The Lords of the North

The Last Kingdom Series, Book 3

By: Bernard Cornwell

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

The third 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.

The year is 878 and the Vikings have been thrown out of Wessex. Uhtred, fresh from fighting for Alfred in the battle to free Wessex, travels north to seek revenge for his father's death, killed in a bloody raid by Uhtred's old enemy, renegade Danish lord, Kjartan.

While Kjartan lurks in his formidable stronghold of Dunholm, the north is overrun by chaos, rebellion and fear. Together with a small band of warriors, Uhtred plans his attack on his enemy, revenge fuelling his anger, resolute on bloody retribution. But, he finds himself betrayed and ends up on a desperate slave voyage to Iceland. Rescued by a remarkable alliance of old friends and enemies, he and his allies, together with Alfred the Great, are free to fight once more in a battle for power, glory and honour.

‘The Lords of the North’ is a tale of England's making, a powerful story of betrayal, struggle and romance, set in an England torn apart by turmoil and upheaval.

©2006 Bernard Cornwell (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

‘Beautifully crafted story-telling, complete with splendid set-piece battles and relentless derring-do, so gripping that it rarely stops to catch a breath. It demonstrates once again Cornwell’s enormous skill as a historical narrator. He would have graced Alfred’s court entertaining the guests with his stories.’
Daily Mail

‘Cornwell takes the spectres of ninth century history and puts flesh back on their bones. Here is Alfred's world restored – impeccably researched and illuminated with the colour and passion of a master storyteller.’
Justin Pollard, author of ‘Alfred the Great’

UTRED AND THE DANES

I like my history with a healthy dose of political fact, intrigue. treachery. love and blood! Bernard Cornwell always provides all of these, His research is impeccable and his delivery spot on. The story of Utred continues to unravel in the entertaining fashion that you come to expect with Cornwells' novels and did I mention the blood ? The narration is not just great it is outstanding ! All the characters live just as intended and the delivery of the action grabs you and doesn't let go. Thank you Jonathon Keeble.You just cannot resist moving on in the series.

Full of Danish Fury - Excellent

Another fantastic episode in this furious series - loosely based around an England often forgotten..Uhtreds story is a storm of justice and War

Hard to put down

A great story, with an excellent narration. Third book in the series, all great books. Recommended.

Worth listening to repeatedly

Another home run for Audible, Jonathan Keeble and The Great Bernard Cornwell, Lord of the Short Novel.

Best yet

Exciting and couldn't put it down. Cornwall is a genius. looking forward to the next book already.

Another exciting title in the series.

The great story continues and although it’s quite predictable in places it is still exciting. And Keeble is fantastic as always.

A fine, but meandering continuation

While the story is entertaining, this book felt less like a cohesive story than the two previous installments.

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

The story starts of rather abruptly, in a way that made it feel a bit disconnected from the last book. While Uthred's ability to luck his way into Alfred's good (or at least neutral) graces in the previous two books was written as somewhat believable, his encounter and subsequent friendship with Guthred seems a lot more forced and comes out of nowhere.

Furthermore, the two-year ordeal Uthred suffers, seemingly served little purpose other than to give us an excuse for a (not particularly necessary) time-skip. The two years in slavery also did not seem to have had lasting consequences either physically, mentally or for Uthred's political and personal situation, given that he more or less gets to pick up where he left things upon his return. This section of the book thus feels like a bit of a filler episode, and given the lack of any other real action (apart from the by now almost formulaic end-of-book battle), made it a less engaging listen than the previous two.

The narrator is fine overall and has a good voice for the gruff warrior-types, but like many male narrators, sadly fails to make the voices of the female characters particularly believable. Somewhat justified in that the story frames as being told by Uthred himself.