With The Burning Land, Bernard Cornwell’s tale of the forging of England by King Alfred of Wessex enters its fifth volume, and readers of the series will have a good idea of what to expect. There are few deviations from Cornwell’s traditional approach here: no-nonsense Viking-raised Saxon warrior Uhtred is still caught between two camps – the pious, Christian-dominated court of Alfred, and the Vikings with who his heart lies. More than ever, he wants to leave Alfred and recapture the ancestral fortress that his uncle stole from him at the beginning of his tale, Bebbanburg, so he can settle down and leave war, and Alfred, behind him.

But, he can’t, not yet. The reason the land is burning is because marauding Vikings keep setting fire to things, rampaging across Wessex. Uhtred, Alfred’s reluctant warlord still, oath-sworn to a man he respects but doesn’t like, must neutralise one band of invaders through bribery, and defeat the others in battle, which he does, at Fearnhamme (Farnham, in Surrey). It’s a great victory, the most comprehensive ever achieved over the invaders, but Alfred, ever uneasy with Uhtred’s pagan beliefs, allows a situation to develop that leaves Uhtred no choice – he must abandon the king and the court that he has done so much to defend, and join his Viking brothers in the north.

While in the Viking lands, Uhtred makes serious efforts to reconnoiter how he might recapture Bebbanburg – but it becomes clear he will need substantial numbers of men to do it, and for men he needs money. He embarks on some voyages in search of plunder, and encounters some characters who will be important in the future, but is no closer to achieving his aim when Alfred’s daughter sends for him, achieving what her father cannot in tying Uhtred back to the West Saxon cause. Once again, Uhtred has a battle to fight – this time a desperate encounter with a well-entrenched Viking force in Cornwell’s native Essex.

There are no great shocks or surprises in The Burning Land – Cornwell has his formula, and he follows it effectively. The battle scenes, as always, are very well written and you get a genuine sense of the bloody desperation of combat in the shield wall; the tension between Christian and pagan is effectively conveyed, and I always enjoy Uhtred’s take on the Christian faith; most impressively, the disquiet that Uhtred feels in both camps is clear, and this may be the first volume where he starts to realise that, however much he may think himself a Viking, his fate is inextricably linked with that of Alfred and his lineage in Wessex. Enjoyable, as always.

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