The Pagan Lord
I just finished The Pagan Lord, Book 7 of the Saxon Tales (or the Saxon Chronicles, or The Last Kingdom series, or whatever the series name is on the version you have). I was reluctant to start it, because no matter how much I am fascinated by the Anglo-Saxons, I just felt like it would be another story with weird names and a shield wall and Uhtred calling someone a turd and then saving the day. Of course, I was right, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's usually what I love about The Last Kingdom. And so once I dug in, I was hooked, as per usual. Uhtred, of course, does save the day, and he does call a lot of people turds.
This one picks up ten years after the events in Death of Kings, during the uneasy peace following the great battle (at an undetermined location, somewhere in East Anglia) that closes that book. Edward is still king of Wessex, Alfred having died in Death of Kings, and Aethelred and Aethelflaed still maintain their separate courts in Mercia. Uhtred Ragnarson kills yet another priest, and is exiled from Mercia. He takes his small remaining band of men, and leads a raid against Bebbanburg, his ancestral home. He is drawn into the battle of Tettenhall (Teotanheale) against Cnut Ranulfson and Sigurd Thorrson (note: the author acknowledges that the battle at Tettenhall was fought against Danes named Eowils and Healfdan, but that, for continuity, he chose to reintroduce Cnut and Sigurd).
In The Pagan Lord Uhtred is, at fifty, older than a lot of his contemporaries, and very old for a warrior. He is wiser (sort of) and slower, and, as with all aging men, getting a little sentimental. He worries about his legacy and whether he will ever recapture Bebbanburg. Uhtred laments the cruelty he must inflict on others and dreams of peace, longing for comfortable old age with his lover Aethelflaed. At one point he says "There will be an end to the killing. That is what I told myself as I rode toward Bebbanburg, toward my home. There will be an end to the killing.... inside Bebbanburg I would live like a king and persuade Aethelflaed to be my queen." At the same time, he glories in the joy of battle, explaining that "Battle takes a man to the edge of disaster, to a glimpse of the chaos that will end the world, and he must live in that chaos and on that edge and it is a joy."
It was the sentimentality that struck me most with this book, perhaps because I recently underwent a significant life change and, while excited for the future, am lamenting the loss of part of my life. Loss always appears in The Last Kingdom series, because the sense of decline and the slow slide into chaos is an integral part of the Norse culture. Uhtred follows the Danish pagan faith, and so believes that Ragnarok approaches, which I suppose isn't that far from the Christian belief that the Last Judgment is near. But that feeling is stronger in the seventh book. Uhtred even mentions the idea that the Norns must sever the threads that represent each person's life because tears water Yggdrasil, the world tree. He also brings up again his sorrow that the Saxons are unable to replicate Roman engineering, and how this is proof of the inexorable slide to chaos.
So just be advised that, while the seventh book in the series has lots of sword fights and insults and a few funny moments, this one is more serious than the previous editions, and that's saying something, given that at this point Uhtred has lost a lot of friends and lovers, as well as Alfred, his liege-lord.
In The Pagan Lord Uhtred is, at fifty, older than a lot of his contemporaries, and very old for a warrior. He is wiser (sort of) and slower, and, as with all aging men, getting a little sentimental. He worries about his legacy and whether he will ever recapture Bebbanburg. Uhtred laments the cruelty he must inflict on others and dreams of peace, longing for comfortable old age with his lover Aethelflaed. At one point he says "There will be an end to the killing. That is what I told myself as I rode toward Bebbanburg, toward my home. There will be an end to the killing.... inside Bebbanburg I would live like a king and persuade Aethelflaed to be my queen." At the same time, he glories in the joy of battle, explaining that "Battle takes a man to the edge of disaster, to a glimpse of the chaos that will end the world, and he must live in that chaos and on that edge and it is a joy."
It was the sentimentality that struck me most with this book, perhaps because I recently underwent a significant life change and, while excited for the future, am lamenting the loss of part of my life. Loss always appears in The Last Kingdom series, because the sense of decline and the slow slide into chaos is an integral part of the Norse culture. Uhtred follows the Danish pagan faith, and so believes that Ragnarok approaches, which I suppose isn't that far from the Christian belief that the Last Judgment is near. But that feeling is stronger in the seventh book. Uhtred even mentions the idea that the Norns must sever the threads that represent each person's life because tears water Yggdrasil, the world tree. He also brings up again his sorrow that the Saxons are unable to replicate Roman engineering, and how this is proof of the inexorable slide to chaos.
So just be advised that, while the seventh book in the series has lots of sword fights and insults and a few funny moments, this one is more serious than the previous editions, and that's saying something, given that at this point Uhtred has lost a lot of friends and lovers, as well as Alfred, his liege-lord.
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