Jerry Webb

If I hadn’t read all Bernard Cornwell’s 13 excellent books in The Last Kingdom Chronicles I would have given this series 5 stars. Well written, well acted and they even pulled off great battle scenes with only a few people. When I first started watching the series on PBS they did a fairly good job sticking to the books. By season 5 under Netflix the story was nothing like the books. It’s like Netflix crammed books 5-13 into that last season. Very little followed the books, except for Uhtred reclaiming Bebbanburg. People lived that should have died. Many who did die, died in other ways. I get it, series like this are expensive and most don’t go past 5 seasons. It reminds me of Game of Thrones, so much more to tell, but let’s end it, and end it badly. If you really want a great story that merges factual history with a fictional main character, read Cornwell’s books. He’s a master at it.