After finishing the Arthur trilogy (the Winter King, etc), I immediately hopped up to the library and got all of the books in the Saxon series; days later I had surgery, and after pretty much sleeping for two days straight,I began the series with a vengeance.

The Saxon series is narrated by Uhtred, also a warrior but a bit more of a meat-head than Derfel, who is relatively quite a poet. At the same time, he seems to be more characteristic of the age in which he lives, more brutish, less sensitive, and Cornwell writes him as a character who is constantly growing and maturing with the reader. Uhtred is a Saxon, but he was adopted by Danes as a young boy. His heart is with the Danes in Northumbria, but throughout the course of the books his life thread aligns him to Alred (the Great) and Wessex, fighting against the Vikings to maintain a Saxon identity in at least part of England. Still, he straddles the line, keeping up relationships with the Danes and the West Saxons.

Great combination of storytelling and history, but I think on the whole the series could be shortened. Uhtred is arrogant, bitter at parts, and a pompous story teller, constantly repeating stories about himself and themes he thinks are impressive or self-consciously poetic (I say "he" because this is not consistently Cornwell's writing style and I choose to think that Cornwell does this consciously). The story is also very winding (too much so?); Uhtred seems to live forever - and Cornwell is not even finished writing it!

Even with these small annoyances, the stories are intriguing and I found the books to be page-turners (finishing each within two days). At the end of each one, I poured over Cornwell's historic note, untangling fact from fiction, and over the course of the books, I learned a lot about Alfred and his era in English history. It was also interesting to read the Saxon tales after the Arthurian stories, as Arthur is battling against invading Saxon forces; then ultimately the Saxons push the Britons back to Wales, and the reader is rooting for them in the fight against invading Vikings. Overall, a great read and a fun way to learn about this period in history.