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The Winter King: A Novel of Arthur (The Warlord Chronicles: I)

The Winter King: A Novel of Arthur (The Warlord Chronicles: I)

List Price: $15.95
Your Price: $10.85
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: WOW!!
Review: I wish that I came across books like this more often. The Winter king is incredible and makes some very good points about Artherian Legend. Auther would have had to be non - biast toward both religions. Also magic never works like a puff of smoke. It is the natural course of things with a bit of a push in the right direction and this showed this.

It is a very good book for those who prefer a non biast book in concern to religion and to women. Also it entrances you. You never put down the book. I couldn't wait to get my teeth into the next chronicle!

Please read it and see why I think that this book is incredible.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Only one word: Awsome!
Review: I started to read this book after a friend started, within the first hour I could not put it down, You had to know what happened next. I have not read anything so detailed and graphic and kept reading except with this book. 5+ Stars MUST READ

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 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: 5 stars
Summary: The truth at last!
Review: In the new trilogy, the author gives life to one of the world's most popular sagas- the Arthur romance. Cormwell retells it masterly, with all details, treachery, magic and battle put in their right proportion. Never before have I seen the different themes being treated this way. Stories like this always alter through the different eras of man, to fit the contempory readers, but Cormwell goes back- way beyond the common "glorification" and soaplike Arthur saga of the 20th century- to tell the story from a common soldier's view. Although I've written an essay on Arthurian themes, and therefore have read many books on the subject, this is -by far- the best I've read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome
Review: This is a great book. It is historically accurate to the most recent discoveries about Arthur. It's also not the same old legend, it's unique and all the characters except Arthur are very different than the legend. There are also many new characters, some offspring of Conrwell's imagination, some historical figures. The narrator is Derfel, a new character. In my opinion this character is a great add on to the legend, he has a great personality, the kind of person you'd want as a best friend. I dare say this series of books, The Winter King, The Enemy of God, and Excalibur, are the best telling of the legend this century. I think they are even better than the Mary Stewart Merlin novels.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Finally.
Review: Finally there has come a believable rendition of the Arthurian tales. Warriors, wenches, wizards and war created by Cornwell's masterful hand, using his vivid colors of dirt, blood, love and hope, come to life -- and death -- in these pages. We bow to you Lord Cornwell, and wait breathlessly for more.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An excellant reverse engineering of the Arthuian legend
Review: Being British I have always had an interest into legend of Arthur. This book is a fantastic insight of what the reality behind the legend may well have been. It has been well researched and truly feels like a Celtic epic. A bitter-sweet tale which left me dying for the sequels.

(Which were excellent too!)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A fresh look at an old legend
Review: I just bought the sequel to The Winter King, which made me want to go back and review it before I read Enemy of God.

The Winter King presents an Arthurian world full of grit not glamour, told through the eyes of one of Arthur's warrior band, Derfel. It is totally unromanticized, and therefore, much more realistic. It's a warrior's world discussing military and political strategies in an engaging manner.

The use of a framing device, Derfel as an old monk recording his memories of his days with Arthur, adds a sense unity. We can see what's missing in his present world; it is in contrast to the world of the flashbacks, which makes what Arthur accomplished stand apart even more.

Next to the Saxons (although Derfel is one), Derfel's greatest enemy becomes Lancelot. The negative portrayal of Lancelot shouldn't come as a shock; afterall, he and Guinevere often take the role as destroyers of Arthur's ideal realm. But nothing in this book is that simple. As with life, the consequences of actions produce multiple results, and we can never predict them all, not even Arthur.

If you like this depiction of Arthur, you might also enjoy Parke Godwin's Firelord.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Gone from the shelves after it appeared. Faery magic?
Review: Starts off rather nicely (lots of books which get published today seem to) but it didn't really carry through. This was a rather pedestrian tale, in the final analysis, w/little staying power once you've closed the covers -- though it's readable enough. I think it suffered from the decision to make it a trilogy since you don't really see that in the beginning and when the story finally winds down to its climactic battle (and "winds down" is not a poor way of putting it), it leaves the reader rather cold. As though the book just ground to a halt, mid-stream, with everything still to be determined! The story, itself, while workmanlike, is also quite uninspired. Not much insight here into the times portrayed or the people who filled those times. The only real character of interest is Merlin as a quick change artist, although his presence is telegraphed well before he reveals himself to the seeking Arthur. Who Arthur really was and what he did remains something of a mystery -- but he sure wasn't much, or worth all those legends, if this was him. I hate it when the promise of the first few pages gets broken and scattered between the covers of a book. But that's what happened here. --- Stuart W. Mirsky (swmirsky@usa.net

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Amazing story
Review: With the fall of Rome, Britain is left with no protection against the outside world. The story is told through the eyes of Derfel, a Saxon fighting for (King) Arthur. The story brings us close to the post-Roman Celtic world with its politics. This book is the one of the best Arthurian books ever written full of exitement, romance and a very beliviable Arthur. The other Aurturian caracters are vell portrayed in new ways we are not used to as well as less known caracters from acient manuscripts as Derfel and Sagramor, Arthurs African(ex-Roman soldier) commmander. Better than Mists of Avalon.


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