We were given this book by a friend because of where we live.
The Wirral is a little nub of land that sticks out of the country on the west and lies between two rivers, the Dee and the Mersey, which merge into the Irish Sea. It’s a tiny strip in the scheme of things, but there is a strong possibility that this was the site that created England.
Historians know that the Battle of Brunanburh took place, and they agree that it was the clincher that would either allow the Anglo-Saxon king Æthelstan to unite all of England or lose virtually everything to the Vikings and their allies. Some serious high stakes poker game.
What has been disputed, was where the battle actually occurred. There are multiple possible locations but the two top contenders are, somewhere near the Humber Estuary in the east, or, the Wirral, in the west. Namely around Bebington and Bromborough.
Surprisingly, having a name that is really, really similar to the original battle name doesn’t automatically win you the prize. There requires, apparently, in the absence of contemporary sources fully in accord, archaeological proof which is still to be conclusively produced.
But proof doesn’t need to stop works of historical fiction from putting their theories forward and this book does just that.
War Lord is the 13th and final book in ‘The Last Kingdom’ series. I hadn’t read any of the previous ones but I don’t think that is necessary. The author provides the context where necessary for events or relationships that have occurred in the past but there is no huge exposition and we crack on with the main story from the off.
It’s not the usual type of book that I would read but it turned out to be quite an interesting page turner. There are battles, political machinations, and familial discord which are described engagingly. I read the book in conjunction with Wikipedia because although the main character Uhtred is fictional here, most of the others are real and there is a good historical skeleton on which the drama hangs.
This book doesn’t have the same depth and brilliance of that other historical fiction series, the Wolf Hall trilogy but not many books are that good. It did keep me fairly entertained, however, and I zipped through it quite quickly. I don’t think the other books call to me but we have started watching the Netflix serialisation which is less effort than reading and rather good fun.
The ending, of course, which was the reason the book came our way, is pure speculation, but is set out quite reasonably. The battle of battles takes place on our Wirral peninsula and quite possibly, but maybe not, very close to where we live!
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