The Burning Land
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3.8 • 60 Ratings
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- £12.99
Publisher Description
The fifth novel in Bernard Cornwell’s epic and bestselling series on the making of England and the fate of his great hero, Uhtred of Bebbanburg.
BBC2’s major Autumn 2015 TV show THE LAST KINGDOM is based on the first two books in the series.
In the last years of the ninth century, King Alfred of Wessex is in failing health, and his heir is an untested youth. The Danes, who have failed so many times to conquer Wessex, smell opportunity…
First comes Harald Bloodhair, a savage warrior leading a Viking horde, who is encouraged to cruelty by his woman, Skade. But Alfred still has the services of Uhtred, his unwilling warlord, who leads Harald into a trap and, at Farnham in Surrey, inflicts one of the greatest defeats the Vikings were ever to suffer.
This novel, the fifth in the magnificent series of England's history tells of the final assaults on Alfred's Wessex, that Wessex survived to become England is because men like Uhtred defeated an enemy feared throughout Christendom.
Reviews
Praise for The Burning Land:
‘Cornwell draws a fascinating picture of England as it might have been before anything like England existed’
The Times
Praise for AZINCOURT:
'This is a magnificent and gory work' Daily Mail
'The historical blockbuster of the year' Evening Standard
‘If Bernard Cornwell was born to write one book, this is it. No other historical novelist has acquired such a mastery of the minutiae of warfare in centuries past.’ Daily Telegraph
‘A runaway success’ Observer
Praise for Bernard Cornwell:
‘The characterisation, as ever, is excellent…And one can only admire the little touches that bring the period to life. He can also claim to be a true poet of both the horror and the glory of war.’ Sunday Telegraph
This is typical Cornwell, meticulously researched, massive in scope, brilliant in execution’. News of the World
‘He’s called a master story-teller. Really he’s cleverer than that.’ Telegraph
About the author
Bernard Cornwell was born in London, raised in Essex, and now lives mainly in the USA with his wife. In addition to the hugely successful Sharpe novels, Bernard Cornwell is the author of the Starbuck Chronicles, the Warlord trilogy, the Grail Quest series and the Alfred series.
Customer Reviews
Not as bad as others say
The change in narrator was a little off putting at first, as I’d grown so accustomed to the original, and the names of Ragna and ‘Stee-apa’ weren’t pronounced correctly wasnt ideal, but it’s still well read and worth a listen to
Great
Like other reviewers I’d got very used to the excellent narration in books 1-4 and changes in narrators really annoy me on the whole. The new narrator is different for sure but after the initial adjustment period (about 5 minutes…) I can say I am enjoying listening and can’t remember anything different really (and I listened to 1-4 back to back over a month or so on commute…). Yes some of the pronunciation is different but frankly (my ignorance, I accept!) I wouldn’t know which narrator had it right anyway. In short - listen to the sample at the very least and if you can accept it’s different- enjoy (with the prospect of a whole load more instalments). I nearly ditched it on the basis of the reviews (and was not blown away by the sample either to be fair) but am glad I took the plunge. The story is great and now looking forward to the next books too!
A jarring but not fatal change of narrator
I don’t think I can go on with this one. With all apologies to the narrator of this one I just cannot get over the loss of Jonathan Keeble and his spellbinding reading of the previous four books in this series. I can’t see myself buying any further books in this series sadly. Would it be possible to bring Keeble back?
Update: I persevered and I actually grew to really like Matt Bates so I apologise for the previous, slightly petulant, rating. His sardonic take on Uhtred was subtly different. Some of his battle scenes are a little bit more ‘low-energy’ than I would like but certainly I would be quite happy to see that he was doing the whole rest of the series.