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The Saxon Tales Series Books 1 - 6 Collection Set By Bernard Cornwell
Please Note That The Following Individual Books As Per Original ISBN and Cover Image In this Listing shall be Dispatched
The Saxon Tales Series Books 1 - 6 Collection Set by Bernard
The Last
In the middle years of the ninth century, the fierce Danes stormed onto British soil, hungry for spoils and conquest. Kingdom after kingdom fell to the ruthless invaders until but one realm remained. And suddenly the fate of all England.
The Pale
As the last unvanquished piece of England, Wessex is eyed hungrily by the fearsome Viking conquerors. Uhtred, a dispossessed young nobleman, is tied to the imperiled land by birth and marriage but was raised by the Danish invaders.
Lords of the
The year is 878. Uhtred, the dispossessed son of a Northumbrian lord, has helped the Saxons of Wessex defeat the invading Danes. Now, finally free of his allegiance to the victorious, ungrateful King Alfred.
Sword
The fourth installment of Bernard Cornwell’s New York Times bestselling series chronicling the epic saga of the making of England, “like Game of Thrones, but real” (The Observer, London)—the basis for The Last Kingdom.
The Burning
At the end of the ninth century, with King Alfred of Wessex in ill health and his heir still an untested youth, it falls to Alfred’s reluctant warlord Uhtred to outwit and outbattle the invading enemy Danes.
Death of
As the ninth century wanes, Alfred the Great lies dying, his lifelong goal of a unified England in peril, his kingdom on the brink of chaos. Though his son, Edward, has been named his successor.
The Saxon Tales Series Books 1 - 6 Collection Set by Bernard
The Last
In the middle years of the ninth century, the fierce Danes stormed onto British soil, hungry for spoils and conquest. Kingdom after kingdom fell to the ruthless invaders until but one realm remained. And suddenly the fate of all England.
The Pale
As the last unvanquished piece of England, Wessex is eyed hungrily by the fearsome Viking conquerors. Uhtred, a dispossessed young nobleman, is tied to the imperiled land by birth and marriage but was raised by the Danish invaders.
Lords of the
The year is 878. Uhtred, the dispossessed son of a Northumbrian lord, has helped the Saxons of Wessex defeat the invading Danes. Now, finally free of his allegiance to the victorious, ungrateful King Alfred.
Sword
The fourth installment of Bernard Cornwell’s New York Times bestselling series chronicling the epic saga of the making of England, “like Game of Thrones, but real” (The Observer, London)—the basis for The Last Kingdom.
The Burning
At the end of the ninth century, with King Alfred of Wessex in ill health and his heir still an untested youth, it falls to Alfred’s reluctant warlord Uhtred to outwit and outbattle the invading enemy Danes.
Death of
As the ninth century wanes, Alfred the Great lies dying, his lifelong goal of a unified England in peril, his kingdom on the brink of chaos. Though his son, Edward, has been named his successor.
2133 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2022
4 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Bernard Cornwell
537 books19.1k followersCornwell was born in London in 1944. His father was a Canadian airman, and his mother, who was English, a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. He was adopted and brought up in Essex by the Wiggins family, who were members of the Peculiar People, a strict Protestant sect who banned frivolity of all kinds and even medicine. After he left them, he changed his name to his birth mother's maiden name, Cornwell.
Cornwell was sent away to Monkton Combe School, attended the University of London, and after graduating, worked as a teacher. He attempted to enlist in the British armed services at least three times but was rejected on the grounds of myopia.
He then joined BBC's Nationwide and was promoted to become head of current affairs at BBC Northern Ireland. He then joined Thames Television as editor of Thames News. He relocated to the United States in 1980 after marrying an American. Unable to get a green card, he started writing novels, as this did not require a work permit.
As a child, Cornwell loved the novels of C.S. Forester, chronicling the adventures of fictional British naval officer Horatio Hornblower during the Napoleonic Wars, and was surprised to find there were no such novels following Lord Wellington's campaign on land. Motivated by the need to support himself in the U.S. through writing, Cornwell decided to write such a series. He named his chief protagonist Richard Sharpe, a rifleman involved in most major battles of the Peninsular War.
Cornwell wanted to start the series with the Siege of Badajoz but decided instead to start with a couple of "warm-up" novels. These were Sharpe's Eagle and Sharpe's Gold, both published in 1981. Sharpe's Eagle was picked up by a publisher, and Cornwell got a three-book deal. He went on to tell the story of Badajoz in his third Sharpe novel, Sharpe's Company, published in 1982.
Cornwell and wife Judy co-wrote a series of novels, published under the pseudonym "Susannah Kells". These were A Crowning Mercy, published in 1983, Fallen Angels in 1984, and Coat of Arms (aka The Aristocrats) in 1986. (Cornwell's strict Protestant upbringing informed the background of A Crowning Mercy, which took place during the English Civil War.) In 1987, he also published Redcoat, an American Revolutionary War novel set in Philadelphia during its 1777 occupation by the British.
After publishing eight books in his ongoing Sharpe series, Cornwell was approached by a production company interested in adapting them for television. The producers asked him to write a prequel to give them a starting point to the series. They also requested that the story feature a large role for Spanish characters to secure co-funding from Spain. The result was Sharpe’s Rifles, published in 1987, and a series of Sharpe television films staring Sean Bean.
A series of contemporary thrillers with sailing as a background and common themes followed: Wildtrack published in 1988, Sea Lord (aka Killer's Wake) in 1989, Crackdown in 1990, Stormchild in 1991, and Scoundrel, a political thriller, in 1992.
In June 2006, Cornwell was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's 80th Birthday Honours List.
Cornwell's latest work, Azincourt, was released in the UK in October 2008. The protagonist is an archer who participates in the Battle of Agincourt, another devastating defeat suffered by the French in the Hundred Years War. However, Cornwell has stated that it will not be about Thomas of Hookton from The Grail Quest or any of his relatives.
Cornwell was sent away to Monkton Combe School, attended the University of London, and after graduating, worked as a teacher. He attempted to enlist in the British armed services at least three times but was rejected on the grounds of myopia.
He then joined BBC's Nationwide and was promoted to become head of current affairs at BBC Northern Ireland. He then joined Thames Television as editor of Thames News. He relocated to the United States in 1980 after marrying an American. Unable to get a green card, he started writing novels, as this did not require a work permit.
As a child, Cornwell loved the novels of C.S. Forester, chronicling the adventures of fictional British naval officer Horatio Hornblower during the Napoleonic Wars, and was surprised to find there were no such novels following Lord Wellington's campaign on land. Motivated by the need to support himself in the U.S. through writing, Cornwell decided to write such a series. He named his chief protagonist Richard Sharpe, a rifleman involved in most major battles of the Peninsular War.
Cornwell wanted to start the series with the Siege of Badajoz but decided instead to start with a couple of "warm-up" novels. These were Sharpe's Eagle and Sharpe's Gold, both published in 1981. Sharpe's Eagle was picked up by a publisher, and Cornwell got a three-book deal. He went on to tell the story of Badajoz in his third Sharpe novel, Sharpe's Company, published in 1982.
Cornwell and wife Judy co-wrote a series of novels, published under the pseudonym "Susannah Kells". These were A Crowning Mercy, published in 1983, Fallen Angels in 1984, and Coat of Arms (aka The Aristocrats) in 1986. (Cornwell's strict Protestant upbringing informed the background of A Crowning Mercy, which took place during the English Civil War.) In 1987, he also published Redcoat, an American Revolutionary War novel set in Philadelphia during its 1777 occupation by the British.
After publishing eight books in his ongoing Sharpe series, Cornwell was approached by a production company interested in adapting them for television. The producers asked him to write a prequel to give them a starting point to the series. They also requested that the story feature a large role for Spanish characters to secure co-funding from Spain. The result was Sharpe’s Rifles, published in 1987, and a series of Sharpe television films staring Sean Bean.
A series of contemporary thrillers with sailing as a background and common themes followed: Wildtrack published in 1988, Sea Lord (aka Killer's Wake) in 1989, Crackdown in 1990, Stormchild in 1991, and Scoundrel, a political thriller, in 1992.
In June 2006, Cornwell was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's 80th Birthday Honours List.
Cornwell's latest work, Azincourt, was released in the UK in October 2008. The protagonist is an archer who participates in the Battle of Agincourt, another devastating defeat suffered by the French in the Hundred Years War. However, Cornwell has stated that it will not be about Thomas of Hookton from The Grail Quest or any of his relatives.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 21, 2023
So, I jumped on the Uhtred fan-wagon when I watched The Last Kingdom on Netflix, and being a sucker for the source material of anything on screen, I toddled off to pick up the boxed set for my reading pleasure. The Saxon Tales series contains books 1-6, The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, Lords of the North, Sword Song, The Burning Land and Death of Kings, which admittedly took me quite a while to work my way through, considering how little time I really have for reading.
First off, it's quite interesting seeing where the series veers off from the books. There's a whole part where Uhtred and his merry band of misfits go a-viking, which was not adapted. If you're looking for all the bonus Uhtred content, however, you can't go wrong with the books. I do feel that to a large degree the screen adaption managed to capture the essence of Uhtred's character, if not the depth. Because we do rather see a lot more of his inner landscape in the books.
The problem also of reading books back to back in a boxed set is you eventually lose track of who did what to whom and when, and which events take place in which order. So, I'll admit, it all became a bit of a blur for me, which was further compounded by the fact that I was watching new seasons of the series on telly. But on the whole, the writing holds up well, and I was entertained – which counts for something.
I will admit that my inner editor got a bit stabby with Cornwell's love for modifiers on his dialogue tags, she said sarcastically. But hey, every author has their quirks. This one jumped out and grabbed my eyeballs, but I could overlook it on most occasions. And eye-rolled with a snarky giggle otherwise.
There is a Thing, that Uhtred does in one of the books that I felt was a wee bit unnecessary, and it involves animal cruelty. Okay, so I know Cornwell is writing as close as he can to be authentic with the culture of the time, and yes, I know this sort of thing happened often, and was considered a norm among heathens honouring their gods, but ... it was so randomly one occasion in the entire story when Uhtred doesn't do The Thing. Which kinda gutted me but hey... I've read worse. There were one or two moments also, specifically related to a deception Uhtred instigates using Sihtric, which worked on screen but didn't work in the novel primarily because it involved Uhtred withholding the information from the readers – it felt forced in the book. And I would have taken Cornwell to task for that, even if Uhtred is a somewhat unreliable narrator at times.
As far as historical novels go, I've got to give it to Cornwell for being so prolific, and for writing such engaging characters. I've gone out and purchased book 7 immediately. The Saxon Tales are action-packed, adventure-filled stories that do the job of bringing a turbulent period of the British Isles' history to life, and has most certainly awakened a hunger in me to do more research.
First off, it's quite interesting seeing where the series veers off from the books. There's a whole part where Uhtred and his merry band of misfits go a-viking, which was not adapted. If you're looking for all the bonus Uhtred content, however, you can't go wrong with the books. I do feel that to a large degree the screen adaption managed to capture the essence of Uhtred's character, if not the depth. Because we do rather see a lot more of his inner landscape in the books.
The problem also of reading books back to back in a boxed set is you eventually lose track of who did what to whom and when, and which events take place in which order. So, I'll admit, it all became a bit of a blur for me, which was further compounded by the fact that I was watching new seasons of the series on telly. But on the whole, the writing holds up well, and I was entertained – which counts for something.
I will admit that my inner editor got a bit stabby with Cornwell's love for modifiers on his dialogue tags, she said sarcastically. But hey, every author has their quirks. This one jumped out and grabbed my eyeballs, but I could overlook it on most occasions. And eye-rolled with a snarky giggle otherwise.
There is a Thing, that Uhtred does in one of the books that I felt was a wee bit unnecessary, and it involves animal cruelty. Okay, so I know Cornwell is writing as close as he can to be authentic with the culture of the time, and yes, I know this sort of thing happened often, and was considered a norm among heathens honouring their gods, but ... it was so randomly one occasion in the entire story when Uhtred doesn't do The Thing. Which kinda gutted me but hey... I've read worse. There were one or two moments also, specifically related to a deception Uhtred instigates using Sihtric, which worked on screen but didn't work in the novel primarily because it involved Uhtred withholding the information from the readers – it felt forced in the book. And I would have taken Cornwell to task for that, even if Uhtred is a somewhat unreliable narrator at times.
As far as historical novels go, I've got to give it to Cornwell for being so prolific, and for writing such engaging characters. I've gone out and purchased book 7 immediately. The Saxon Tales are action-packed, adventure-filled stories that do the job of bringing a turbulent period of the British Isles' history to life, and has most certainly awakened a hunger in me to do more research.
April 29, 2022
Great series. I wish I could be a shadow walker.
December 25, 2022
A very long book but it worths the reading. I'm curious of the following. The TV series has been told differently for a few characters.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews