Hello everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. In this post, I will be doing a wrap up of all the books I read in July. These reviews have spoilers:
1. The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell
This month I continued on with Bernard Cornwell’s The Saxon Stories with the second installment of this series. In this book, Uthred loses King Alfred’s favor after the battle of Cynuit and decides to go Viking by raiding Cornwalum, where he meets the shadow queen Iseult and takes her as his lover. Upon his return to Wessex, however, Alfred condemns Uthred to death for having waged war against a kingdom that his country is in peace with, but the Vikings invade Wessex before his sentence is completed (quite conveniently, for it saves his life) and Uthred finds himself saving the king’s life in the marshes instead. He is Alfred’s man again and Uthred helps the king take back his kingdom with the Saxon victory at Ethandun.
A lot of things happen in this book, and the characters’ fates change drastically from one chapter to another. Like the first book, this second installment is fast-paced and Uthred’s personal indecision between fighting for Wessex and the Saxons but wanting to fight for the Danes; between having been born a Saxon but having been raised as a Dane, continues. In this book, Alfred also takes center stage and he and Uthred are the personifications of not just the ongoing war for land between the Saxons and the Vikings but of Christianity and Paganism, and no matter how many battles Uthred wins for Alfred in the first war, he is inevitably losing the second. This second war is not one that he is fighting for Alfred, but against Alfred. I Really Liked this book and will most likely read it again in the future.
2. The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
This book is about a young slave, Hiram Walker, who has his mother’s power of the water dancers, a gift that saves his life when he almost drowns in a river. And this new chance at life makes him want to live that life as a free man, so he devises a plan to escape from his home and the bonds that it imposes on him to become such a free man. Years later, however, he goes back to Virginia wanting to free his family as well.
This book was nominated for both the Locus Award for Best First Novel and the Audie Award for Literary Fiction & Classics, which it won in 2020; in addition, it was also a nominee for the Goodreads Choice Award for both Historical Fiction and Debut Novel. Praised as a book with both lyrical prose and a touch of magic realism, it is a very popular novel. Unfortunately, it was not my cup of tea. Though said to be lyrical and poetic, I found that at times the writing was a bit cumbersome and convoluted with some sentences making up entire paragraphs, and at others, the parts describing Hiram’s power of photographic memory—the parts infused with magic realism—seemed out of place within the story. And the story itself fell short of what I was expecting despite the fact that the author does not shy away from the harsh realities of slavery. I gave this book an I Did Not Like It rating.
3. The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
This book was a surprising read for me this month, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I had expected. However, there were things about it that confused me a little. For example, I never realized that the main character of this book is an orc. Had the author mentioned that once, I would have realized more easily why the people in this world have tusks. Maybe it was a me thing, and I just didn’t get it when it was explained and it slipped me by, I don’t know. But it was a little confusing there for a bit.
Csorwe, the sacrificial bride of the Unspoken God, is about to meet her intended and die. However, a mysterious mage appears at the shrine where she is living at, and he offers her a way to escape her fate and live. So she escapes and becomes his most trusted sword and assassin. By reading the synopsis, I thought that this was going to be a book about how Csorwe becomes that assassin. A story of her training, but no; by the end of the first part of the book, she already knows how to fight and kill. Okay. Also, I had no idea where the story was going. Like I said, at first I thought it was going to be a story about Csorwe’s training. No. Then I thought it was going to be a quest to recover the Reliquary of Pentravasse. Yes and no. But then it becomes a quest to save Shuthmili. Looking at the plot as a whole, it makes sense. Csorwe changes, and she realizes that the person whom she thought deserved her loyalty for having saved her life isn’t who he seems, and she starts fighting for what she believes in, and for the one person that does deserve that trust and loyalty. However, at times it felt like we were going from here to there, and that the plot had no coherence. In the end, I liked how the author wrapped the book up though.
The best thing about this book? The gods and their powers. The thing that needs more work on? The world-building; for example, there is no explanation on how the gates and portals to other worlds actually work. Explaining that the people in this world are orcs, like I said earlier, might also help. For the longest time, I didn’t understand why they had tusks.
Finally, the characters are all fleshed out and well-done. However, the one that takes the Best Character prize in my opinion is Tal. He is just the worst possible person ever; you’d think I would not have liked him, but he is very well-written. I gave this book an I Liked It And Will Probably Read It Again rating.
4. The Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell
This book is the third installment of The Saxon Stories by this author, and it relates how Uthred goes back to Northumbria after the Battle of Ethandun to both kill Kjartan and Sven and rescue Thyra. However, fate decreed that he meet a slave destined to become the King of Northumbria first and Uthred becomes his man and friend. Guthred, the slave king, however, betrays Uthred and sells him into slavery in exchange for 200 swords from Bebbanburg and Aelfric. Uthred’s Danish brother, Ragnar the Younger, a hostage in Wessex after the defeat of the Vikings at Ethandun, learns of Uthred’s fate and sets out to look for him on Alfred’s behest. Once he recovers Uthred, Alfred sets Ragnar free and demands Uthred’s oath once again. And then sends him north to defeat Ivar and Kjartan, the two most powerful Danish lords there.
In this third installment of The Saxon Stories new characters are introduced; for example, Finan, Sithric, Rypere, and Clapa, all of whom become Uthred’s oath-men, and we finally see Uthred and Ragnar avenge their family’s death. This book focuses more on Uthred’s story and resolves one of two grievances done to him by his enemies in Northumbria. Alfred’s appearances in this book are minor, but he is there to make Uthred swear to him again for he knows that Wessex won’t survive without him. And thus begins Alfred’s own personal war: He is fighting for his God and country, but his sword is Pagan, and he does not trust it. That is why Uthred and Alfred are almost always at odds with each other. They hate each other but they need each other to survive. This book is also a re-read for me, and a New Favorite.
5. Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell
Sword Song is the fourth installment of The Saxon Series, and it relates the Battle of London between Alfred of Wessex and the brothers Sigfried and Erik, two Norsemen who are discontent with Alfred and Guthrum’s peace and want to conquer Wessex on their own. To do this, they attempt to turn Uthred against Alfred by offering him the crown of Mercia. Uthred, though tempted, for he bears no love for Alfred, however, finds himself reinforcing his oath to Alfred by giving his oath both to Father Pyrlig, one of Alfred’s priests (and one of the best characters of this series), and to Alfred’s daughter, Aethelflaed.
Alfred tasks Uthred to take London as a marriage gift to Aethelred, Uthred’s cousin from his mother’s side, and Aethelflaed’s new husband. Uthred takes the city, but the Norsemen are far from defeated and they are regrouping in Beamfleot, where Sigfried and Erik have taken Aethelflaed as a hostage. Intending to become rich by ransoming her, things take an unexpected turn when Uthred, sent to Beamfleot to negotiate the ransom, realizes that Aethelflaed and Erik are in love, and they beseech him to help them escape. Obviously, things don’t turn out the way the lovers hope and both Sigfried and Erik are defeated whilst Aethelflaed is rescued and returned to Wessex.
In this book, Uthred is sworn to Alfred and rules the waters of the Temes. He is older and less hot-headed, but he still doesn’t like the king. He doesn’t like Aethelred either, but he loves Aethelflaed, and it is with her help that he takes London. But she is kidnapped in the aftermath of the battle. And he must now fight to get her back. The book ends with the battle of Bleamfleot, and by now we are starting to see a pattern, kind of a formulaic pattern, in Cornwell’s books that ends in a big battle—Cynuit, Ethandon, Dunholm, and Bleamfleot, respectively—and it is here that I started getting tired of these books before, after trying to binge read all of them. However, I thought that this fourth installment was really good this time, and it has become a New Favorite for me as well. I particularly liked the narrator of the audiobook format of this novel.
6. The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell
This is the fifth installment of The Saxon Stories, and Uthred, Alfred’s man, once again defeats the Danes, this time at Fearnhamme, only to fall out of favor with the king when he inadvertently kills a priest and is banished from Wessex. In this book, there is a new antagonist, Harald Bloodhair, who is crippled at Fearnhamme and retreats to Torneie. His woman, Skade, abandons him and she becomes Uthred’s lover. Later, she leaves him and becomes Haesten’s woman. Uthred, for his part, goes Viking and travels to the Frisian Islands in search of gold. He returns to Britain and goes to Dunholm, where his brother, Ragnar, receives him and together they come up with a plan to conquer Wessex. Until Father Pyrlig, once again, reminds Uthred of his oath to Aethelflaed and she summons him to protect her from her husband, who wants to divorce her.
In this book, Uthred is conflicted between fulfilling his promise to Ragnar of leaving Alfred and joining him to conquer Wessex and fighting against Alfred and killing the people he has known and grown to love, chief among them are his children by Gisela, Father Beocca and Aethelflaed. He may no longer be Alfred’s man, but he is still sworn to Aethelfaed, and Father Pyrlig comes to Dunholm to remind him of that. So Uthred leaves, no matter how much he loathes to break his promise to Ragnar. He leaves because he knows that Uthred Ragnarson can never be Uthred of Bebbanburg. He will never be Ragnar’s equal. In this book, Uthred’s war with himself between being a Saxon or a Dane comes to an end, and by the end of the book he is firmly allied to Aethelflaed.
I Really Liked this book, but I’ll admit that it was a little bit harder for me to finish this one. For starters, I did not like the narrator of the audiobook format and that deterred my overall enjoyment of the book. And second, I did not like Skade. I know that as a villain we’re probably not supposed to like her, but she isn’t even a good villain at that. And third, I did not like that Uthred takes her as a lover, so close after Gisela’s death. I just did not like her. This book also ends at Bleamfleot, and by the end of it Uthred has had three lovers. Skade, obviously, Aethelflaed, a relationship that we have been forewarned about in previous books, and Sigunn, a widowed Dane that he captured at the end of the second battle at Bleamfleot. Skade dies at the hands of her first lover, Harald Bloodhair, but before that she becomes Uthred’s lover and then Haesten’s. She and Uthred end up despising each other at the end of this installment, but by then Uthred has already slept with Aethelflaed. And though he loves her, he cannot marry her because of her royal blood (and because she is already married to Aethelred). So he takes Sigunn as his woman. The other thing that I thought was very poorly done was the end of Uthred and Ragnar’s relationship. There is no closure to it, and I was just expecting more to come out of it. After all, this is one of Uthred’s most important relationships in the entire series.
7. The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley
The book is the first book of The Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne, and it is told from the perspective of the three children—Kaden, Valyn, and Minister Adare—of the Emperor of the Annurian Throne. The Emperor is dead, and now someone is trying to kill his children. Kaden, the heir to the throne, has been sent to a remote monastery to prepare for his future role as the ruler of the Annurian Empire while Valyn, his brother, is training to become a legendary Kettral warrior. Adare, the eldest, remains in court and she is focused on discovering who killed her father. Particularly, I enjoyed all three points-of-view, but Valyn’s story was the most action-packed of all three of them. Kaden’s story is also interesting, and I liked that it helped me understand the world a little bit more as well as to have a better idea of where the plot was going. I did not like however the way women are depicted in this book, specifically Adare. Given that she is the only one of all three perspectives that remains at court, I thought that her point of view had a lot to show us in terms of political intrigue and the like but she is only given a meager five chapters out of 50 that comprise the entire book, and in those five chapters she is portrayed as someone who is easily deceived and manipulatable; she is the eldest of the siblings but she can never sit the Unhewn Throne (something that is repeated several times without explanation, and that annoyed me), as well as someone who is a terrible judge of character and makes poor decisions (like sleeping with the regent). Also, her position as Minister of the Finance isn’t really taken seriously on account of her being a woman; her only saving card is that she is the daughter of the dead Emperor, but were she not, she’d be no one. Nice. The other thing that I didn’t like about this book is all the cussing. It annoyed me to no end. I gave this book an I Liked It And Will Probably Read It Again rating.
8. The Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell
This is the sixth installment of The Saxon Series and Uthred is 45 years old now. He has lived more than most, and he will outlive Alfred as well. Alfred is dying and his enemies, both inside and outside his kingdom, are vying for the throne. So the king asks Uthred once again to protect his kingdom. To protect Edward and his dream of a united kingdom; of England. In this book, Uhtred finally makes his peace with Alfred and not only has to protect Wessex from the Northmen but also from those in Wessex trying to usurp the throne from Edward, Alfred’s heir, chief among them, Aethelwold, the dispossessed son and heir of Alfred’s brother and king, Aethelred. Cornwell’s been building up his storyline throughout the entire series thus far and finally concludes it in this book.
Haesten is still a threat, having survived both battles at Bleamfleot, and is now allied to Sigurd Thorrson. But the greatest threat is Cnut ‘Longsword’ Ranulfson, the new Danish lord in the island, and who is plotting to kill Uthred. I admit that this book is the one that I have had the hardest time to finish thus far. It is a time for peace, and warriors get bored during peace. However, Uthred knows that the Danes will break the peace and he suspects that they are trying to get him out of the way, so he sets up traps of his own; consequently, this book has a much slower pace than the others and it was hard for me to adjust to the difference. However, Cornwell is true to his form, and everything culminates in the Battle of Bedanford, where Aethelwold, allied with the Danes, makes his last stand. Also, I did not like the narrator of the audiobook format. I gave this book an I Liked It And Will Probably Read It Again rating.
That is everything for this month. Thank you for reading.
