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papernapkin 's review for:
The Winter King
by Bernard Cornwell
The prose in this book was excellent, and if Arthur existed, this would be a very accurate account, because essentially it's a bunch of warlords trying to fight off the Saxons while a lot of infighting among factions is taking place simultaneously.
Much like war, the plot is long stretches of not much happening followed by a heart-pounding event here and there. For me that didn't work because I'm not big on military battles. I like political intrigue, but the planning-and-plotting side rather than the slogging-up-hill-through-mud-while-arrows-zing-past-you side.
Cornwell has expunged the story of almost all magic, but I wish we could've seen more of Nimue (Merlin's SO) because even without magic she was absolutely riveting-- the most interesting character in the book by far.
Cornwell immediately made me love Arthur because from his first moments on the page he's fair, and kind, and honorable. But later I was pissed because he's always yammering on about defending King and kingdom, and then chucks that right out the window for Guinevere, who is the Yoko Ono of the Dark Ages.
I won't be continuing with the series, but if you like historical fiction with a lot of military stuff, I recommend this.
Much like war, the plot is long stretches of not much happening followed by a heart-pounding event here and there. For me that didn't work because I'm not big on military battles. I like political intrigue, but the planning-and-plotting side rather than the slogging-up-hill-through-mud-while-arrows-zing-past-you side.
Cornwell has expunged the story of almost all magic, but I wish we could've seen more of Nimue (Merlin's SO) because even without magic she was absolutely riveting-- the most interesting character in the book by far.
Cornwell immediately made me love Arthur because from his first moments on the page he's fair, and kind, and honorable. But later I was pissed because he's always yammering on about defending King and kingdom, and then chucks that right out the window for Guinevere, who is the Yoko Ono of the Dark Ages.
I won't be continuing with the series, but if you like historical fiction with a lot of military stuff, I recommend this.