Mr. Cornwell,I am a big fan of yours, ever since I ran across “The Archers Tale” while shopping at a Costco store. Since then I’ve purchased and read the Grail Quest series, all of the Sharpe Series (even watched every episode), The Warlord chronicles, Stonehenge, Gallows Thief,and the four Saxon Tales. Now, with that being said I was very excited to run across The Burning Land. I live in Texas, but the cover (according to your site) is from the UK. (The bookstore had five hardback copies of it.) I immediately picked it up, because I’ve been waiting for the follow up to Sword Song. Mr. Cornwell, to be very honest with you, I was rather upset and felt somewhat “cheated” as it were, that upon getting myself situated in my library and diving into it, it began to seem familiar. By page 21 the Deja’vu really set in, and by page 24 I had to pull the cover off to see if it matched the book! You are an excellent novelist and I have recommended you to several friends and even to a gentleman across the aisle from me on a flight back from Seattle Tuesday when he asked me what I was reading. This book however has me perplexed. I even pulled out the other books to check myself and the pages in The Burning Land look like a cut-n-paste of the first four. I mean The last paragraph in Sword song is, “The long oars dipped, the riverbanks closed on us, and in the west the smoke of Lundene smudged the summer sky”. The Burning Lands last paragraph is, “The long oars dipped, the riverbanks closed on us, and in the west the smoke of Lundene veiled the sky”. Is The Burning Land intended to be a compilation of the first four? I’m sorry to ramble on, but I just want to get an understanding of this books intent in the Saxon series. I do look forward to the next ones release in January 2012. Thank you, and I look forward to your response. Sincerely; Walter White Rowlett, TX