War of the Wolf
Written by Bernard Cornwell
Narrated by Matt Bates
4/5
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About this audiobook
*A brand new companion to the Last Kingdom series, Uhtred’s Feast, is available to pre-order now*
The 11th book in the epic and bestselling series that has gripped millions.
A hero will be forged from this broken land.As seen on Netflix and BBC around the world.
Lord Uhtred of Bebbanburg knows that peace is far from reach. Though he has won the battle for his ancestral home, rebellion looms in Mercia and invading Norsemen appear at every turn.
With the country in turmoil, Uhtred comes face-to-face with King Skoll, a violent Norseman leading an army of úlfheðinn, or wolf warriors, hellbent on seizing a kingdom – and killing any in his path.
Surrounded and outnumbered by new enemies, Uhtred must call on all his skill and courage to survive, and prevent his beloved Northumbria from falling to the Viking hordes.
Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell was born in London, raised in Essex and worked for the BBC for eleven years before meeting Judy, his American wife. Denied an American work permit he wrote a novel instead and has been writing ever since. He and Judy divide their time between Cape Cod and Charleston, South Carolina.
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Reviews for War of the Wolf
213 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great storylines as with all the other books in this series. An enjoyable listen.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Another book that meets the high standards of this series. Full of cogent observation, well wrought characters and compelling action. The performance, with many distinct accents and voices and a nuanced sense of rhythm, is A+.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Did not meet the expectations, not too much action as compared to others, I guess Uhtred is growing old.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uhtred has won back his family home, but, threatened from all sides by enemies, old and new, he doesn’t have long to enjoy his victory. In Mercia, rebellion is in the air as King Edward tries to seize control. In Wessex, rival parties scramble to settle on the identity of the next king. And, across the country, invading Norsemen continue their relentless incursion, ever hungry for land.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the eleventh book in this series. You have to has it lost some of its bite especially with Bebbanburg having been captured. While Uthred is now a major Lord in the North you have to wonder will he be as such an important figure in Southern Saxon politics given he has regained his former roots. How long it justifiably continue giveen the comments of Uthred's age.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the eleventh novel in the author's Uhtred series. King Edward the Elder is declining and different factions are jockeying for influence and allies with an eye to the succession to his throne. Uhtred himself, having finally recaptured his ancestral home Bebbanburgh in the previous novel, is lured across the country to Mercia and becomes involved in the power struggle. He also faces yet another enemy in Skoll against whom he has a very personal motive to seek revenge. I have run out of things to say about each successive novel in this series, good action scenes but repetitive bloodshed and mayhem.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5By now, I am quite used to the Grumpy Uhtred of Bebbanburg, and so is the Author. The now ageing Lord of Bebbenburg is having to deal with some of the problems of those who succeed by tenth century standards. A lot of people want him to die, and a lot of the rest ofthe population are simply indifferent. England is steadily moving towards its unification, and small nobility, well, middle sized movers and shakers like Uhtred, are facing challenges to their authority. The freebooting community raises up a challenger, Skoll, and of course, the preservation of England's unifier, Athelstan, needs to be dealt with. We get a good look at the difficulties of attacking a well sited fort, and Cornwell's usual dislike of organized religion. And, he does it well. This book is worth reading, and minor characters get some development.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This series continues to stay very worthwhile, although too many Athels threaten the barrel, I mean, landscape. Lots of scheming followed by excellent battle scenes make these books a fun read. The characters remain quite interesting, particularly the women, and the historical skeins are linked nicely within the story.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5"War of the Wolf" impressed me much more than the previous book in the Saxon series. Uhtred is in my opinion Bernard Cornwell’s best character creation. His most amusing character, who steals every scene he appears in, is Ieremias.The author’s depictions of battle scenes are vivid and believable in all his works, but more so in the Saxon tales because Uhtred’s personality helps the reader – this one at least – to feel part of this charismatic warlord’s fights. Any confrontation, be it physical or verbal, is expertly portrayed. The typical humour, especially Uhtred’s conversations with priests, is as entertaining as ever.In my view, what prevents Mr Cornwell from being an even better writer than he is already, is his dialogue attribution. The actual dialogue is excellent, but for 90+ per cent of the time he interrupts the flow by needlessly reminding the reader who’s speaking, more often than not inserting this pointless information – pointless because it’s obvious who’s speaking – in the middle of sentences.Mr Cornwell maybe doesn’t realise that the strength of his characters make it clear to the reader who’s talking, just as he fails to grasp how irritating it is to have his believable dialogue swamped with superfluous attribution, which sometimes includes unnecessary adverbs.I dislike the author’s elements of English style in the most part, especially his overuse of the word “then” – arguably the laziest choice for moving a story forward – and the amount of long-winded sentences he uses. Some of his books are worse than others for these annoying traits.He tends to overuse “and” too much as well, as though determined to make his sentences as long and clunky as possible. Like with using “then”, repeating “and” in this way changes Uhtred’s strong warrior voice to that of an excited child.Anyway, style aside, Mr Cornwell’s done a good job with the story side of "War of the Wolf".
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Had you told me a few short years ago that I would become addicted to a series of novels featuring "dark ages" soldiers clanging their weapons on shield walls and riding across the country to burn and pillage and drink mead, I would have told you, bluntly, that you were insane. But that's the joy of these books. They really aren't great literary feats (if you want historical fiction set in that era, try "Hild" by Nicola Griffith, among others) but rollicking adventure yarns that simply cannot be put down until the last syllable has been read -- at which point you start looking around and realize that THERE. ARE. NO. MORE. PAGES. And that this is a catastrophe. Up until now, the saga (and it is a saga, in the good Norse tradition) of Uhtred of Bebbanburg has been about his attempts to regain his ancestral home, with subplots involving his ongoing tussles with Christian priests who want to tame him (and control him), and King Alfred and his heirs on the Wessex throne who, ditto. But Uhtred is incurably independent. He will give his loyalty and allegiance, but not if it's demanded of him as a right. At the opening of this book, one of the key figures in his life, Alfred's daughter, is now dead, and the future of her realm, Mercia, remains open for debate. Among those contending for power in that area, as well as in Scotland, are those who are uneasy with Uhtred finally, after many decades and many books, having ousted his uncle and come home to rule in Bebbanburg. And then there's the little matter of the fact that Uhtred has a fondness dating back to childhood for Athelstan, grandson of King Alfred and (so far in the story) unacknowledged eldest son of the new king, Edward. All of these tangled plot skeins come together, and land Uhtred in all kinds of trouble, even though the reader knows full well he'd be bored witless stuck at home watching his womenfolk weave. And so, thankfully for Cornwell's legion of devoted fans, it's off to the shield wall once more, and to the planning of all kinds of early 10th century geopolitical shenanigans. I have to say that I hope Uhtred lives to be an old, tenacious, ferocious warrior, and based on the clues scattered throughout the pages of this series, I suspect readers are in for a few more books yet. Thank heavens.This is a thumping good read; 4.5 out of 5 stars, or 9 out of 10. (Not a lot of character development, and some of it gets a bit predictable; saved by the fast pace of the plot and the drama and the relatively fresh setting -- hurrah, NOT more Tudors or Plantagenets!) If you haven't read the rest of the series, don't start here, however. Start with book one, and keep going from there...I received an advance copy of the novel from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions here are entirely my own, however...
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nobody does the historical fiction thing like Bernard Cornwell. Once again he picks up the tale of Uther, the pagan king. Uther is in his 60's now but that does not mean life has become peaceful. He is surrounded by Vikings, Danes, Saxons and the Scotts who all covet his lands. Unfortunately for them, he is not ready to concede those holdings.This is a worthy continuation of a series of books by Cornwell that cover the early centuries in England's history. My only challenge was keeping all the names straight. Don't let that stop you from reading this one.