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Overview
It takes a remarkable writer to make an old story as fresh and compelling as the first time we heard it. With The Winter King, the first volume of his magnificent Warlord Chronicles, Bernard Cornwell finally turns to the story he was born to write: the mythic saga of King Arthur.
The tale begins in Dark Age Britain, a land where Arthur has been banished and Merlin has disappeared, where a child-king sits unprotected on the throne, where religion vies with magic for the souls of the people. It is to this desperate land that Arthur returns, a man at once utterly human and truly heroic: a man of honor, loyalty, and amazing valor; a man who loves Guinevere more passionately than he should; a man whose life is at once tragic and triumphant.
As Arthur fights to keep a flicker of civilization alive in a barbaric world, Bernard Cornwell makes a familiar tale into a legend all over again.
Synopsis
It takes a remarkable writer to make an old story as fresh and compelling as the first time we heard it. With The Winter King, the first volume of his magnificent Warlord Chronicles, Bernard Cornwell finally turns to the story he was born to write: the mythic saga of King Arthur.
The tale begins in Dark Age Britain, a land where Arthur has been banished and Merlin has disappeared, where a child-king sits unprotected on the throne, where religion vies with magic for the souls of the people. It is to this desperate land that Arthur returns, a man at once utterly human and truly heroic: a man of honor, loyalty, and amazing valor; a man who loves Guinevere more passionately than he should; a man whose life is at once tragic and triumphant.
As Arthur fights to keep a flicker of civilization alive in a barbaric world, Bernard Cornwell makes a familiar tale into a legend all over again.
Library Journal
The Arthurian legend has seen countless renditions over the centuries. The Winter King is a retelling that is reminiscent of Mary Stewart's "Crystal Cave" series (e.g., The Crystal Cave: The Legend of Merlin, Dove Audio, 1989). Characters are rearranged, resulting in a vain and unpopular Lancelot, an ambitious and scheming Guinevere, a Merlin who is more absent Druid than mystic magician, and a Mordred who is Uther's grandson and legitimate heir. The tale is told by the Saxon-born monk Derfel Cadarn for Igraine, a young queen. He relates his childhood in Merlin's compound, his years soldiering with Arthur, and the deeds he witnesses. This gritty tale is well read by Tim Pigott-Smith. Author Cornwell is perhaps best known for his Sharpe military fiction series. Recommended.Denise A. Garofalo, Mid-Hudson Lib. System, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Editorials
Library Journal
The Arthurian legend has seen countless renditions over the centuries. The Winter King is a retelling that is reminiscent of Mary Stewart's "Crystal Cave" series (e.g., The Crystal Cave: The Legend of Merlin, Dove Audio, 1989). Characters are rearranged, resulting in a vain and unpopular Lancelot, an ambitious and scheming Guinevere, a Merlin who is more absent Druid than mystic magician, and a Mordred who is Uther's grandson and legitimate heir. The tale is told by the Saxon-born monk Derfel Cadarn for Igraine, a young queen. He relates his childhood in Merlin's compound, his years soldiering with Arthur, and the deeds he witnesses. This gritty tale is well read by Tim Pigott-Smith. Author Cornwell is perhaps best known for his Sharpe military fiction series. Recommended.Denise A. Garofalo, Mid-Hudson Lib. System, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.Kirkus Reviews
The author of the accomplished Richard Sharpe naval adventure novels (Sharpe's Battle, 1995, etc.) takes on Camelot in the wonderful beginning of a new series.Of course, as Cornwell acknowledges in his wry introductory note, so little is known of sixth-century Britain that "we cannot even be certain that Arthur existed," much less his knights of the round table. Cornwell is free, therefore, to present Galahad as a fine scholar, and Lancelot as a cowardly politician and pretender to Arthur's glory. But history does provide a record of the crumbling Roman Empire, the ascendancy of Christianity alongside Druidism, and a Britain besieged by invaders; and these Cornwell portrays in amazing, colorful detail. His narrator is Derfel Cadarn, one of Merlin's odd foundlings who becomes a valorous warrior for Arthur against the Saxons. Derfel witnesses an excruciating royal childbirth, strikes out in love, and embarks upon a perilous journey before the appearance of Arthur, who arrives on a black horse to turn the tide of battle. Many battles ensue, and Derfel prospers at the right hand of Arthur, but his master is the bastard son of a king and, though a hero of the common born, no sure prospect politically. Meanwhile, the aging, rather comical Merlin pursues what may be a madman's agenda on the Isle of the Dead: He hopes to coax the true, Druidic gods back to Britain and banish the silly Christians forever. His magical alliance with Arthur gives the latter the power to rid the kingdom of its enemies, yet Arthur's bravery and decency cannot conquer the whimsical, less-than-worthy Guinevere, or outmaneuver the crafty Lancelot.
Great battle scenes and brilliant political intrigue swirl about a cast of legendary but very human characters. The redoubtable Cornwell strikes again.