Part of The Last Kingdom, book 3
First published 2007
Uhtred has helped King Alfred drive the Vikings from Wessex, but the ungrateful king's piety disgusts him. The dispossessed Northumbrian lord's son flees north in 878, determined to kill Kjartan, the renegade Danish warlord who murdered his foster father and seized his stepsister. Kjartan commands the fortress of Dunholm, too strong for one man to assault. Uhtred finds chaos in the north, with only Hild, a runaway nun, as his companion. He discovers Guthred, a slave who claims royal blood, and leads him across the Pennines. There desperate Christians and cornered Danes forge an unlikely alliance against the Viking lords controlling Northumbria. Uhtred must unite these fractious allies if he hopes to storm Dunholm and claim his revenge. This warrior without lands or country faces his greatest test in a kingdom torn between faiths and peoples.
Genres: historical-fiction, military-fiction, adventure, action
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Wessex, Northumbria, Dunholm, Pennines
Period: 878
317 pages · Hardcover · HarperCollins