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Bernard Cornwell: The Winter King

abecedarian

abecedarian

Well-Known Member
Camelot without a hint of fairy dust! Cornwell resists the temptation to allow Arthur's story to be merely a children's bedtime story. Instead he focuses on the real value of Arthur's legacy; his vision of uniting Britain's peoples against a common enemy, the Saxons. I appreciated the insight into the time most scholars believe Arthur may have lived. What a lot was happening in Britain in the 6th century. Between the numerous wars among the smaller kingdoms, the invading Saxons, and the clash of cultures and ideology between Pagan an Christian beliefs, the times were tumultuous indeed. Against this dramatic backdrop, Cornwell sets the familiar characters we've seen in the Arthurian legends: Merlin, Morgan, Mordred, Galahad, Lancelot, Owan, Guinivere, and Arthur himself. What distinguishes this story from the others, we see them as ordinary human beings, with all the good and bad qualities an honest person sees when they look at themselves in a mirror. The characters ring true as they work out their parts of the Story,and win or fail as the plot twists and turns.
Since Cornwell didn't follow earlier 'scripts' for his retelling of Arthur's tale, the characters sometimes behaved unexpectedly (to me) so I had a tough time putting the book down. Highly reccomended.
 
Very good review,very serious!
I also love this book,i specialy find his description of the period original and realistic.The druids are filthy nutters with dread locks screaming insanity, oping on one leg before battles.Insted of the usual white claded,white bearded,serene and wise.
The evil caracteres(Lancelot)drives you made-they are utterly despicable.I find it escencial for the bad one to be a acomplished,they sort of keep you going.You want them to pay for their treachery.
The question is Abecedarian, are you going to read Enemy of god,and excalibur?
 
How could I not read them? I need to see how Derfel goes from warrior to priest, if nothing else! That alone would be a pretty interesting story, I'm sure.
 
Thanks for the review, abecedarian. I've always liked the story of King Author. I'll put this on the must read list. I gather from saliotthomas that this is the first in a series?
 
I think I tried reading this, but gave up on it. It was my first (and only) Bernard Cornwell book, and I just felt it got bogged down with too much detail about the various battles.
 
angerball said:
It was my first (and only) Bernard Cornwell book, and I just felt it got bogged down with too much detail about the various battles.
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That is what I love about Cornwell's writing - he does go into the finer details :)

ABC, if you enjoy Cornwell's syle of writing you might want to look into his other works (after you have finished with his Arthur trilogy). Stonehenge is a good read, as is his Grail Quest series. I am currently part way through his Saxon stories :)
 
Ice said:
That is what I love about Cornwell's writing - he does go into the finer details :)

ABC, if you enjoy Cornwell's syle of writing you might want to look into his other works (after you have finished with his Arthur trilogy). Stonehenge is a good read, as is his Grail Quest series. I am currently part way through his Saxon stories :)
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I had a seriously difficult time putting Stonehenge back on the shelf at Borders last week. It looked like something I'd love.
 
Stonehenge was a bit of a disapointement to me,but i think i was due to the reader(of the audio book)
The heretic serie is great,maybe robert could do a review on it?
Saxon stories are also very good,i'm waiting for the unabridge version of the audio
The people with an interrest for the civil war in america should find the Starbuck chronicles a real delight(have very little knowledge and interrest i loved it)
The galow thief as a stand alone book is excelent,
the sharps series got me lost,i liked it but found it difficult to difference one from the other .the ones in India are the best
 
angerball said:
I think I tried reading this, but gave up on it. It was my first (and only) Bernard Cornwell book, and I just felt it got bogged down with too much detail about the various battles.
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Same here, for the same reason. I really like reading Arthurian novels, but I couldn't get into this one. He seemed to me to be trying too hard to be different.
 
I have only read Sharpes Havoc and I did enjoy it but I don't know if I would pick up another of his books.
 
Libra said:
I have only read Sharpes Havoc and I did enjoy it but I don't know if I would pick up another of his books.
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Sharpes book are very alike-Winter king is great book,If you like pillars of earth,this is ten times better.(for me anyway!)
 
Another interesting [realistic] Arthurian Legend series is by Jack Whyte, beginning with The Skystone. But Mary Stewart's will always be my favorite, although y'all have sorta convinced me to read Cornwells.
 
I like both those series a lot. I also really liked the first two books of the Tales of Arthur from Patricia Kenneally's Keltiad series (The Hawks' Grey Feather and The Oak Above the Kings), but I wasn't very impressed by the last one (The Silver Branch).
 
Well, that's the thing, after a while they run out of gas, I read the first 5 or 6 or Whyte's and then stopped, I know there are 7 at least, but in a rare mood of clearing out I traded my Whyte's at the second hand book store. Now I kind of wish I hadn't. But not enough to repurchase them.

I found a nice second hand copy on Amazon of the Cornwell and ordered it.
 
If I still have the Cornwell book around, maybe I'll give it another try. I'm just afraid it's one of the books that went to Goodwill last time we moved.
 
Pontalba,thanks for the two references,i shall look for them.I hope you like Cornwell,it's not to everyone taste but it surely stand out in the historical fiction genre.
 
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