Rating: 
Summary: A page turner!
Review: This sequel to The Winter King continues to mesmerize me as it weaves its tale about Arthur and Britain's early history. A wonderful re-telling of the age-old legend. I look forward to reading the next book in the series!
Rating:
Summary: Accessible and human characters bring the legend home.
Review: This series is magical, touching the right chords in an Arthurian heart. This second volume is peopled by characters which seem real, not supernatural, and Derfel the narrator is one of the most accessible and human voices from that time. It is hard to put this book down, and the sense of regret and outrage which accompanies Derfel's situation as the book ends can only be assuaged by the hope that the third in the trilogy will make all things right. I love T.H. White's, Jack Whyte's, and most other treatments of the legend. Cornwell's probes new ground, and can take its place at the head of them all, with White's of course.
Rating:
Summary: The most Real.
Review: This serise makes you feel like you are right there with Derfel. I mean you knew how it ended, but it was still very good. The scences with Nimume and Merlin are especially realistic
Rating:
Summary: The best book series I've ever read!!!
Review: Very refreshing, believable story with many unique twists. I particulary enjoyed the author's portrayal of the strong women in Arthur's and Derfel's life. Guinevere was so real, and not at all unworthy in the end, and Derfel's lifetime princess lover so beautiful and brave! I was also quite enthralled by the plot's raising of Christianity in a Pagan world and the country peoples resistance to the change in their gods. I liked this series far, far better than the Mary Stewart series, and I really liked Ms. Stewart's! Vol #1 is very good, but Vol's #2 & #3 are the best!!
Rating:
Summary: A spearpoint for modern conciousness.
Review: With "Enemy of God," Cornwell continues to rouse readers with his gutsy, historically probable, and morally insightful reinvention of the King Arthur legend. Like its predecessor ("The Winter King"),this second installment of a planned trilogy conjures up the most fascinating magic of all -- the inner sanctum of the human heart. Read of bitter enemities, held in check by political necessity. Marvel at the determination of those who swear oaths, as their loyalty is put to severe tests of suffering and humilation. Feel the tension as Druid and Christian factions must come together in mutual aid for an all-out war against the menacing Saxons. All this, and descriptive details which make this ancient Britain seem like it might still exist -- right there on the other side of the front door. Derfel, the former Saxon slave and champion of Arthur, sits old and haunted by his youth. But through his secret writings, he recaptures his youthful adventures with insights into love, lust, revenge, dark fears of mortality, and the hunger for honor in a world teetering at the jagged edge of barbarism. Cornwell does not only tell a thrilling tale grounded in historically possible soil. He endows his characters and their world with profound observations on life, death, and spirituality. The reader is offered insights into our relationship to the dead, how religious orthodoxy precariously conceals spriritual doubts, and the need for mythology to help people face loneliness. And that's just the first three pages! If you like your misty legends to come forth in bold, believable characterizations, then Cornwell's Arthur books are definitely for you. Again and again, a reader will put the book down for a moment or two, and reflect, "Yes, yes -- that's the way it may well have been." Exciting indeed -- but moreso when these legendary events have something to say about where civilization is today, and what has been lost in the process. Bravo, Mr. Cornwall. You've given the legend of Arthur a finely honed spearpoint with which to pierce our modern, myth-stripped consciousness!
Rating:
Summary: A spearpoint for modern conciousness.
Review: With "Enemy of God," Cornwell continues to rouse readers with his gutsy, historically probable, and morally insightful reinvention of the King Arthur legend. Like its predecessor ("The Winter King"),
this second installment of a planned trilogy conjures up the most fascinating magic of all --
the inner sanctum of the human heart. Read of bitter enemities, held in check by political necessity. Marvel at the determination of those who swear oaths, as their loyalty is put to severe tests of suffering and humilation. Feel the tension as Druid and Christian factions must come together in mutual aid for an all-out war against the menacing Saxons. All this, and descriptive details which make this ancient Britain seem like it might still exist -- right there on the other side of the front door. Derfel, the former Saxon slave and champion of Arthur, sits old and haunted by his youth. But through his secret writings, he recaptures his youthful adventures with insights into love, lust, revenge, dark fears of mortality, and the hunger for honor in a world teetering at the jagged edge of barbarism.
Cornwell does not only tell a thrilling tale grounded in historically possible soil. He endows his characters and their world with profound observations on life, death, and spirituality. The reader is offered insights into our relationship to the dead, how religious orthodoxy precariously conceals spriritual doubts, and the need for mythology to help people face loneliness.
And that's just the first three pages!
If you like your misty legends to come forth in bold, believable characterizations, then Cornwell's Arthur books are definitely for you.
Again and again, a reader will put the book down for a moment or two, and reflect, "Yes, yes -- that's the way it may well have been." Exciting indeed -- but moreso when these legendary events
have something to say about where civilization is today, and what has been lost in the process.
Bravo, Mr. Cornwall. You've given the legend of Arthur a finely honed spearpoint with which to pierce our modern, myth-stripped consciousness!
Rating:
Summary: Cornwell Tells Well
Review: Yet again Bernard Cornwell demonstrates his mastery of story-telling with the second volume on the Arthurian legends. Cromwell's craft is evident at each page with his intricate weave of character and plot, and just enough of the familiar to create touchstones for the American reader. He is without equal in the battle sequences, and while the court intrigue occasionally drags on, it is never without a point and always embellishes the story. In the narrator, Derfel, he has created perhaps his most vulnerable and therefore accessible hero, much more so than Sharpe (even after he married), and I was saddended to leave him, old and alone and still in ear shot of his nemesis, Bishop Sansum. I expect that all will find fitting ends in the last of the series.
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