Saxon tales move forward making the history of England complex at every step. There are characters in it that we have not read about in detail or perhaps there was nothing there about them at any stage. Still Bernard Cornwell paves way for his series keeping it intact with the history of England even when most of the people don’t take it as a historical series.
Jonathan Keeble the original narrator is back in business in this part again, although the previous was narrated well but the fan wanted the same accent back. Thus it is a nice treat for the fans that they will hear the tale from their favorite narrator once again.
The birth of England is in order at the hands of King Alfred who has fought hard for the vision of unification of all four of the parts. Uhtred still thinks that he is stubborn and rude towards the soldiers but even he cannot deny the quality of the man who saved him in Lords of the North and gave him honor in The Pale Horseman. Vikings are coming once again loaded in their battleships and they really mean business this time.
The plan is to stop them at the palace near Thames so that they might not land on the shore in order to form a strong base. The only man Alfred can trust is Uhtred, his main guy but is he enough for the job or Vikings have far deadly plan than the old king can imagine forms the real part of the story. Deception, cunning tricks and raw fights prove to be appealing and attractive to the history lovers.
