I really do like the straightforward prose in this series. I feel like it fits well with Uhtred's personality and how he would tell a story.

There weren't as many battles in this book as in the first, and that worked well since for the majority of this book Alfred and the Saxons are pretty much hiding and trying to build up their ranks.

Uhtred grows more as a character. He's only 21 in this book, but he's seen some shit and is already growing tired and becoming more mature and seasoned.

I love the historical note in the back where Cornwell goes over who were real and what things really did happen, as well as what characters and events were either made up by him or were based on folklore. ( )

Another very enjoyable one, although I wonder how Alfred didn’t remember Kjartan (if I spelled that right) when he had so much information on him in the first book, but I digress. I enjoy these immensely, even if Uhtred forsakes the Danes and helps the Saxons. ( )

En un tiempo y un mundo dominado por el fuego, la espada y la traición, el joven Uhtred se enfrenta a un dilema: luchar al lado de los vikingos daneses entre los que se ha educado o hacerlo al lado del rey Alfredo el Grande de Wessex, por quien no siente simplatía alguna, debido a su forma de imponer el cristianismo entre s us seguidores. Habrá que esperar a ver de dónde sopla el viento para conseguir estar al lado del vencedor en la terrible lucha que, a finales ya del siglo IX, está a punto de sacudir lo que queda del último reino inglés.Entrelazando las historias personales del guerrero pagano Uhtred y el rey cristiano Alfredo con los acontecimientos históricos, Bernard Cornwell relata con brillantez los embates de los vikingos destinados a acabar de una vez por todas con el reino anglo-sajón.

Uhtred is an arrogant warrior by now standing between the Danish warriors he respects and the pious Christian king whom he dislikes. This is the story of how Alfred, forced to be a fugitive in a few miles of swampland, fights his enemies against overwhelming odds . ( )

“The Pale Horseman”, book two in Bernard Cornwell’s “Saxon Stories”, picks up right where we left Uthred in “The Last Kingdom”.

The Danes overrun Wessex and King Alfred has to hide in a swamp. And that’s my one small gripe about this book: We get to know that swamp pretty damn well.
Large parts of “Horseman” take place in the swamp and it’s a bleak place.

Apart from that there’s everything the first book had: Action, battles, betrayal, politics!

It adds new and exciting characters (Iseult!), places, intrigues and much more. At its core, “Horseman” is, fortunately, more of the same as “The Last Kingdom” and if you liked that one, it’s highly likely you’ll enjoy this one, too.

Now, you’ll have to excuse me again because right after the last page of this book, I started reading its successor and had a hard time making room for writing this!

Four out of five stars!

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