DoK: Part One - The Sorceress - Chapter 1-5

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Section 1

Please keep all discussion and speculation to the events of Chapters 1-5.

No spoiler tags required. Though it would be highly appreciated if you Uncheck Add to my Update Feed to avoid accidentally spoiling things for your good read friends.

Please do not discuss events from later sections/books. Referring back to events from a previous book is fine.

[Suzanne]

Uhtred is such a master strategist - I love how he figures stuff out. The highlight of this section was probably the ship burning, but I did feel really really sorry for the ship builder.

[Ctgt]

I felt a twinge as well, Suzanne.
Seems as though he's made another enemy in Sigurd Sigurdson.
Feels like you can't get two steps without bumping in to another sorceress.

[Suzanne]

Ha yeah, they are everywhere. And the prophecy that 7 kings will die - I suppose it's also good that you can't get two steps without bumping into another king. Seriously every time now I hear "King ____" I'm thinking "you're gonna die!"

[Ctgt]

Was going over my notes for part two and forgot this one from part one. Loved the whole section with the magic fish;
especially this line
"That fish," he pointed a quivering finger at the bones, "was one of the two fishes our Lord used to feed the five thousand!"
"The other one must have been a damned big fish," I said. "what was it? A whale?"

[Suzanne]

Haha I forgot about that line - I'm glad you remembered!

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

I liked the ship builder too. I'm getting tired of Alfred and the shit way he treats Uthred. Sounds like that's finally coming to end in the next section.

I wonder if Cornwell doesn't like Christianity much. He makes most of the devout the worst people, while Uthred the pagan, while flawed is often one of the best people. There are exceptions of course, but they seem few and far between. I don't doubt that's historically accurate, hell I've met plenty of Christians who are far worse than a few atheists I know.

I love the way Uthred handles them though.

My biggest disappointment about this section wasn't that Uthred looks to be under false suspicion again, but that we didn't get to see Hild. I hope she shows up in the next section!

Oh and so our suspicions about Uthred hooking up with the King's daughter were correct. However whose this other woman he got? His beard? Or is he with both of them for real?

Nice line about the fish. I got a good laugh out of it when I first read it. This book is always so quotable.

[Suzanne]

I think it's a girl briefly mentioned last book that he found during the final battle wandering.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Yeah..but he was passing her off as his women..was she really?

He's never been a cheater despite all the women he's been with..

[Ctgt]

Rob wrote: " I wonder if Cornwell doesn't like Christianity much."

It seems like that but I think it may be more about the power of the church during this time. There certainly was plenty of corruption and the hording of wealth by the church. It's very easy to look back now and think about the abuse of authority by the early church, but let's face it, power corrupts.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

That's a good point Ctgt.

[Kat]

Rob wrote: " I wonder if Cornwell doesn't like Christianity much."

His adoptive parents were members of the Peculiar People sect in England. They regard pretty much everything as sin and spend their lives trying to avoid it. Even using the wrong type of handkerchief is a sin. He broke off contact with them as an adult and took his birth mother's maiden name as his last name. So yeah, I think you can say he's got it in for false pious Christianity.

But about the book:

Loved that he didn't really fall out with Sihtric. I was pretty shocked when they exchanged words and parted seemingly on the wrong foot in front of everyone.

And somebody needs to put a sword through Asser. Uhtred keeps saving Alfred's ass, and all Asser can do EVERY time is try to prosecute him for it. It's tiring.