implies in advance when something unexpected is about to happen, further incresing the tension. Since I'm an icelander and having studied icelandic and nordic history, including the Viking-era, I can vouch for the "authenticity" relating to viking life, customs and religion. And with icelandic being the language that most resembles the old nordic languages, more than a few old danish words in the books sound familiar.
I can't wait to begin reading Lords of the north.

The Pale Horseman

"I heard the enemy shields touching, saw Danes' wild eyes over the round rims, saw their glances as they gathered their strength. Then they shouted and came to kill us." Uthred is a West Saxon in the Viking times. Uthred takes a boat with his old friends and heads out to sea to try and get rich. But when he had come back, he had made many enemies so he tries to raise his own army. He is deciding with himself whether to fight alongside the Danes in the upcoming war but ends up fighting for King Alfred. This is book two I the series so there was no real ending it just left Uthred after the battle talking about his losses. I enjoyed reading this book because of Uthred's conflict with himself about who to fight for, his days at sea, and the epic battles.

When Uthred was young, he was captured by Danes and when they tried to kill him his foster brother convinced them not to. After the incident the Danes treated Uthred fairly and like one of them. When Uthred was released he could not claim lordship over his own land because his uncle had. Throughout the story Uthred promises himself he will claim his land one day but can't decide whether to fight the Danes.

Uthred spent days at sea in a ship disguised as Viking longboat. It was interesting because some of his crew would not kill priests because they were Christian themselves. It was fun to read how angry Uthred would get in mid combat because his crew would not kill other Christians.

The battle scenes were graphically described. There were intensely written battles and the author describes many different styles of combat. Uthred was not always loyal to who he fought. He actually allied with the Danes and slaughtered a British village and split the loot.

Overall this was a great book and I give it five stars for the battles the sea and Uthred's internal conflict. I cannot wait for the next book in the series