Just completed Book 12 – Sword of Kings. I’ve been an avid of this whole series and look fwd to the concluding Book 13. The character of Uhtred has certainly mellowed and now he is much more of a thinker than he was and also now a confirmed believer in “fair play” I pick up too. Age seems not to have blunted his ability with the sword though! I was sad to see the deaths of so many of his family, all almost listed (a bit matter of factly!) in the penultimate page – but he seemed very accepting of that. Just one other thought there – linking back to Gisela. Gisela foretold about all of his 3 children and how their futures would enfold – however, she did say that Stiorra would be the mother of kings – given the demise of his two grandsons by Stiorra & Sigtrygger, it would seem that didn’t come to fruition?

Phil Whitehead