The Last Kingdom
From Bernard Cornwell, the New York Times bestselling author whom the Washington Post calls "perhaps the greatest writer of historical adventure novels today," comes a saga of blood, rage, fidelity, and betrayal that brings to center stage King Alfred the Great, one of the most crucial (but oft-forgotten) figures in English history. It is King Alfred and his heirs who, in the ninth and tenth centuries, with their backs against the wall, fought to secure the survival of the last outpost of Anglo-Saxon culture by battling the ferocious Vikings, whose invading warriors had already captured and occupied three of England's four kingdoms.Bernard Cornwell's epic novel opens in A.D. 866. Uhtred, a boy of ten and the son of a nobleman, is captured in the same battle that leaves his father dead. His captor is the Earl Ragnar, a Danish chieftain, who raises the boy as his own, teaching him the Viking ways of war. As a young man expected to take part in raids and bloody massacres against the English, he grapples with divided loyalties -- between Ragnar, the warrior he loves like a father, and Alfred, whose piety and introspection leave him cold. It takes a terrible slaughter and the unexpected
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about The Last Kingdom
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In 866, a Danish raiding fleet kills the Saxon ealdorman of Bebbanburg and takes his ten-year-old son Uhtred, who is raised inside the warband of his captor Earl Ragnar. Years later, with Wessex squeezed by the Great Heathen Army, Uhtred has to choose between Ragnar's hall and Alfred's court.
Bernard Cornwell wrote 13 books in The Saxon Stories (also known as The Last Kingdom Series), beginning with The Last Kingdom and ending with War Lord. The series is complete.
Yes. BBC and Netflix produced five seasons of The Last Kingdom from 2015 to 2022, plus a 2023 follow-up film, Seven Kings Must Die. The show adapts the Saxon Stories with significant condensation.
The Last Kingdom was written by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2004 by Record.
The Last Kingdom is 474 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Last Kingdom takes most readers 7 to 10 hours to finish.
The Last Kingdom is a standalone novel by Bernard Cornwell, not part of a series.
The Last Kingdom is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.