Rating: 
Summary: I loved the series but...
Review: Having read every book Mr Cornwell has published, I probably shouldn't dwell on a trivial issue, but it does bother me. In a number of places in the first volume there is refereces to spearmen marching through the CORN. Now I may have my history a bit confused, but I thought Corn was a north American grain that wasn't introduced to Europe until the 16th century! That coupled with the fact that Arthur is carrying a handful of cornflowers when he discovers Lance & Gwen in the temple of Isis, just bother me. There may indeed be wildflowers called Cornflowers in the British isles today, but I suspect that they were called something else in 498 AD.....
Rating: 
Summary: Very unconvincing
Review: I am shocked at the number of people praising this book so highly. Although there are some interesting elements here going into some celtic themes, the character development was very bland. I quickly grew to dislike Derfel as he was the superhero of the story. Everyone else just paled in comparison to his perfection. He does everything right and is as humble as a preist, it was impossible for me to find any interest or care for him at all. There was never any simpathy or worry for him, he always won, and got what he wanted. He never even has a decent opponent, Lancelot is a weak coward, the druid twins are dispatched ridiculously easy. Every character that is somewhat heroic or powerful sides with Defel making things all the more easy for him. His wife is the most beautiful women there is, almost as perfect as Derfel. It goes on and on, a story that is supposedly about Arthur is really about an infallible superhero that never does anything suprising and never is in any sort of danger, I had very high hopes for this book, and outside of the character problems there is some good stuff here, but what makes me dislike the story so much is that the author is trying to un-glamorize the characters of Arthur and the like, and at the same time he ends up over glamorizing this Derfel character. And with all the glamorizing that is done to Derfel, all the other characters seem a joke, and the excitement of the story just plummets.
Rating:
Summary: The best novel of Arthur yet1
Review: I have read many Arthurian novels, But I must say that I enjoyed Bernard Cornwell's trilogy more than any other. Enemy of God kept me up all night because I couldn't put it down! The blood and gore of the war scenes was realistic while I really got a great perspective of dark-age Britain. I especially loved the way Guinevere described Arthur- 'I hate and I love, it hurts.' A truly wonderful retelling of a classic myth.
Rating: 
Summary: A good novel, but not of Arthur!
Review: I love the Arthur theme, therefore, I read everything that is written about the Arthurian Legends. I read the Winter King and enjoyed it, and was looking forward to the sequel. They both say "A Novel of Arthur". Don't you think it should read "A Novel of Derfel" with Arthur as a secondary character? Derfel is a superman, by whose side even Arthur pales. A novel of Arthur should be about Arthur.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read, but a few repetative patterns
Review: I've read WINTER KING, and now just finished ENEMY OF GOD. 1st, one reviewer made a comment about 'corn,' but I think by corn the author means the ground products of grain, and not necessarily maize. From all I've read about the transition between Rome -> Dark Ages, this is on target. He's kept the anachronisms pretty sparse. It's realism is impressive. One nitpick I have to made is about Sagramour, the 'Numidiam' warrior...from what I know, Numidia is basically the coast of modern Algeria...but I think from how Cornwell describes him, Sagramour sounds 'black,' so perhaps he means Nubia? Certainly, the Berbers of North Africa aren't that different from many Mediterranean peoples. The other main nitpick is that some of the characters have such strident personalities it's easy to predict their responses. Lancelot is sly, Arthur noble, Derfel well-meaning, etc. Also, though I'm no Christian, all the Christian characters aside from Galahad (and Bedwin who isn't a particulary good Christian)s eem conniving and intolerant (Sansum, Meruig, Liggesac, Morwenna, etc.)
Rating:
Summary: Political thriller? Not really
Review: Like much of Bernard Cornwell's work, Enemy of God combines solid historical research and thought with some decent character development and an exciting political and military story. It's very interesting to learn about the state of Britain in the early post-Roman period: the various kingdoms and their relations; the encroachment of the Saxons; the rise of Christianity and the eclipsing of druidism. The characters are generally believable and well developed, and so is the presentation of their culture and way of life among the remnants of the Roman occupation. The political intrigue is also absorbing, and clearly exposed. And as always with Cornwell, the military aspect is gripping and clear. The idea of taking all the Arthurian characters and making them into realistic actors in a credible story of political, personal, and military intrigue is an excellent one, and is well executed. The book ends up creating a very convincing and believable imagining of late-fifth-century Britain that is both informative and entertaining.If my enthusiasm for this novel sounds just a tad restrained, it's because the book suffers from that small nagging flaw that seems to plague so much of Cornwell's work. For all its care and realism, the different aspects of the story - the characters, the history, the intrigue, the battles - never quite gel into a single seamless whole; it has just a very slight feeling of having been put together very carefully according to a plan, and it ends up being something more than your average paperback thriller, but less than a fine historical novel. It's neither fish nor fowl, too good to be mere airport pulp, but not quite "literary" either. It's irredeemably middlebrow. I don't mean to overstate the problem here; it's still a very worthwhile book, and I will certainly be reading the third volume in the trilogy. But while I keep reading Cornwell, I always come away both feeling satisfied and wishing the book were just a little bit better.
Rating:
Summary: Informative and entertaining
Review: Like much of Bernard Cornwell's work, Enemy of God combines solid historical research and thought with some decent character development and an exciting political and military story. It's very interesting to learn about the state of Britain in the early post-Roman period: the various kingdoms and their relations; the encroachment of the Saxons; the rise of Christianity and the eclipsing of druidism. The characters are generally believable and well developed, and so is the presentation of their culture and way of life among the remnants of the Roman occupation. The political intrigue is also absorbing, and clearly exposed. And as always with Cornwell, the military aspect is gripping and clear. The idea of taking all the Arthurian characters and making them into realistic actors in a credible story of political, personal, and military intrigue is an excellent one, and is well executed. The book ends up creating a very convincing and believable imagining of late-fifth-century Britain that is both informative and entertaining. If my enthusiasm for this novel sounds just a tad restrained, it's because the book suffers from that small nagging flaw that seems to plague so much of Cornwell's work. For all its care and realism, the different aspects of the story - the characters, the history, the intrigue, the battles - never quite gel into a single seamless whole; it has just a very slight feeling of having been put together very carefully according to a plan, and it ends up being something more than your average paperback thriller, but less than a fine historical novel. It's neither fish nor fowl, too good to be mere airport pulp, but not quite "literary" either. It's irredeemably middlebrow. I don't mean to overstate the problem here; it's still a very worthwhile book, and I will certainly be reading the third volume in the trilogy. But while I keep reading Cornwell, I always come away both feeling satisfied and wishing the book were just a little bit better.
Rating:
Summary: Don't stop
Review: OK, not as exciting as Winter King, perhaps because I was so thrilled with it. This book is necessary to really feel what the characters are feeling, and that is what this second book in the series brings. I still could not put it down, but the excitement was slightly less that Winter King, like the middle child, but I was rewarded for my time with Excalibur. You cannot miss this step in the story, and still by far this is the best historical fiction series I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Read
Review: The Enemy of God is a worthy sequel to the Winter King, a must read for anybody interested in dark ages Britain or the Arthurian legends. I'm currently reasearching a P.h.D. in dark ages Britain, and I can tell you that is historical accuracy is spot on.
Rating:
Summary: poor child!
Review: The first one, the Winter King, I did like more, but it was OK. There was only one matter, that did disturb me: the way Derfel and the others treated Mordred. How should a child, which has no parents, gets no love but is hit all the time become not a very very bad grown-up? I do not know if Cornwell has children, but I do hope not. Apart from this, it was a good book. A very interesting way to tell this story.
|
