HarperCollins Publishers -- hcNew York -- ©2005 -- 333pp
ISBN: 0-06-053051-0
With most of Britain conquered by the pagan Danes, only Alfred the Great can save his country.
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Although this book is ostensibly about Alfred the Great, and his managing to save England from the Danes, this particular book (the first of a series) is actually about Uhtred, son of Uhtred (and also son of Ragnar [a Dane]), an English eldorman and inheritor of the city of Bebbanburg.
Captured by the Danes as a youth, Uhtred is taught the Danish ways, including how to fight. As a young man, Uhtred fights for Alfred against his very friends and Danish families.
Uhtred is a character of tremendous strength and cunning. He is not unlike Conan, only written in a best-selling book, rather than in a small-press fantasy series.
I enjoyed the book, as I often enjoy bestsellers for their ease and excitement in reading, but it lacks the meat which makes it "literature" and long remembered. Still, I'll probably read others in the series.
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