Bernard Cornwell - The Last Kingdom Series

THE LAST KINGDOM

I have just re-read Warriors in the Storm, just to jog my memory before reading The Flame Bearer. Like the Sharpe series the descriptions of life and particularly fighting are very believable, with Sharpe there are sources to describe what it was like as a starting point, but Uhtred has had to be imagined without the same sources. However he has constructed the world that is very believable , much more so that the rather silly TV Viking series, his description of fighting in a shield wall conveys how frightening it must have been.
The notes at the end where he tells us what he has made up puts the "History" into perspective, but I feel however he has conjured up the descriptions, they bring what is already a great story even more interest. I particularly like the arguments between the Pagan and Christian ways, and the ghosts of Rome that permeate the landscape.
A series just as enjoyable as Sharpe, and if my memory serves me well, Hornblower. I do like these sagas that use History as a backdrop to a "cracking yarn".