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Summary: The king that never was...
Review: This is a very powerful story. Mr. Cornwell told us the legend just as he had witnessed all that happened. The charachters are so human and the tale flows so naturally... ... I credit Mr. Cornwell as a new Taliesin ... a Taliesin who told us the story of Arthur through the eyes of his best friend...Ali AKKIN
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: There's not much more I can add that hasn't already been written below. This is a fantastic book..though it took a while for me to get into. Give it 100 pages. You'll be hooked.
Rating:
Summary: Stays with you
Review: I have rarely read a book that continues to haunt me long after I have turned the last page -- C.S. Lewis' Narnian Chronicles and Tolkien's Middle Earth saga being two previous examples. This book and the two continuing volumes had that effect. Long after the last page of the third book, my thoughts kept returning to Celtic Britain and wondering what happens to Derfel after all the excitement dies down. My only criticism of the books -- I don't feel like the author researched 4th-5th century Christianity in Britain very well, as the Christians in the story could not have been responisble for converting a town let alone a nation! Given their example, the "natives" would never have turned from Druidism and run the Christians out of town long before the story started here. This having been said, by all means, if you are a fan of the Arthurian saga, or want to know about pre-Christian-but-post-pagan Britain, or just want a good read, get these books. Almost as good as Mary Stewart, better than Marion Zimmer Bradley!
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Summary: This is the Real Arthur.
Review: Cornwell's interpretation of the Arthurian legend is the only one that sticks in my mind. All others (T.H.White, Tennyson, etc.) are now shown up as effete, unfocussed, over-romantic, and as Mediaeval fantasy. The cutting away of the Mediaeval chivalric code, knights in plate armour and maids in tall pointy hats has done the legend a power of good. That stuff was all military propaganda for Edward the First in his invasion and subjugation of Scotland anyway. All the characters are believable and extremely well written, with the possible exception of Arthur himself, who is not given as much colour as one might expect. But then writing about heroes is the most difficult art. It's the backdrop, the construction of Western Britain in the Dark Ages that takes my breath away. I shall be reading this trilogy again and again for many years.
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Summary: This is the way the Arthur Legend happened...
Review: I began reading this book because I was interested in paganism in early Britain. Only after a chapter I realized that this was one of the best books I ever read. I think the real speciality of this book was the absolute realism in giving the feelings of charecters, the mood of the druids and the politics of early Britain. It is definetely worth more than one read... I can easily compare it with my favourite book, Lord of the Rings...
Rating:
Summary: The definative telling of the Arthurian Tale
Review: I have waited 20 years for someone to write this book. Thank goodness Cornwell decided to turn his skilled pen to King Arthur. This book is more than a plausibly real account of Arthur in the 400s when the Roman influence was over, but is a soaring saga of a conflict of beliefs. It is the story of the end of one religion and the rise of another, a battle between druidism and Christianity. It is a world where turmoil and fate change men's lives. Of course, the characters, action, and motivation are the highest quality. Cornwell is brilliant as usual. His Lancelot is amazingly insightful. It changed my way of thinking. Read this, then "Enemy of God" and "Excalibur" now!
Rating:
Summary: A very real book!
Review: This novel, The Winter King, is the kind of Arthur book I've been looking for. I don't want one about how he is king and saves everything. This book is really well written, and Merlin is not a powerful wizard, but a druid who uses tricks. I usually read fantasy novels (i.e. Dragonlance), but this novel really impressed me. Two thumbs up for Bernard Cornwell!
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Summary: A Different View on the Classic Tale
Review: Cornwell's expression of the early days of Arthur's presence in Britain is an interesting, while somewhat contradictory, one. While most legends of Arthur are full of gallantry and perfection and flamboyance, this one seems to be much more practical, describing the hardships of living in this time, the fears of death, the beliefs held by the people, and the true feelings of the people who lived in the time. The inclusion of Merlin as a kind of "Deus ex machina" tied up many loose ends and the growth shown of both Arthur and his loyal Derfel make this a rousing and entertaining book.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible, magical, sensational read.
Review: One of the best books I've read. I couldn't wait to order the next book, Enemy of God, and now that I've raced through that one have ordered Excalibur. Bernard Cromwell has had me riveted.....to this book.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but I wonder whether there's a send-up going on here.
Review: Having studied Anglo-Saxon England as a postgraduate student and discovered for myself just how little information there is about Arthur prior to the 12th century (and that indirect allusions in less than reliable sources), I'm not a great enthusiast for Arthurian novels. However, I had read most of Bernard Cornwell's 'Sharpe' books, and decided to give his Arthur a try. My reaction is that I enjoyed it, and rather enjoyed the mud and the foul weather as a refreshing contrast to Ellis Peters's over-sanitised medieval world. However, I think Mr Cornwell has overdone the brutality a bit, though rather more in the two later books of the trilogy than in this one (I really can't see that draping a man's flayed skin from one's helmet or shield as a battle standard is very likely - apart from anything else it would get in the way). I wonder also whether in making Merlin a comic figure and Lancelot a coward. He is having a joke at the expense of the legend. Arthur, to me doesn't come alive at all; he is too full of modern virtues, though some of the more minor characters are very well drawn and much more engaging.
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