Product Description

Continuing the outstanding success of "The Last Kingdom", "The Pale Horseman" is the second installment of Bernard Cornwell's fantastic series, following the fate of Alfred the Great, and the forging of Britain. It is the lowest time for the Saxons. Defeated comprehensively by the Vikings who now occupy most of England, Alfred and his very small group of surviving followers retreat to the trackless marshlands of Somerset. There, forced to move restlessly to escape betrayal or detection, using the marsh mists for cover, they travel by small boats from one island refuge to another, hoping that they can regroup and find some more strength and support. Only Uhtred remains resolute. Determined to discover the enemy's strategies, he draws once again on his Viking upbringing, and attempts to enter the Viking camps. His plan is to become accepted by their leaders, and to sit in their councils and uncover their plans. But once there, the attractions of his many friends among the Vikings coupled with his disillusion with the Saxons' leadership and anger at Alfred's criticism of his own conduct, draws him back again to his allegiance to the Vikings. "The Pale Horseman", an even more powerful and dramatic book than "The Last Kingdom", brings both Uhtred and the Saxons' dilemmas vividly to life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1156 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

Customer Reviews

Cornwell's best book in years
This is one of Mr Cornwell's best books of recent years. Quite simply, it is an excellent story, very well told. It continues the tale of Uhtred from last year's "The Last Kingdom" (so new readers should start there), who once again finds himself torn between fighting for the Vikings, who he feels are his natural brothers, and the Saxons, who are his blood brothers. This inner conflict provides the impetus behind non-stop action as Uhtred's adventures range from raiding in Cornwall to fighting the Danes for King Alfred. Uhtred's allegiance swerves more than once during the novel, so ensuring that the reader keeps guessing where he will go next.

Cornwell clearly loves the Dark Age world that he has created in this series and his evocation of 9th century England, whose inhabitants are violent and God-fearing in equal measure, is very believable. Particularly convincing is the portrayal of the almost crippling effect on the Saxon war effort of King Alfred's belief that God alone will rescue England from the Danes. That contrasts and conflicts with Uhtred's warrior's instincts and the tension between Uhtred and his king is cleverly written. Just as Uhtred slowly resolves his conflict of loyalty, so Alfred gradually changes from a king who refuses to do anything other than pray to a warrior who might be able to save his people. Even the supporting cast, notably the priest Asser (who wrote a life of Alfred), is well characterised.

By the end of this book you can almost smell the Dark Ages, so convincing are Cornwell's powers of description and the skill with which he draws his characters. He has spoken of wanting to write one Uhtred novel a year for the foreseable future; I hope he manages to maintain this high standard.

Fun read from the Cornwell-Identikit (tm)
Bernard Cornwell is a prolific writer of historic action books. He is most famous for his Sharpe novels but he has also written books set in the historic periods of King Arthur, the American Civil War, the 100 years war and Stonehenge.

'The Pale Horseman' is the second in a trilogy of books set in the dark ages of Alfred the Great as he fights against the invading forces of the Danes. We follow one of his fighters Ulthred as he works to become rich and powerful enough so that he can take back the land he had stolen from him as a child.

'The Pale Horseman' has some great battle scenes and the characters are quite well written (but not to the standard of other books by the same author). However, I can not get the feeling that the story is VERY similar to other books written by Cornwell. Essentially, since the excellent Grail trilogy (a career high point), Cornwell has written the same three books over and over again but set them in a different time period.

I enjoyed the Harlequin trilogy, as I am enjoying the Viking trilogy, but due to feeling like I have read similar too often, this book can only be deemed average.

A good read for a Cornwell fan but he seriously needs to consider reviewing his writing style soon before everyone grows bored.

It just keeps getting better...
I was looking forward to this book ever since the closing moments of 'The Last Kingdom' and when I received it Monday morning I sat down and started to read...

And I couldn't stop! I won't give away any of the story to people reading the review because that would spoil it but Cornwell again makes you feel you know the people he is writing about and, damn it, you begin to care about them. Uhtred is, without a doubt, a bit of a rogue but he insistently worms his way into your affections.

The atmosphere was superb - there is a thick mist hanging around saxon times but Mr. Cornwell seems to offer us a set of foglights. Yes, some bits are not strictly bound to the historical record but it is downright believeable. His chracters are not bound to some higher cause, they are just normal people who make normal mistakes and have normal emotions.

This book feels like a time machine for your imagination, taking you back onto the bloody battlefields of the time - buy it and enjoy the experience!