“War Lord” by Bernard Cornwall
War Lord wraps up the story of Uhtred of Bebbanburg. But as much as I enjoyed it just as much as the previous books in the series, I would have liked something a little more climatic.
* Minor spoilers below*
Uhtred of Bebbanburg has returned to Northumbria. Yet beyond the walls of his impregnable fortress, a battle for power rages.
To the south, King Æthelstan has unified the three kingdoms of Wessex, Mercia and East Anglia – and now eyes a bigger prize. To the north, King Constantine and other Scottish and Irish leaders seek to extend their borders and expand their dominion. Threatened and bribed by all sides, Uhtred faces an impossible choice: stay out of the struggle, risking his freedom, or throw himself into the cauldron of war and the most terrible battle Britain has ever experienced.
I've been a fan of Cornwall's Saxon Chronicles since I picked up the first book on a whim at an airport.
I love a good historical novel, and Cornwall is a master of pulling out the narrative thread of history and crafting it into an engaging story. And the story of how the Kings of Wessex creating the country of England is so far in the past Cornwall has been free to make whatever creative decisions he felt were needed. To most of us, this world is so detached from ours these books almost feel more fantasy than historical.
When I saw this was the final book in the series, I was excited. This was it. The final battle. England would be forged, and Uhred's story would finally come to an end.
And was I satisfied?
Yes... with a but.
While War Lord is of equal quality to any of the previous books in the series, I felt it lacked the real sense of climax I'd been wanting.
What I wanted was something huge. I wanted Uhtred to have to face one final great challenge even he could not overcome. Something that perhaps in his youth he would have faced readily, but now, as an old man, he knows he's no longer strong enough to conquer. I wanted to see everything he had fought for over the series to be on the line, where even victory would be only marginally greater than failure.
And I just didn't feel that. For example - and here be very minor spoilers - no major characters died. I thought Uhtred dying would be on the table, but I was happy for this to fall either way. But I at least thought someone like Finan would fall someone to show that Uhtred was losing something. And as much as the climactic battle is set out as almost impossible to win, it didn't really feel that way to me.
So, overall, I liked this book. It was a fitting end to the series, wrapping up everything that needed it. But I was hoping for more impact that was unfortunately lacking.
