Last Kingdom (formerly Saxon Tales)

14 books in series
5 out of 5 stars 19,458 ratings

The Last Kingdom Summary

Caught up in the power struggle between two kings, powerless to stop the bloodshed and compelled to take a side, this is a powerful tale of loyalty, war and the struggle to survive.

The first book in a brand-new series, The Last Kingdom is set in England during the reign of King Alfred.

Uhtred is an English boy, born into the aristocracy of ninth-century Northumbria. Orphaned at 10, he is captured and adopted by a Dane and taught the Viking ways. Yet Uhtred's fate is indissolubly bound up with Alfred, King of Wessex, who rules over the only English kingdom to survive the Danish assault.

The struggle between the English and the Danes and the strife between christianity and paganism is the background to Uhtred's growing up. He is left uncertain of his loyalties but a slaughter in a winter dawn propels him to the English side and he will become a man just as the Danes launch their fiercest attack yet on Alfred's kingdom. Marriage ties him further still to the West Saxon cause but when his wife and child vanish in the chaos of the Danish invasion, Uhtred is driven to face the greatest of the Viking chieftains in a battle beside the sea. There, in the horror of the shield-wall, he discovers his true allegiance.

The Last Kingdom, like most of Bernard Cornwell's books, is firmly based on true history. It is the first novel of a series that will tell the tale of Alfred the Great and his descendants and of the enemies they faced, Viking warriors like Ivar the Boneless and his feared brother, Ubba. Against their lives Bernard Cornwell has woven a story of divided loyalties, reluctant love, and desperate heroism. In Uhtred, he has created one of his most interesting and heroic characters and in The Last Kingdom one of his most powerful and passionate novels.

©2004 Bernard Cornwell (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Show More Show Less
Not an Audible member?
From £7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Product list
  • Book 1

    Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Book 2

    Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Book 3

    Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Book 4

    Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Book 5

    Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Book 6

    Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Book 7

    Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Book 8

    Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Book 9

    Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Book 10

    Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Book 11

    Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Book 12

    Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Book 13

    • The Last Kingdom Series, Book 13
    • By: Bernard Cornwell
    • Narrated by: Matt Bates
    • Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
    • Release date: 15-10-20
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 1,266 ratings

    Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Book 13.5

    Uhtred's Feast cover art
    Not Available on Audible.co.uk