Books › The Last Kingdom
The Last Kingdom
a novel
First published 2004 · 577 pages
A visceral, mud-and-blood-soaked plunge into the brutal clash of cultures and the heavy cost of divided loyalties.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a ninth-century shield wall—it is loud, terrifying, and utterly exhilarating. The narrative moves with a propulsive, relentless energy, driven by a protagonist whose cynical, pragmatic voice cuts through the romanticism of medieval history. You are plunged into a harsh, mud-spattered world where survival demands brutal choices and loyalties are constantly tested by the clash of two fiercely opposed cultures. The prose is muscular and unadorned, perfectly suited to the visceral descriptions of combat and the stark realities of a fractured land. It is a deeply immersive experience that will delight readers who want their historical fiction to be gritty, unapologetic, and steeped in the blood and smoke of a world at war.
- Mood
- mud-spattered
- blood-soaked
- harsh
- atmospheric
- Tone
- cynical
- pragmatic
- unapologetic
- reflective
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- divided loyalties · cultural collision · the weight of destiny · forging of identity · brutality of war
- The writing
- Muscular, direct, and visceral, the writing excels at plunging the reader into the chaotic, sensory terror of the shield wall.
- The arc
- A displaced youth navigates the violent clash of two cultures, ultimately forging a hardened, pragmatic identity in the fires of conflicting loyalties.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave gritty, battle-heavy historical fiction anchored by a morally ambiguous, fiercely independent protagonist.
Content notes
- graphic violence
- gore
- sexual violence
- slavery
- animal death
About the book
From Bernard Cornwell, the author whom the Washington Post calls "perhaps the greatest writer of historical adventure novels today," comes a saga of blood, rage, fidelity, and betrayal that brings to center stage King Alfred the Great, one of the most crucial (but oft-forgotten) figures in English history. It is King Alfred and his heirs who, in the ninth and tenth centuries, with their backs against the wall, fought to secure the survival of the last outpost of Anglo-Saxon culture by battling the ferocious Vikings, whose invading warriors had already captured and occupied three of England's four kingdoms.Bernard Cornwell's epic novel opens in A.D. 866. Uhtred, a boy of ten and the son of a nobleman, is captured in the same battle that leaves his father dead. His captor is the Earl Ragnar, a Danish chieftain, who raises the boy as his own, teaching him the Viking ways of war. As a young man expected to take part in raids and bloody massacres against the English, he grapples with divided loyalties -- between Ragnar, the warrior he loves like a father, and Alfred, whose piety and introspection leave him cold. It takes a terrible slaughter and the unexpected joys of marriage for Uhtred to discover his true allegiance -- and to rise to his greatest challenge.In Uhtred, Cornwell has created perhaps his richest and most complex protagonist, and through him, he has magnificently evoked an era steeped in dramatic pageantry and historical significance. For if King Alfred fails to defend his last kingdom, England will be overrun, and the entire course of history will change.
Description from Open Library.
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