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Summary: Start Here
Review: Like historical fiction? This writer is the Master Story Teller. Great story, character development, and a can't-put-it-down read. The BEST I have ever read! Finished, don't stop there! Get all three books so there is no wait time between them!
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Summary: How it might have been....
Review: I have read many of the fictional accounts of Arthur, and Cornwell's The Winter King rates among the very best. Arturian fiction tends to fall into two types, "magical" Camelot with swords in stones and magicians with real power, or "realistic" Camelot (or Camulod, for Jack Whyte fans) that tries to tell Artuhr's saga without magic.
The Winter King falls into the second category, but whereas Jack Whyte tries to explain away all the magical trappings of Arthurian legend with rational causes, Cornwell presents us with a Brittain still very much in thrall to Druidism. Many of the Druidic rites are explained, and the people of Cornwell's Brittain fervently believe in them, but Cornwell himself takes no side -- we see Druids trying to bring the gods' favor to their armies, but Cornwell neither mocks the practices nor attempts to explain away the unexplainable like Whyte sometimes does. He also does not try to demonstrate that the "magic" is working, just that it was practiced and believed, and the reader is consequently left with a much deeper feeling that this is what life was like back then than Whyte's Camulod, which often tries too hard to give a rational explanation for all of Arthur's accomplishments. (The irony of Whyte's fixation on rationalism is that he falls back on the deus ex machina of a stone from outer-space to explain why Excalibur is so strong!)
Also adding to the depth of realism is Cornwell's knack for characterization. We are presented with multi-dimensional players who live and breathe and love and hate like real people do, rather than simple archtypes. And because they are real, you really care about them. This depth is carried over, as well, in Cornwell's plotting of the political struggles amongst the kingdoms. This is in stark contrast to Jack Whyte's Camulod, where characters fight or love and die, and you know Whyte wants you to feel sad or gleeful at their passing, but you just do not manage to care much. This is largely due to the one-dimensional nature of many of Whyte's characters.
Capping off The Winter King's success is writing that is superb, managing to be simultaneously artful and elegant as well as being a real page-turner. The language and dialogue ring true without sounding stilted.
Given the above review, one might be tempted to think I didn't like Whyte's Camulod Chronicles, but I actually am a very big fan of them. But whereas Whyte's Camulod is nothing more (or less!) than a plot-driven and pulpy page turner, Cornwell's The Winter King is a true work of art and truly presents things as they might have been.
When you are looking for a very fun read, by all means pick up any of Whyte's Camulod books and you won't be disappointed. When you are looking for a window into another time, however, very little can hold a candle to The Winter King.
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Summary: Cornwell's Arthurian Trilogy is his MASTERPIECE...
Review: Don't be misguided... I love the Sharpe novels and it's a great (by now surely overexploted!) character.
BUT, THE WARLORD CRHONICLES (three volumes) is Bernard Cornwell's GREATEST CREATION...
How an extraordinary idea!, it presents a truly believable atmosphere of the Dark Ages and the NEW aproach to so overwritten/treated/filmed characters as Merlin (JUST GREAT AS A DRUID!), Arthur, Lancelot (funny&outstanding&imaginative treatment wich I won't spoil saying too much... !), Mordred, Guinevere etc etc it makes such films as the ridiculous Sean Connery/Richard Gere (and I am a big fan of Connery as per "The man who would be King"...) Camelot recreation absolutly laughable...
REALLY A MUST READ! (AND OF COURSE I AM REFERRING TO THE THREE VOLUMES... (not that you could only read the first... you will get hooked!).
ENJOY.
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Summary: Excellent and plausible retelling
Review: Cornwell's interpretation of the Arthurian mythos is compelling and superbly written. He breathes new life into the legends by presenting the well-known characters as realistic figures, neither saints nor demons. Few of his villains are without some kind of redeeming feature, and none of his heroes are without flaw. Arthur, a bastard by birth, is generous and kind but ruthless and vain; Gorfyddyd, a tyrannical ruler bent on overlordship of all Britain, is a loving and doting father and Merlin, the inveterate trickster, is never without some surprise up his sleave but is ultimately human and filled with doubt in the gods and in himself.
Cornwell's Britain is not a utopian Camelot but a patchwork quilt of loosely affiliated kingdoms warring with one another and fighting off Saxon marauders who themselves are divided into different warlords' followings.
Cornwell's description of religious conflict is one of two faiths, Christianity and Celtic paganism, at times vying for supremacy, at times seeking to co-exist, and always plagued by internacine rivalries and differences of doctrine and ideology.
We view all these people and conflicts through the eyes of Derfel, a Saxon-born slave who fights his way to the top of Post-Roman British society, allowing us to see the legend from a unique and rarely-explored perspective. The result is a spellbinding journey through war and peace, faith and folly, in a three volume work that, but for its recent publication, would no doubt be regarded as a great classic of Western literature.
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Summary: a new classic
Review: I've read my share of Arthurian themed books. The first ones I read, and the ones I still maintain are the best, were those by Mary Stewart. Since reading those I really haven't found any series that I liked. Until I read this. My freind recommended this to me, saying "The Druids hop around on one foot in this book!" And that got me. (They actually do, in parts) This book is highly imaginative. And while it does use parts of the later legends that irritate me in books that are marketed for their historical accuracy (yeah right), there is so much creative imagination in this book. The author sticks to the legends, but not so artificially that it's the same as any other series you've read. Example one that I love:
We know very little about the Druids. But many authors take this fact and either 1)don't include a worthwile description of them or 2)just use a few simple facts that we do know over and over.
Instead, the author uses his knowledge as a scholar to invent some really strange but wonderful things, still managing to keep it realistic. Another thing I loved in this book was the portrayal of the main three characters: Arthur, Lancelot, and Guenievere. So often you see them as these beautiful, shiny happy people. Not so in this book. They are dynamic individuals. Arthur is still his down to earth self, but he is selfish and rash. Lancelot is beautiful but a total flake and a jerk (the way I always thought he was). And Guenievere. The most dynamic of all. All she wants is to see the world at it's most beautiful, but you can tell that underneath it all is a layer of cold intelligence, a hard iron will. Anyway, this book was unlike any other I've read. It was completely compelling.. I read it in 3 days.
I'll definetly recommend it over Steven Lawhead, Jack Whyte, Marrion Zimmer Bradley, and most of the others.
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