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mrtheprofessor 's review for:
The Winter King
by Bernard Cornwell
I've been veeerrry slowly working my way through different interpretations of Arthurian legend. I'm pleased to say that the 3 versions I've read (outside of Thomas Mallory's Morte d'Arthur) are all unique and very readable. Namely, The Once and Future King by T.H. White, Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy (I still need to read the 3rd in that series) and now Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles. The easiest description of The Winter King would be Arthur by way of George R.R. Martin. In both Cornwell's Arthur and Mary Stewart's Merlin there is an attempt to recreate a historical period while combining scraps from different myths and legends relating to Arthur. The Winter King is a much more grim, morally gray and gruesome version but in both instances there is an attempt to explain and deconstruct the ideas of these characters and stories as people have come to know them.
The Winter King is told by an elderly monk, Derfel, relating his experiences growing up among Merlin's retinue of castaways, madmen and druids and later becoming one of Arthur's "knights" in his attempt to unite Britain against Saxons and protect his half-brother Mordred who is set to assume the High Kingship when he reaches his majority. There is interplay between Derfel in the present describing the events to Queen Igraine as he remembers them and the narrative itself. This metanarrative is one of the things I loved about The Once and Future King and I think it works here also. Aside from the intense violence which I think was appropriate for the type of story he wanted to tell but did sometimes edge into the lurid, my main criticism would probably be the names of people and places, which I had a helluva time remembering. It got better as the book went along but it was a bit of a problem throughout.
The Winter King is told by an elderly monk, Derfel, relating his experiences growing up among Merlin's retinue of castaways, madmen and druids and later becoming one of Arthur's "knights" in his attempt to unite Britain against Saxons and protect his half-brother Mordred who is set to assume the High Kingship when he reaches his majority. There is interplay between Derfel in the present describing the events to Queen Igraine as he remembers them and the narrative itself. This metanarrative is one of the things I loved about The Once and Future King and I think it works here also. Aside from the intense violence which I think was appropriate for the type of story he wanted to tell but did sometimes edge into the lurid, my main criticism would probably be the names of people and places, which I had a helluva time remembering. It got better as the book went along but it was a bit of a problem throughout.