Our protagonist is Uhtred, we begin with his life as a 10 year old son of an Earl in 9th century Northumbria (up by the modern day border of Scotland). Vikings come, stuff happens, and thus begins the series of historical fiction.
A lot has already been said about the book(s) and I'm going to try not to repeat it. What I will do is type about why I'm liking the first book so far.
I have read a lot of history books. From Osprey military stuff to 600 page "histories" of specific time periods like the Rise and Fall of Byzantium volumes, Making of the Roman Army, Viking Atlas, even biographies... you name it. All chock full of info that we can soak up. It's all at a national history level though. Generations of important family lines can be boiled down to 3-4 pages thus giving the 60 years covered a small scale.
The Last Kingdom, though fiction, takes it down to a personal level. One man and what he saw in his life. Though a Lord himself thus offered more directions to go than say some common man or even a Thegn, the story throws him into lots of twists and turns in his life. He ends up having to make decisions, not always the best, based off a very miopic view at times.
I like to read stories at that level, one man's perspective. I get to hear about what was for supper or how cold the night was that one time he did not have his cloak about him. How, being a strong-headed boy, he felt about God and the pagan gods. Also, though only 2/3 in the book I get the feeling that he sees both sides of the religions (and politics in general) as tools to manipulate. Kind of how I feel in real-life, so I got a connection there.
We also get good insight on how the 9th century power of Anglo-Saxons turned into Anglo-Danes and how both manipulated/fought/allied with Bretons (who were there before the Anglo-Saxons took it from them, except Wales and Cornwall)... (or something like that). The story is just full of details of the minutiae of how things came about in that period for England. Also gives a good insight, though almost two centuries away, how England fell to Normans.
I like to read about the minutiae like that. Grand tales of huge battles is neat and all but I also want to hear about how the thirsty warrior drank water out of a bucket or what you could buy with a sliver of a silver coin.
The book is a good little romp with some seriousness to it. I am rooting for Uhtred on both his good days and bad. I'm also seeing my Saga games come alive somewhat as the same players are involved. It may be a bit early for Normans as we see them in popular culture yet. Still, so far we've got Anglo-Saxons, Welsh, Bretons, Norwegians, Irish, and all the little cultures that sprung up in between.
On a gaming note, I just got my copy of Lion Rampant and thumbed through it this morning. I'm sure in the next month or so you will be reading an After-Action here.
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