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cleheny 's review for:
The Winter King
by Bernard Cornwell
As a fictionalized account of the final attempt of the Britons to defend their land from invading Saxons and Irish, this is an engaging tale, with likeable heroes. As a tale of Arthur, it disappoints.
The major problem with Cornwell's characterization is that the villains are without redeeming qualities. They are invariably a combination of the following qualities: brutal, vicious, duplicitous, selfish, and cowardly. This makes Arthur come off as particularly obtuse. For example, I don't have a problem with Cornwell re-writing Lancelot to make him ignoble, but to make him as wholly reprehensible as he is, and to have every credible character except Arthur realize what a useless and narcissistic person he is, just makes Arthur look stupid. It's hard to imagine how such a man could be a great leader of soldiers in an age of social and religious conflict when he can't seem to judge them well.
Arthur's poor judgment, at least when it comes to people, is problematic in this work, but it completely drains the second book, Enemy of God, of the tragedy that is inherent in the Arthurian story.
The major problem with Cornwell's characterization is that the villains are without redeeming qualities. They are invariably a combination of the following qualities: brutal, vicious, duplicitous, selfish, and cowardly. This makes Arthur come off as particularly obtuse. For example, I don't have a problem with Cornwell re-writing Lancelot to make him ignoble, but to make him as wholly reprehensible as he is, and to have every credible character except Arthur realize what a useless and narcissistic person he is, just makes Arthur look stupid. It's hard to imagine how such a man could be a great leader of soldiers in an age of social and religious conflict when he can't seem to judge them well.
Arthur's poor judgment, at least when it comes to people, is problematic in this work, but it completely drains the second book, Enemy of God, of the tragedy that is inherent in the Arthurian story.