The Empty Throne

Title: The Empty Throne

Author: Bernard Cornwell

Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2014
Pages: 353
Series: The Last Kingdom/ The Saxon Stories #8
Genre: Historical Fiction

Reading Time: 29 June - 12 July

Binding: Kindle
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★★★

Blurb:

 In the battle power, there can be only one ruler.

 The ruler of Mercia is dying, leaving no apparent heir. His wife is a born leader, but no woman has ever ruled over an English kingdom. And she is without her greatest warrior and champion, Uhtred of Bebbanburg.

 An empty throne leaves the kingdom exposed to rival West Saxons and to the Vikings, who are on a bloody rampage once more.

 A hero is needed, a hero who has been in battle all his life, who can destroy the double threat to Mercia. A hero who will ultimately decide the fate of a nation...

Review:

 Female characters, go! I mean, not massively but I definitely felt there was a surge of focus on female characters in this book and it was great. It's still based on true points of history and as a female reader that just makes it that little bit nicer to read of strong women, some fiction and some that truly did exist in the making of my country.

 The start of this book is good. Especially following the end of The Pagan Lord when we didn't really know the outcome of the final battle. We have a different point of view for the first time in the series and it's just a little bit of harmless trickery for our opening.

 Uhtred is unwell since the last battle of The Pagan Lord and healing history is a strange thing. He's battling his own health, those that fight for control of Mercia and those that continue to try and invade. Poor bloke never stops. . . 

 It's a real politically heavy setting this time. Powers are shifting and it's making all of our characters tense. The writing continues to provide an easy read and I notice Cornwell is pushing it a bit now with the ages of characters, he even mentioned it in an interview on the BBC!

 But these books always seem to come in a story of two halves and that last half was just fantastic. Eadith is a very interesting addition and Sigtryggr, just yes. Fantastic. Very good, can't wait to see him again.

 In comparison to the series which I'm watching again now there are more differences than some books. No Brida in the book, there hasn't been for a while, I'm waiting for her return or a nugget of information on her. The invasions are actioned differently but for more tension on screen, though I would have liked to see that final battle on screen, Sigtryggr is developed slightly differently and I feel hopeful for his return because of that. Some characters are present in the series but not the book. All interesting to see how it goes now that season 5 has been announced!