Sword Song

Price: UK £12.99 - Giá bán: 200,000

Sword Song is the fourth book in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series, which currently stands at six books. I have just finished it after promising myself I would pick it up immediately after reading the third in the series. I kept my promise to myself and have in fact immediately picked up the fifth book, The Burning Land, so impressed and drawn in by the Cornwell's story of the various areas of what we now know as England during the 9th Century.

The books follow Uhtred, a Saxon warrior lord raised by Danes and therefore inwardly harbouring no particular allegiance save his oaths to King Alfred (Alfred the Great). Sword Song takes a step south from the third book, Lords of the North, where the scene was firmly set in Northumbria as Uhtred tried to reclaim his rightful seat as lord of Bebbanurg (Bamburg as we know it) from his usurper uncle. This, though, is a plot thread that has not been explored much at all in the past couple of books, as even this third focused on a separate battle to provide a stronghold to maybe one day challenge for Babbenburg.

Here, in Sword Song, the focus comes to London, or Lundene as it was known then as is referred to by Cornwell. The plot is once more a battle not just of land and power, but of religion and belief. I found that the similarities by this time are now evident before the text flows, with long passages detailing historical fact and customs relevant to the time, as well as the fictional element that Cornwell adds to the pages in order that a story may flow without it being a history text book.

The author admits in a historical note at the end of the book that this above the previous three contains more fiction in order to create the necessary leads into the fact elements. We see two main battles, as is somewhat familiar, one central in the pages and one at the end, although the reasons behind the second battle are largely fictional. However, these serve to make a strong platform for characterisation, and Cornwell certainly grasps this and leads on firmly. One thing he doesn't do is firmly place heroes and villains on two separate sides of the battles. There are key figures on the same side as Uhtred who are in fact sworn enemies, those he would gladly kill, and some who would gladly kill him in return! Even Alfred does not like him, and uses him as the fearsome and clever warrior lord that he is.

Cornwell is an expert at creating unlikeable characters and building suspense, and it's these two elements that come to the fore in this particular book. Alfred's son in law, Aethelred, is portrayed as a fool, and a nasty one at that, while the main villain for this book, Siegried, is equally unlikeable. You would happily see Uhtred defeat both of them in humiliating fashion, but I have long since learnt that Cornwell's intention is to sometimes throw you off the scent and do the unexpected, and there's plenty of that in here, although I'm not saying whether either of the two villains mentioned above get their come uppance or not...

The battle scenes are described in great detail, and it's a marvel that he can do this. Everything is so vivid in my mind as the descriptors come flooding in, and I thought it made things very clear indeed. You learn a lot about battle warfare, bearing in mind this is a time before arrows, and so close combat and conflict between boats is what is focused upon. We learn a lot more about christian and pagan customs, too, and Cornwell is keen to present both sides in equal measure, although Uhtred's Danish religious beliefs come through stronger and so the bias leans this way.

Overall, another excellent novel from Cornwell. I found this one harder to put down that the last, and I have already picked up The Burning Land and hope to whizz my way through that. He's an excellent author who manages to mix historical fact and fiction in a way that makes it hard to put the book down...so I didn't! Recommended.