The Burning Land: The Saxon Chronicles, Book 5

I have enjoyed this series so much that I have even bought the books directly from England and had them shipped to me so I wouldn't have to wait for the next installment! Uhtred of Bebbanburg is a wonderful, rough and rowdy character to view these tales through. These books have also drawn me to research the history that they are based on. I must say, I'm impressed with the quality of the historical accuracy and the overall texture of the stories.
Trust me, if you like history in the slightest you will be engrossed in the writings of Bernard Cornwell. This books is yet another spectacular example of his fine skills as a storyteller.

I have waited a long time to get this book and it was excellent. This series is quite addictive as I now have my wife reading them. This book kept me on the edge the entire time! However there was a narrator change between the last two and some of the names are pronounced differently but the story itself is wonderful and I cant wait to read/listen to the next one!

I am addicted to audio books, and have listened to hundreds of them. Cornwell is one of the very best writers of historical fiction. This book is full of action, with vivid descriptions of battles, a solid story line, and well-developed characters. I was entertained throughout the entire book. Narration was excellent. Cornwell has the ability to make me feel like i'm back in time. He has a unique way of helping the reader understand everyday life, in the 800's, in the context of action and intrigue. It never drags. This book, like AGINCOURT, is an excellent book, and the narration is so good that I would recommend the audible version over print. I highly recommend this book.

The Burning Land is another episode in the life of Uhtred from the Saxon Chronicles, in my personal opinion I much prefer the narration by John Lee than that of Jamie Glover who narrated the 4 books of the Saxon Chronicle. His accents are very good and he manages to convey the right sense of occasion in his delivery. As always Bernard Cornwell's descriptive writing style makes it so easy to imagine the scene as it is described, all in all a compelling read with good pace and a reasonable plot.

While "The Archer's Tale" Grailquest series remains my favorite Cornwell series with "The Warlord Chronicles" a close second, this series is terrific; be ready for great writing, historical detail and lots of way-too-real battle scenes.
The only problem with listening to Cornwell rather than reading him, is that I lack the maps I rely on to situate myself...had to stop here and there and google some medieval maps.
I had gotten used to Tom Sellwood as Uhtred's voice in the first 4 but soon got comfortable with and then liked John Lee very much as narrator. I am anxiously waiting for book 6 which Cornwell made clear is on it's way.
You really must read them all in order. I can't imagine jumping into this series at book 5....

I love all of these books! This is a great continuation of the story of Uthred. I do miss the previous narrator. It was hard to get used to the different style of reading. Once I got used to the new narrator I was able to enjoy the story. Overall I loved it!

This is a fun book and well read. It isn't great literature, but its entertaining and gives some history of the times of King Alfred.

I have been thoroughly enjoying the Saxon Chronicles, but as the books progress, Cornwell's anti-christian bias is getting a bit tiresome (even for historical fiction). I'm sure this comes from his adoptive parents belonging to some strange sect of Puritanism. His version of the early christian church in England would have one believe that 99.9% of the clergy were nothing but greedy, cowardly, power hungry fools. As a student of history he certainly knows better than that.

In any case, I still love the story but can't give it more than 3 stars.

This is a good story well narrated by the same person, John Lee, that narrated Pillars of the Earth. This book is not as good as Pillars but no book is. I still gave it five stars because I listened to it all night and did not sleep at all. I usually drift off after an hour or so but this story interested me. A lot like Agincourt with much fighting, blood and gore. Of course religion is causing war and misery in the tenth century, just like today. Women aren't treated kindly either, but I don't believe this book is targeting women. All in all I believe it is worth a credit to the gladiator crowd.

exciting fast moving

the forced betrayal

a sense of each charater he is my prefeered narrator for the series other books in the series had a different narrator and it just ruined a good story for me

the lose of his wife

no