I’ve just discovered a book review e-mag titled Crime Review that comes out twice monthly and is devoted to releases from UK publishers. To my delight their reviewer John Cleal takes a look at The Price of Blood in their January 2016 issue. Here’s an excerpt, followed by a link to the full review. Take a long look at their site. There is plenty of juicy stuff there!
Patricia Bracewell has produced a masterpiece which has shades of George RR Martin’s early Game of Thrones and echoes Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Chronicles (indeed, one of Uhtred’s descendants plays a role).
The rivalries of the court and a grim record of brutal acts illuminate the fears, affections and struggles of her characters. A beleaguered Æthelred, still haunted by the ghost of the brother whose murder at Corfe Castle he at least connived at, governs with an iron fist, his primary policy, which embraces casual murder, to keep his strongest leaders fighting each other so they will not rebel. Blinded by mistrust of his elder sons and his queen, he leves England vulnerable to a rising tide of Viking raids.