Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

What an unsatisfactory read. I love this series but I almost didn't finish this book. It was completely predictable and fairly boring. I had to constantly stop myself from just flipping through the pages. I connected very little with the Uhtred of this book; he was idiotic and foolish (I knew 100 pages before he did what was really going on), acted old, confused and inept, and I quickly grew tired of it. I "get" aging, but reading about someone whining about it isn't all that interesting. Favorite characters who made an appearance added nothing noteworthy to the story. Their interactions with each other fell flat. The villain was not very interesting and was just a rehash of past villains. In fact, just about all of the "new" characters were a rehash of past characters. Even Uhtred's reaction to the major event of the book was almost exactly like his reaction to a similar past event in his life. In other words, more rehash. As for the major event itself, I found it completely unnecessary unless Cornwell just wants to give Uhtred more reasons to be a miserable old man. Lastly, Cornwell left readers hanging in book 10 when Uhtred, after more than 50 years of dreaming about it, finally took back Bebbanburg. We received no insight into how that monumental event impacted Uhtred and his life. I thought leaving readers hanging was a teaser and surely Cornwell would at least mention it in the next book. Nope, not a word. Readers are left with that void. I am so very disappointed in this book. Fans of this series and of the character called Uhtred deserved far better than this limp effort.