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    The Last Kingdom
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    The Last Kingdom
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    The Last Kingdom
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    The Last Kingdom

    Written by Bernard Cornwell

    Narrated by Jamie Glover

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Read by Jamie Glover.

    The first 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.

    In a land torn apart by conflict, an orphan boy has come of age. Raised by the Vikings, deadly enemies of his own Saxon people, Uhtred is a fierce and skilled warrior who kneels to no-one.

    Alfred – Saxon, king, man of god – fights to hold the throne of the only land still resisting the pagan northerners.

    Uhtred and Alfred’s fates are tangled, soaked in blood and blackened by the flames of war. Together they will change history.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 15, 2005
    ISBN9780007218950
    Author

    Bernard Cornwell

    BERNARD CORNWELL is the author of over fifty novels, including the acclaimed New York Times bestselling Saxon Tales, which serve as the basis for the hit Netflix series The Last Kingdom. He lives with his wife on Cape Cod and in Charleston, South Carolina.

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    Reviews for The Last Kingdom

    4/5

    106 ratings68 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      I love the character in this book! Ubercool! Excellent telling of the Alfred the Great story
    • 4/5
      I picked up this book after discovering the TV series on Netflix. Love historical fiction and the narrative style of this series has me hooked.
    • 5/5
      This is the second time I have read The Last Kingdom and I still find it to be a great book. I think Bernard Cornwell is one of the best writers of historical novels with adventures added into the mix writing today.
    • 4/5
      I'm still wading through the Sharpe books and came across this one on Alfred the Great during the Danish invasions. Annoying at times if you admire early Christianity. Great adventures and battle scenes as you would expect. Read it quickly and now for sale on Amazon. Not a keeper, but definitely a good read.
    • 4/5
      This book was great fun to read and I am definately going to read the other parts in the Saxon Chronicles.The final battle was very exciting to read, but I did feel that some parts of the book lacked a bit of feeling. Like the hall burning. The main character seems very distant from everything even though it is his family being burnt.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely LOVE anything to do with history. Especially books. So anybody who knows me will not be surprised that I found The Last Kingdom really interesting. This book is the first in a series that tells of the exciting (yes it is exciting, - sword fights and all!) of the making of England during the 9th and 10th centuries. This was a period that the Danish Vikings were attacking the English and had captured most of their kingdoms.The author, Bernard Cornwell, was able to get the information for this series of books through his own family records. Seriously... how cool is that?!?! Netflix even made a series based on the books back in 2016! Of course I'm one of those people that has to read all the books before I can watch the show so it'll be a while before I can watch it. I can't wait though, so now I have to hurry and read the rest of the series!If you enjoy history then I'd recommend reading this book. Cornwell does an incredible job of making what could be a dry subject (since it's from such a long time ago) be super interesting. There's sword fights, kidnappings, murders, and definitely wars - the whole book is talking about wars . During the narrative, everything is explained from the perspective of a young man (he grows from a boy to a teenager in the book) named Uhtred, who is fictional.
    • 2/5
      The prose in The Pale Horseman is hurried, rambling, with historical inaccuracies and cardboard characters, all of it in need of an editor. Agreed there is little historical record of England's Alfred the Great; however, it is known he overcame a Danish invasion against staggering odds, unifying the squabbling tribes of Saxons, Mercian and some Britons. Yet Cornwell chooses to portray Alfred as an indecisive, toady of the Church, who only gained his kingdom and victory because of some swaggering, selfish, testosterone-ridden fictional Saxon hero. Doesn't wash.Add to that a propensity for run-on sentences, two glaring technical faux-pas (that linen bowstrings are unusable when wet, and arm-rings worn over chain mail), and you have a recipe for a frustrating and disappointing read.
    • 5/5
      This book maintains a great pace, as it reads alomst too fast and after finishing I am left wanting more. It has good plot twists and the characters, both major and minor are all engaging.
    • 4/5
      Loved it! Definitely going to keep reading the series.
    • 3/5
      One of those instances where I enjoyed the tv series more than the book and I'll probably not be going back to the book.Uhtred is a Saxon who is captured by a raiding party of Dances at 10, and is brought up as a Dane, he finds himself torn between the two lives and two worlds. His life takes different twists and turns and it's told by his older self.There are very few women in the book and none of them aren't involved with the male character at some point. Scads of male background characters but this comes across as very like a lot of films.It wasn't bad but I don't intend to read more in this series.
    • 4/5
      As action historical fiction, Cornwell delivers with The last kingdom, the first volume of his series on King Alfred and the war between Saxons and Danes for England. The narrative carries you forward as told by the main character, Uhtred, a Saxon ealdorman, who grows from the age of ten to adulthood against the background of the Danish conquest. Cornwell writes vivid characters here as well as vivid action. Cornwell is good at setting the scenes and making the time seem alive. In particular, one feels what it meant to fight on the shield wall. Enjoyed it a lot and probably going to get the next volume.
    • 4/5
      I had this book on my TBR for several months but only got to it after watching the first season of the TV series on BBC. The book is a detailed account of the battle for England in the late 800s between the Danes (Vikings, Norsemen, etc) and King Albert. The story follows Uhtred Ragnarson a Saxon who was captured by the Danes when he was 10 and raised as a son by Ragnar. Uhtred struggles with his upbringing as a Dane and love for Ragnar and the love of his ancestral home Brabbenburg in Northumbria.Note for those interested in both the TV series and the book - The first season of the TV series extends beyond Book 1.
    • 4/5
      A rollicking tale and satisfying read. Solid Cornwell. I'm looking forward to the sequels.
    • 5/5
      Sometimes you just want to pull a book off the shelf and disappear into it for a weekend, and this is definitely such a book. A gripping and engagingly told tale of great historical events that forged a nation, interwoven with personal insights and relatable characters. Historical fiction at its best.
    • 5/5
      Funny I gave this 1 star because this version of the audiobook cuts out half the story and quite frankly does this story a heat disservice I would tell anyone who didn't like the book to read the full version they managed to take an hour and a half of audiobook and cut it down to 20 min that said after reading all the reviews I gotta stand up for bernard cornwell all this garbage about no strong female roles aethelflaed shames half the men in this series with her courage im at a point I feel like people are just searching for any discrepancy they can complain about its a book about WAR wtf did you expect some heartwarming tale that includes all races genders and sexual preferences??? I mean why the hell did you decide to listen to the book if you already have a prejudice against the author?? And really if you have actually read any of his series all the main characters uhtred sharpe Thomas derfel they are all warriors who DESPISE rape and the abuse of women and believe it is COWARDLY! HONOR, perseverance in the face of unbeatable odds, and the search for purpose that is the theme of these books. I would say for men of any age those are lessons that we should keep in mind.
    • 4/5
      My first Bernard Cornwell novel! I expected a jolly romp and got that and more! There is a bit of reflection on destiny etc. in the midst of all the bloodshed... and the bloodshed is all well situated in well motivated plot... I know it would be a great read and it was! Definitely a page turner!
    • 3/5
      Lot's of action, however the story is told in first person and that limits the development of the other characters. It is a page turner and I pushed to the ending.
    • 4/5
      I liked this book a lot. I think this is one of the better historical fiction series out there. The relationship between Alfred and Uthred is a believable one, and I could imagine existing in the time period.My only issue with the group was the hurried ending. I just thought it was a little contrived. Now I am sure this is what the author wanted, but to me it seemed rushed. A little more explaination after the battle would have been appreciated. But I am sure that is what the next volume in the series is all about.Highly recomended series if you are at all interested in history, war and religon.
    • 4/5
      Good yarn, based apparently reasonably accurately on history. Easy reading (except for some of the historic placenames.)
    • 4/5
      Interesting introduction to British Saxon/Danish history. I enjoyed reading it although wonder whether anyone ever survives all the warring and violence, or how they do so.
    • 5/5
      I got this book at a library sale back in 2007, and just finally got around to reading it. Even though it's the second book in the series, it stands alone really well. This is the first work of historical fiction with which I have ever been impressed. Cornwell does an excellent job making a blood-thirsty warrior play out in a sympathetic way. While the naming conventions of the time make some of the characters a little confusing, I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter of this work.
    • 4/5
      First class historical fiction about 9th Century England during the early days of Alfred the Great. Exceptional descriptive writing in the battle scenes.
    • 3/5
      The book drags in several places, it's hard to keep all the names straight, hard to remember which side Uhtred is fighting on from one moment to the next, and the combat is one-dimensional - build a shield wall and start hacking.Still, I'm glad I read it, but if it was fifty pages longer I might not have finished.
    • 5/5
      Through a fictional Saxon, Uthred, raised by Danes, the fight for the begining of England as such. Also the story of Alfred.B. Conrwell is supposed to be a descendant of the family from which Uhtred is shaped
    • 5/5
      Wow, just wow. Bernard Cornwell continues to impress me not just with his characterization and prose, but with his attention to time-setting and historical accuracy. In any case, this is one rowdy story filled with passion, honor, personal truth and lots of blood. :) Can't wait to pick up the next installment.
    • 4/5
      Exciting tale of Alfreds the Great.
    • 3/5
      An excellent history capturing life and hardship with an accurate renditon of the relationships of the warring factions, paganism versus the new God of Rome; alas the characters suffer some as a result as does the plt which lacks a certain crispness. Still a great adventure read!
    • 3/5
      This books stars a sometimes-sypathetic character who has more in common with Conan the Barbarian than any particular historical figure I can think of. However, the setting and other characters are more historically accurate, and the broad events are clearly historical. Overall, I enjoyed it.
    • 1/5
      How frustrating! After having suffered from insomnia for years I now discover that all along there was a big selection of turgid tomes by Bernard Cornwell to choose from!I have had more fun watching wood warp!
    • 4/5
      I've found myself a new favourite author. I've found myself a 13 part series to read! The author can trace his ancestry back through his father to Uhtred the Bold, Earl of Northumbria and Lord of Bamburgh, the main character in The Last Kingdom - imagine that! Story takes place in 9th and 10th centuries England when the Danes are invading, the English are learning to unite, life is short and men are considered old in their 40s. Once again I found the writing exceptional although, to be honest I did stumble on some of the - olde English place names but I didn't let that ruin the narrative.