Sword of Kings follows Uhtred as he makes mistake after mistake. For the first time really in the entire series, Uhtred’s penchant for impetuous decision-making and lack of communication with anybody significant in his life stacks up against him.

A similar trail of mistakes followed in Uhtred’s wake in War of the Wolf. The difference in Sword of Kings is that in the moment, every single one of Uhtred’s mistakes makes sense. He rationalizes to the reader as he proceeds, but events turn against him for various reasons, and by the time you reach the final confrontation, you’re left wondering a) how the hell did we get here, and b) how the hell is Uhtred getting out of this one alive?

Uhtred ultimately faces the most humiliating moment of his life. The shame, regret, and fear he demonstrates thereafter is poignant as a side of Uhtred we’ve never seen. After several books of seeming invincibility to anyone else’s ambitions and his own brashness, Uhtred is brought as low as possible, and he has to be convinced by those closest to him to either give in or fight for his own dignity.

My only nitpick is the quite flippant disposal of a few characters in Uhtred’s life, treated with little more than a footnote at the end of the story. Without giving away anything, I think these characters had lost their own purpose in Uhtred’s stories, and perhaps made room for new characters and narrative developments, but these are not realized until the next book.

This is perhaps one of the best novels of the series.