Ed's review
Lords of the North, LP by Bernard Cornwell
Another part of the series started by "The Last Kingdom". I felt that this book doesn't stand so well on its own - it seems like Cornwell is trying to make a long running series a la Sharpe out of the Uhtred story, and in this book he seems to be trying to remedy some of the shortcomings of the previous books. Alfred, who was a fairly major player in the first two books, doesn't really appear much in this book, and it breaks the pattern of the climactic set piece battle set in the previous two books. furthermore, Cornwell seems to have become aware of the lack of depth of character of the other characters, and in this attempts to give them a bit more of a sense of (much needed) character and depth. However, chiefly this book seems to serve to advance the storyline of the series without really adding much new. Nonetheless, to existing fans it's well worth reading - to newcomers to the series I'd recommend reading the first two books first.
