The Empty Throne (Saxon Stories #8) by Bernard Cornwell

The Empty Throne is the eighth book in the Saxon Stories. It also goes by the name Warrior Chronicles in the UK and The Last Kingdom. The latter name is the title of the first book, and I think the series is being newly named such because of the Netflix series based on it, now four seasons in.

Uhtred is a warlord in the ninth century Britain fighting to free the four kingdoms from the Northmen—the Norse and the Danes. Despite having been raised by the pagan Danes after being sold to them by his uncle, he is fighting alongside the West Saxons and Mercians to rid the land of Northmen. Churchmen despise him for being pagan and consistently try to erase his accomplishments.

In the battle at the end of the last book, Uhtred was wounded as he killed a long-time enemy, and months later, the wound has not healed. It causes him immense pain and he cannot fight. He can barely ride.

His cousin Aethelred is dying and has no heirs to pass his lordship of Mercia. King Edward of Wessex, Aethelred's brother-in-law, wants to bring Mercia under his rule—another step closer to his father's dream of uniting the four kingdoms into a new country called England. But the Mercians don't want a West Saxon king. They want a Mercian.

Uhtred knows what must be done—Aethelred's wife and King Edward's sister, Aethelflaed, should be the one to rule. She has long fought against the Northmen while her husband stayed safe behind his hall walls and slept with his mistress. A woman cannot rule. Or can she?

Meanwhile, Uhtred must find Ice Bite, the sword that gave him the wound in his ribs. But it was lost in the aftermath of the battle, and for all Uhtred knows, it might be in the hands of his enemy's men. Then he gets a lead as for who might know of the sword and where it might be.

Did an old enemy work Christian magic on the sword to keep him wounded all this time? Will finding it give him back his strength and let him fight again?

I've been following this series since I discovered the first book in 2005. It's been fifteen years and eight books in. I cannot get enough of Uhtred's tale.

He tells his story as though he's talking as an old man to his grandchildren, and occasionally he does say he's telling the story to them. It serves to tell us that Uhtred survives all he goes through and will live through the last book.

His ultimate goal has nothing to do with Mercia or Wessex or even England. He wants to recover his own lands that were stolen by his uncle, and he has tried before. And failed.

With his son, a now decorated warrior, his right-hand man Finnan, and his other trusted warriors, he's still plowing through his life—and British history—with all the gusto he's had for seven books. Though a little subdued in this one due to his injury. His voice captivated me from the very first book—his brutal honesty with others and the reader. He's not ashamed to admit his faults, and while he's hard on himself at times, he doesn't beat himself down. He admits when he's wrong and tries again.

This book, while engrossing, was not as captivating as previous books. Perhaps it was due to Uhtred's state of mind due to the perpetual pain he suffered from his injury. But every series has weaker books and stronger books. I think this is just one of the former in an otherwise excellent series. Even so, I loved it.

I enjoyed the dual storyline of healing the wound and filling Aethelred's throne. Uhtred's life always takes surprising twists and turns that make the novels page-turners.

One of my favorite pieces of this book is the prominence of his daughter, Stiorra. Her personality, intelligence, and irreverence struck me, and she made me laugh. Finnan is a favorite, as always, and I'm coming to really like Uhtred's son, also called Uhtred. In fact, the prologue is told by the younger Uhtred, the first time another narrator has entered the series.

This series is one I have never turned a single page to read. I have read each one as an audiobook checked out of my library. Several books ago, I committed to reading all of them in this way. There have only been two actors to read these books (if I remember correctly), and the one who's read the last several books, Matt Bates, is fantastic. He makes Uhtred come alive and produces accents for other characters from different areas around the present-day UK and Europe.

As I mentioned above, this series has been turned into a TV series, first by the BBC and then Netflix picked it up for the second or third season. It's now gone through four seasons. I've only seen the first one which covered the first two books.

The series was well done, though a little more violent than I like to watch—but then it was a very violent time in history and the books are reflective of that. I have not watched the subsequent seasons, though from what I've read, the series is fantastic.

Bernard Cornwell is a fantastic author who approaches storytelling differently than I've seen before. It's something I very much enjoy. Perhaps I'll check out another of his series when I finish Uhtred's story.

Photo Credit: Katherine Elizabeth

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