The answer, it seems, is getting tricked into fighting a war in someone else’s land.

While I always enjoy The Last Kingdom series to some extent, this installment felt too formulaic. The book opens with Uhtred outside of Bebbanburg, the nigh impenetrable fortress of which he is lord, for a dubious reason. Someone lured him there with a lie to try to ambush and kill him. Without giving away any spoilers, the rest of the narrative follows with similarly dubious decision-making by our usually cunning Uhtred.

There were some notable emotional stakes here that helped Uhtred’s individual development, and his fealty to King Sigtryggr of Eoforwic makes for some interesting politics. Aethelstan remains a compelling character, but his presence in this story merely feels like set-up for future stories.

This was not my favorite story in this series, but it was still entertaining.

Steve D