Reviews - The Lords of the North

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438 reviews for:

The Lords of the North

Bernard Cornwell

4.21 AVERAGE

phoenix_rising_'s review

3.25

adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

mmetzner's review against another edition

5.0

Best of the series so far.

catiandrah's review against another edition

3.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Plot: In the third book of The Last Kingdom series, Uhtred befriends a slave who claims to be a king, finds himself betrayed, and ultimately ends up pledged to Alfred once again. But will Uhtred's adventures finally lead him to deal with Kjartan once and for all?

Genre: War & military, historical, action & adventure, fiction.

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Thoughts While Reading:
Thoughts at 100%:
1. Hmmm. This book was good, but I didn't connect with it like it did the first two in the series. I just didn't feel the stakes as heavily here as I did with the previous books, and when some villains finally got their comeuppance, it was kind of just blah. I didn't rejoice at the events like I have in the other books. Also, I wasn't a fan of the whole slavery plotline. I bet why it was there, but I just kept waiting for that part to be over

mrm's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark informative fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

sbrot's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark emotional funny informative medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

shellybelly's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

blackestclovers's review against another edition

5.0

Utterly satisfying and magnificent. This book is a thing of absolute beauty and certainly is one of the best of the series.

philantrop's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

»I had a taste for this kind of madness. In madness lies change, in change is opportunity, and in opportunity are riches.«

I had every intention to temporarily remove myself from the amazing literary maelstrom this series has proven to be for me but, alas, when I looked through the books I actually intended to read right now, I kept feeling drawn to “Lords of the North”, the third instalment in Cornwell’s “Saxon Stories”.

This time, we accompany Uthred to the north where he meets Guthred, another king who plays Uthred almost as well as Alfred does. We also see Uthred clash with his arch-enemy, Kjartan the Cruel, and the latter’s son, Sven the One-Eyed.

As usual Uthred keeps curious company: From Finnan whom Uthred meets in captivity (the one part of the book that didn’t engage as much as the rest (just like in the TV series!)) to Sithric up to Saint Cuthbert himself and, quite literally, parts of Saint Oswald…

Even though - to me at least - this is not the strongest book so far, I very much enjoyed it and found I simply had to start its successor, “Sword Song” despite my continued best intention to quit this addiction!

I can only encourage you, dear reader, to stop struggling against any similar reluctance right now and to get started on this great series! (Or, to quote another favourite: “Resistance is futile.”)

Four out of five stars.

Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam