If you have the (debatable) privilege of knowing me on a personal level, you are well aware of my fascination and appreciation for all things Viking. I can thank my sister and her educational background in history for prompting my interest in this facet of history, because she is the one who told me to watch Vikings, which I have rewatched about eight times now.
Another show I am obsessed with that deals with Vikings, although in the show they are referred to as Danes, is The Last Kingdom on Netflix. I knew The Last Kingdom television series was based on Bernard Cornwell’s novel of the same title, and I’ve been wanting to read it for a while. I finally got around to doing so, and because I am enjoying the book so thoroughly, I wanted to address it in a blog post.
Here is a description of the book from goodreads.com:
“This is the story of the making of England in the 9th and 10th centuries, the years in which King Alfred the Great, his son and grandson defeated the Danish Vikings who had invaded and occupied three of England’s four kingdoms.
“The story is seen through the eyes of Uhtred, a dispossessed nobleman, who is captured as a child by the Danes and then raised by them so that, by the time the Northmen begin their assault on Wessex (Alfred’s kingdom and the last territory in English hands) Uhtred almost thinks of himself as a Dane. He certainly has no love for Alfred, whom he considers a pious weakling and no match for Viking savagery, yet when Alfred unexpectedly defeats the Danes and the Danes themselves turn on Uhtred, he is finally forced to choose sides. By now he is a young man, in love, trained to fight and ready to take his place in the dreaded shield wall. Above all, though, he wishes to recover his father’s land, the enchanting fort of Bebbanburg by the wild northern sea.
“This thrilling adventure—based on existing records of Bernard Cornwell’s ancestors—depicts a time when law and order were ripped violently apart by a pagan assault on Christian England, an assault that came very close to destroying England,” the web page states.
The book is absolutely a read, and not a rid. It is excellent.
Photo by Jeffrey Zhang on Unsplash
