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unicornbanzaiiking's review
adventurous
informative
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Wow...really very spectacularly good. An authentic approach to war and battle descriptions. Well researched and the story really pulls you in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape
Minor: Sexual violence
iceberg0's review against another edition
4.0
Ripping good adventure with a very solid historical context.
izzyclouty's review
4.0
Good read with lots of detail especially in the battle scenes. There were also some small twists I did not see coming in the plot. I especially enjoyed reading at the end that the majority of the events in the book are real and relatively historically accurate!
makkans's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
gaylebn's review
5.0
Interesting and Engaging
I know little of medieval history other than takes of Robin Hood and Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth series. My limited experience with shooting bows included stringing and shooting recurve bows in a college phys ed course quite a few decades ago. But I still find archery interesting, so when I stumbled across this title, it appealed to me.
The tale is of young Thomas who is a skilled archer in King Edward's service. He travels from England to France in what the author states is the beginning of the Hundred Years War. It was interesting to learn about aspects of medieval warfare, for example the amount of time it took to arm a cannon and how the English dug puts in the battlefield ahead of the battle to impede and cripple the enemy's horses. There are some mildly graphic (is that a thing?) descriptions of battle that I skimmed over out of squeamish -ness. But overall, the novel was a good read and I will eventually read the successive books in this trilogy.
I know little of medieval history other than takes of Robin Hood and Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth series. My limited experience with shooting bows included stringing and shooting recurve bows in a college phys ed course quite a few decades ago. But I still find archery interesting, so when I stumbled across this title, it appealed to me.
The tale is of young Thomas who is a skilled archer in King Edward's service. He travels from England to France in what the author states is the beginning of the Hundred Years War. It was interesting to learn about aspects of medieval warfare, for example the amount of time it took to arm a cannon and how the English dug puts in the battlefield ahead of the battle to impede and cripple the enemy's horses. There are some mildly graphic (is that a thing?) descriptions of battle that I skimmed over out of squeamish -ness. But overall, the novel was a good read and I will eventually read the successive books in this trilogy.
mylxa's review
3.0
I heard Bernard Cornwell interviewed on NPR last year sometime, and he was very entertaining. He had a funny and cute irreverence I had hoped my college history professors would have (none of them did). At the time, R was also complaining about how boring her European history class was, specifically, the Hundred Year's War. I thought I'd try this out to see if I could recommend it to her. The history I remember best comes mostly from reading historical novels, and the follow up reading I did to check the facts.
This book was OK. Not great, but OK. I felt that Cornwell did a good job creating distinct characters from the historical figures. None of them were just nobles or yeomen. Thomas,the archer of The Archer's Tale, is definitely more than just a hero or a thug. He's flawed; he's smart, but makes dumb mistakes; he's loyal, but he struggles with the burden of loyalty. He's a guy caught in intrigues, mysteries and battles much bigger than himself. He's not sure he wants anything to do with them, but neither is he sure he can live with himself if he walks away.
There is plenty of intrigue and mystery going on. Thomas is the son of a priest, who joins the army when his village is plundered and his family is killed. He hasn't got anything else to do. The Hundred Years War has begun, and he winds up in France. Besides trying to survive the enemy, Thomas has to survive a jealous knight. He stumbles across the man he believes responsible for his father's murder,a secret about his father's family, and a mystery related to the Holy Grail.
Cornwell doesn't shrink from the dirty business of war. Towns are sacked, women are raped and killed. Soldiers eat whatever they can, and kill in brutal, bloody ways. The story was interesting, and I was thoroughly involved with how it was going to play out. But, there isn't any character yet that I feel a great affection for. Maybe humor would help that? I haven't felt an emotional hook yet. Yet, because The Archer's Tale is the first part of a trilogy. Hopefully, it will have a little more of the Cornwell's interview humor.
This book was OK. Not great, but OK. I felt that Cornwell did a good job creating distinct characters from the historical figures. None of them were just nobles or yeomen. Thomas,the archer of The Archer's Tale, is definitely more than just a hero or a thug. He's flawed; he's smart, but makes dumb mistakes; he's loyal, but he struggles with the burden of loyalty. He's a guy caught in intrigues, mysteries and battles much bigger than himself. He's not sure he wants anything to do with them, but neither is he sure he can live with himself if he walks away.
There is plenty of intrigue and mystery going on. Thomas is the son of a priest, who joins the army when his village is plundered and his family is killed. He hasn't got anything else to do. The Hundred Years War has begun, and he winds up in France. Besides trying to survive the enemy, Thomas has to survive a jealous knight. He stumbles across the man he believes responsible for his father's murder,a secret about his father's family, and a mystery related to the Holy Grail.
Cornwell doesn't shrink from the dirty business of war. Towns are sacked, women are raped and killed. Soldiers eat whatever they can, and kill in brutal, bloody ways. The story was interesting, and I was thoroughly involved with how it was going to play out. But, there isn't any character yet that I feel a great affection for. Maybe humor would help that? I haven't felt an emotional hook yet. Yet, because The Archer's Tale is the first part of a trilogy. Hopefully, it will have a little more of the Cornwell's interview humor.
misterjay's review
4.0
Prior to this novel, the only Bernard Cornwell books I had read were The Saxon Chronicles. Those books are fast-paced, graphic, casually brutal, funny, and told from a first person perspective. The Archer's Tale is exactly the same only it's told from the third person omniscient perspective. And that's a little jarring.
As a reader, I get the feeling that if I were to read The Archer's Tale in first person form, I'd have a hard time differentiating Thomas from Uhtred. That's not necessarily a criticism, just something that stands out from an otherwise exemplary novel.
Cornwell notes in the afterword that all the battles were real. They were as bloody, as brutal, as non-glorious in real life as they were in the book. The English archer really was a fearsome military unit that allowed the English armies to swarm all over France in the beginning years of The Hundred Years Wars. Women were raped and abducted and treated as captured property, much as they have been throughout history.
All of this can make the books very hard to read in spots. And yet Cornwell presents us with such likable characters who go through their own changes and their own arcs that the book flies by, even while one chapter is filled with the horror of live in the middle ages and the next is equally filled with the crude, joyous humor of brothers-in-arms.
Really, if you're a fan of military and/or historical fiction, this is a must read. However, if you're at all squeamish about some of the more brutal realities of history, you may want to leave this story be.
As a reader, I get the feeling that if I were to read The Archer's Tale in first person form, I'd have a hard time differentiating Thomas from Uhtred. That's not necessarily a criticism, just something that stands out from an otherwise exemplary novel.
Cornwell notes in the afterword that all the battles were real. They were as bloody, as brutal, as non-glorious in real life as they were in the book. The English archer really was a fearsome military unit that allowed the English armies to swarm all over France in the beginning years of The Hundred Years Wars. Women were raped and abducted and treated as captured property, much as they have been throughout history.
All of this can make the books very hard to read in spots. And yet Cornwell presents us with such likable characters who go through their own changes and their own arcs that the book flies by, even while one chapter is filled with the horror of live in the middle ages and the next is equally filled with the crude, joyous humor of brothers-in-arms.
Really, if you're a fan of military and/or historical fiction, this is a must read. However, if you're at all squeamish about some of the more brutal realities of history, you may want to leave this story be.
sandin954's review
3.0
First in a trilogy set during the Hundred Years War, that I found very entertaining and educational regarding the role archers played during the famous battle of Crécy. As usual, the author juggled the action with a bit of romance and I look forward to reading the next book. Listened to the audio version read by Colin McPhillamy.