Death of Kings

Written by Bernard Cornwell

Narrated by Matt Bates

The master of historical fiction presents the iconic story of King Alfred and the making of a nation.

As the ninth century wanes, England appears about to be plunged into chaos once more. For the Viking-raised but Saxon-born warrior, Uhtred, whose life seems to shadow the making of England, this presents him with difficult choices.

King Alfred is dying and his passing threatens the island of Britain to renewed warfare. Alfred wants his son, Edward, to succeed him but there are other Saxon claimants to the throne as well as ambitious pagan Vikings to the north.

Uhtred‘s loyalty – and his vows – were to Alfred, not to his son, and despite his long years of service to Alfred, he is still not committed to the Saxon cause. His own desire is to reclaim his long lost lands and castle to the north. But the challenge to him, as the king’s warrior, is that he knows that he will either be the means of making Alfred’s dream of a united and Christian England come to pass or be responsible for condemning it to oblivion.

This novel is a dramatic story of the power of tribal commitment and the terrible difficulties of divided loyalties.

This is the making of England magnificently brought to life by the master of historical fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Sep 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9780008377311

Bernard Cornwell

Bernard Cornwell was born in London, raised in Essex and worked for the BBC for eleven years before meeting Judy, his American wife. Denied an American work permit he wrote a novel instead and has been writing ever since. He and Judy divide their time between Cape Cod and Charleston, South Carolina.

Reviews for Death of Kings

[bdtrump · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cornwell's Saxon Stories continues with Death of Kings, which discusses the death of Alfred the Great and the immediate aftermath of his vacancy. One of Cornwell's talents is to offer up conflicting feelings towards characters that make our protagonist's life more difficult, which is precisely the case here. Like Uhtred, Alfred is a complex and imperfect character, which is what makes them so interesting.

[greenefingers · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

i love this book! I'm surprised how much i enjoyed it as i am not particularly into 'warfare' but it was so well written it got my completely hooked and i'm very pleased to have discovered a new author for myself to get into! I know it isn't 100% historically accurate but the author does point this out.

[puckrobin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A dynamic tale that personalizes and brings into intimate focus the larger than life historical figures many of us grew up reading about. This installment in the series sees Ceasar's kidnap by pirates, the beginning of the crack that opens the way for betrayal between Julius Ceasar and Marcus Brutus and the battle with Spartacus. Accurate without having lofty pretentions, Iggulden focuses on the men and woman that shared and shaped Julius Ceasar as he moved towards becoming an Emperor and a legend. Given that the historical details are known and easily discovered, this is a wise choice to drive the novel - readers know they have no real need to worry about Ceasar's life when he's kidnapped, since this is historical fiction not speculative fiction. Although this may not be for the historical purists or those who idealize Ceasar as a paragon, it's an enoyable read, and both interesting and well paced.

[Titi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just beautiful... I haven't watched my tv in a while

[tomwheaton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book continues the story of Julius Ceasar & Brutus and their adventures in & around Rome. I enjoyed this book as much as the first and had no trouble picking up the story line and characters from the 1st book. I look forward to finishing the saga in the last 2 books of the Emperor series.

[lorelorn_2007 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The second book of Conn Iggulden's series on Caesar is better than the first. In this book we see more of Caesar's leadership abilities, and his ambition. Iggulden has succeeded in wrapping a compelling tale around th elife of Caesar as we know it.As with the first book, an author's note at the end of the book mentions any changes he has made for the sake of the story.

[kukulaj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The grand fun continues! Now Uhtred is now an old man, and he has a huge alliance against him and now, with Alfred dead, his support is very faltering. His enemies set a huge trap for him. He figures it out at the last minute, and takes a huge courageous risk to come out victorious, with the reinforcements arriving just in the nick of time. Yeah, it's a bit of a formula, but done with style and skill... another page turner!

[Jenny Taylor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Perhaps the narrators should get pronunciation instructions from the author, as should the TV show producers and actors, that's the only canon I care about!! Otherwise I'm loving the story!!

[creighley_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As the ninth century wanes, England is perched once more on the brink of chaos. KIng Alfred is dying; with his passing, the island of Britain. Seems doomed to renewed warfare. Alfred wants his son Edward to succeed him, but there are other claimants to the throne-as well as other ambitious pagan Vikings to the north. Uhtred’s loyalty is toAlfred, not Edward. His desire is to reclaim his ancestral lands from his uncle.

[rodweston · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cornwell's Saxon series is incredible. A real job to read.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Uhtred saves England, well, Wessex again. Alfred dies, and his son Edward "The Elder" gains the throne. there are several bloody episodes and the sulky reluctant saxon, Uhtred makes everything right in the end. The major villains survive, so we'll be ready for the next chapter.

[philsyphe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This sixth instalment of the Saxon Stories is set from 898-902, covering the latter days of Alfred the Great and the early period of his son Edward’s reign as King of Wessex.As usual, the tale is narrated by the anti-hero of the piece, Lord Uhtred, a Saxon warrior now in his forties. His age makes no difference to his fighting prowess and his reputation as a great warlord continues to grow. Uhtred is a pagan but is also good friends with several Christian priests. His conversation with them is often amusing, as are his confrontations with priests whom he doesn’t get along so well with. This story features the most entertaining priest to date, namely Cuthbert.Uhtred is, in my opinion, Bernard Cornwell’s best character creation. The author’s depictions of battle scenes are vivid and believable in all his works, but more so in the Saxon tales because Uhtred’s personality helps the reader – this one at least – to feel part of this charismatic warlord’s fights. Confrontation of all varieties, be it physical or verbal, is expertly portrayed. The plot here compared to the earlier novels in the series differs somewhat, partly through Alfred being less involved, and partly because the amount of time focusing on battles is reduced. The first book, for instance, felt like one long continuous battle, but here the Saxon characters spend most of their time waiting for an attack that never seems to come.That’s not to say narrative is slow-paced through a lack of action. In fact, I felt the story moved at a fast pace, featuring much more humour than usual. When the main battle finally does take place it seems to be over too quickly, ending rather abruptly as the book does on the whole, which disappointed me a little. On the plus side, the long build-up creates suspense, resulting in said main battle being very exciting. The thing that, in my view, prevents Mr Cornwell from being an even better writer than he is already is his dialogue attribution. The actual dialogue is excellent, but for 90+ per cent of the time he interrupts the flow by needlessly reminding the reader who’s speaking, more often than not inserting this pointless information – pointless because it’s obvious who’s speaking – in the middle of sentences.Mr Cornwell maybe doesn’t realise that the strength of his characters make it clear to the reader who’s talking, just as he fails to grasp how irritating is to have his well-written dialogue swamped with superfluous attribution. I also dislike his elements of English style in the most part, especially his overuse of the word “then” – arguably the laziest choice for moving a story forward – and the amount of long-winded sentences he uses. Some of his books are worse than others for these annoying traits. I feel these Saxon stories are least affected by poor style, though maybe that’s owing to them being his strongest works (in my view), thus I don’t notice the weak elements so much.Anyway, Mr Cornwell’s done a good job with the story here. I also liked his author’s note at the end, as the “genesis” of England through to the conquest doesn’t get much attention in popular culture, any more than it did during my school years.

[jblumberg-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bernard Cornwell is one of my favorite authors. This book has excellent pace while still being able to develop the characters and their struggles in a way that drags me in.

[ragwaine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Utred is back and this time he means business. Sorry I was talking about the summer blockbuster. Even though it was more of the same I felt this one was better than the last couple books in this series. Cornwell is a master of coming up with cool tricks that Utred can use to outsmart his enemies, very similar to things they did in the movie Braveheart. He always adds in something "mystical" that your 95% sure is just bunk but that 5% adds something to the stories. He did it a lot more in the Warlord Trilogy but it's still present in these books.After reading so many books with these characters they almost seem like old friends. That said, I really do think he should end the series soon. Utred is getting old and he still hasn't achieved his ultimate goal.

[speesh-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm going to have to stick my neck out and say this (number six) is the best of the series so far. Certainly the most enjoyable one for me.

There's no doubt about it, 'Death Of Kings' is much more sure, more direct, more honest and more perceptive than most of Cornwall's competitors out there. A really satisfying, considered and poignant exploration of the main character of Uhtred and origins of what we now think of as 'England'.

I don't know about anyone else, but Alfred The Great was always an irritation and I'm glad he dies in this one. Now, Uhtred the Saxon raised as a Viking, can really come into his own and shine. And shine he does - and he needs to, as after Alfred's death there are no shortage of Britons and Danes wanting to take advantage and take the country for their own. But then if you're reading this one, you've probably read the previous ones and/or have a reasonably good idea of the real history that lies behind the story and you know all that.

Uhtred really wants to go north and try to reclaim his ancestral home in Norhumberland, but his loyalty is torn and that mission must wait for another time. Now, he has to cut through the crap being scattered about by various usurpers and claimants to the throne of a land that is still struggling to come together.

Can't recommend 'Death Of Kings' highly enough and while half of me thinks a couple more battles wouldn't have gone amis, the other half of me finds myself thinking that this is a story of history of such grand stature that it doesn't need them.

[john257hopper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the sixth novel in the Warrior Chronicles series featuring Uhtred of Bebbanburg. This is the novel where Alfred the Great dies and his son Edward (called the Elder) succeeds, but is rivalled by his cousin Ethelwold, son of Alfred's elder brother, King Ethelred. This gives an interesting historical dimension to the proceedings, but otherwise it is the usual killing and mayhem throughout. With every passing book in this series, I wonder why I carry on reading, as they feel very samey - yet at least one further novel is about to appear, and I am sure I will read it in due course.

[jamespurcell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another excellent book in a great series. Cornwell's ability to take a brief skein of history and to turn into a compelling story keeps him at the very forefront of the current author's of historical fiction.

[jeffv_19 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The year is 899, and Alfred the Great is on his deathbed. His favorite Danish-raised pit bull, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, is summoned to appear before the dying king. A broke lord who is the continued target of assassination attempts, Uhtred knows he will be asked to swear fealty to Alfred's son Edward, and help keep the kingdom of Wessex together in what promises to be a round of internal strife and opportunistic attacks by the Danes. While Uhtred still dreams of reclaiming his birthright of Bebbanburg castle (Bamburg), he has resigned himself to the fact he'll never have the men to do so until Alfred's vision of a united England is realized. Alfred grants Uhtred a wealthy estate, and in return, he pledges himself to Edward,Uhtred expected the Danes to attack immediately. Alfred's brother's son laid a claim to kingship, but was run into exile. The King of East Anglia (a Danish stronghold), is allied with other strong Danish Jarls and they amass a large army, the largest single army yet. However, the army suffers from too many leaders, and while they wreak local havoc, they accomplish little when they finally invade 3 years later.Edward is faring no better...trusting in the advice of priests over that of his warriors. When an opportunity to trap the invading army falls by the wayside as Uhtred is summoned to Edward's court in London, the plan becomes to wait them out then pursue. Edward cites waiting for reinforcements from Kent as the reason for this delay. As the climatic battle approaches, Uhtred struggles to make sense of everything that has been happening. Nothing seems quite right. Finally, he has an ah-ha moment where he sees everything in perfect clarity. He could still be wrong and if so, will be condemned. Uhtred is now 45 years old. We know Edward rules for 25 years, and his son, Aethelstan, was the first to become king of all of England. War injuries are building up...Uhtred can't be top warrior for much longer. But I'm sure Cornwell will continue giving us entertaining tails...I wonder if Bebbanburg will ever be his?

[thegeneral_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I did enjoy reading Cornwell's "The Burning Land" I preferred “Death of Kings” as there was a great deal of political and religious intrigue throughout the book which appealed to me despite less emphasis on military conflict. Again Cornwell demonstrated an excellent knowledge of the subject matter of the time in which he was setting his book as is typical of his other works. I would be content to read other works in the Saxon Chronicles but, if I can be allowed a gripe or two as I own all bar two of Cornwell's works, I still would like it to reach a definitive conclusion soon so as to reduce the similarities between Uthred and Derfel Cadarn, from the Warlord Chronicles, my favourite series, who deserves to be a stand-alone figure in his own right. Finally I think it is overdue for Nathaniel Starbuck to march again given that Sharpe is essentially retired.

[fantastix · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Sixth book in the series brings Alfred closer to his goal to unite England and Lord Uthered is in the middle. Like the other 5 books this is a very easy read and fast-paced book that is an enjoy to read. The fiction is melted into the historical facts so well that you really believe it could have happened this way. The more you read the mover you learn about the characters and their goals and the more you believe them.These books are made to read under a blanket on a rainy Sunday.

[oliver6kaye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The further adventures of Utred in the Saxon saga. I wanted to read it in one go. Brilliant and I hope the next installment is soon.