End of Days by James Wilde
Reviewed by Keith McCoy, Somerset
County Library System
Originally Submitted to Library Journal
Two mighty warriors play an
uncharacteristic cat-and-mouse game in post-Hastings England in this third
volume of Wilde’s saga about the legendary English insurgent, Hereward. William the Conqueror (or the Bastard as the
locals called him) has spent the four years since his arrival from Normandy
burning and pillaging his way across the Sceptered Isle to put down resistance
to his taking of the crown. Only
Hereward, cornered in Ely in the fen country, remains. A matched pair in ferocity and cruelty, the
king and the rebel feint and probe the forces of each other, while Hereward
simultaneously ponders getting revenge on his treacherous brother Redwald. The battle scenes are just as gruesome as in
the earlier books, but there is also a sly gamesmanship this time, with the
fate of the nation in the balance. Verdict: This is the equally vivid but
alternate viewpoint to James Aitcheson’s series, which covers the same place
and time period from the Norman perspective.
Those who read novels for the history and the battle action will want to
read both authors in order to judge which side to root for.
