Uhtred encounters a Norse wolf lord with designs on becoming King of Northumbria, and the noose of Englaland draws ever tighter as Edward the Elder edges towards death and his successors start plotting….
A warrior’s lifetime of experience of fighting, working out the politics and strategies of his friends, enemies and those who flex between, and the advantages of confident bluff and subterfuge all combine to get Uthred and his men inside the walls of the ancestral home he had been forced to leave as a child.
More battles with Saxon/Danish warlord, Uhtred, this time against Irish Viking, Ragnall whose brother Sigtryggr he (and we) met in Chester in The Empty Throne, and who eloped with Uhtred’s daughter Stiorra.
Stiorra is one of three strong women in the tale, alongside Queen Æthelflaed of Mercia and Uhtred’s former lover Brida.
And finally – FINALLY- it looks like Uhtred is in a position to return to reclaim Bebbanburg.
I thought this was the last in the Uhtred saga / The Warrior Chronicles/Saxon Stories / Alfred The Great series, but I finished it and there are still a lot of loose ends…. Turns out book 9 is due to be published in October!