The Pale Horseman (The Saxon Stories, #2)

The Pale Horseman is an excellent follow-up to The Last Kingdom. Being a big fan of the Netflix series, I have a prior bias toward this series by Bernard Cornwell. There are times when the plot moves a bit slowly in this book, but Cornwell's illustration of 9th century Wessex and the journey of Uhtred (an awesome character) is thoroughly enjoyable. He has that Game of Thrones style "nobody is safe" narrative in his stories, many of which are grounded in real history. I appreciate the afterwords in these novels that explain which elements are historically accurate and which were created as fictional devices. Bernard Cornwell is a master with his battle scenes. They are gory and graphic, but they recreate the battlefield experience and reel you in. Show-related note: Books #1 and #2 in The Saxon Stories only map to Season 1 of The Last Kingdom show. From what I hear, Books #3 and #4 map to Season 2. After that, there is some variance, but many key events are still lined up, roughly 2 books per 1 season. I'll certainly be continuing with these novels! Verdict: 83% Derek Dragonfruits 🐉🍈!