Saxon Saga

SWORD SONG

The Battle for London

By Bernard Cornwell

Harper. 314 pp. $25.95

Sword Song is the fourth installment in Bernard Cornwell's ambitious, ongoing account of the reign of Alfred the Great, one of the pivotal figures in English history. Alfred (849-99) was the visionary ruler of the small, independent kingdom of Wessex. A scholar, philosopher and devout Christian, he introduced the first codified set of laws to a fragmented, largely barbaric society. In addition, he successfully defended Wessex from the Danish hordes that dominated the surrounding kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia and began the process of expanding Wessex's sphere of influence over these rival kingdoms. This project, which occupied Alfred throughout his reign, laid the groundwork for the creation of the country that became England. Cornwell tells Alfred's story with wit, intelligence and absolute narrative authority.

That story began in The Last Kingdom (2005), which introduced Cornwell's acerbic narrator, Uhtred of Bebbanburg. Uhtred is a Saxon warrior who, as a child, was captured by the Danes and raised in the household of a Viking warrior. Though his deepest loyalties lie with his adoptive family's pagan traditions, Uhtred is bound -- by blood, history and sacred oath -- to Alfred. These conflicting loyalties dominate Uhtred's life and color the narrative at every turn.

As Sword Song opens, Uhtred's life has entered a period of unnatural -- and temporary -- calm. Happily married and the father of two, he spends his days in domestic and civil pursuits. But when Danish raiders occupy the city of Lundene (later known as London), Alfred orders Uhtred to eliminate the Danes and restore Saxon hegemony to the city. What follows is a complex, brutal tale in which Uhtred's divided loyalties and his considerable abilities as warrior, strategist and leader of men are severely tested. The battle for Lundene is just the opening move in a protracted struggle. That struggle culminates when Aethelflaed, Alfred's young, unhappily married daughter, is abducted by the Danes, an act with surprising ramifications and potentially disastrous consequences.

Like its predecessors, Sword Song offers a generous display of Cornwell's characteristic virtues: larger-than-life characters, direct, uncluttered prose and a precise evocation of the harsh realities of the distant past. As always, the battle scenes are particularly vivid, opening a window on the utter chaos of hand-to-hand combat among heavily armed bands of men. Cornwell remains in full control of this colorful, violent material, and his steadily deepening portrait of Alfred's nascent England continues to enthrall.

-- Bill Sheehan is the author of "At the Foot of the Story Tree" and co-editor of the recent anthology "Lords of the Razor."