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A review by jbxdavis
Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell
5.0
A little while back I was struck with a desire to refresh myself on Arthurian legends, and did some research on the best interpretations. When I saw that The Warlord Chronicles existed, I decided to give it a shot -- I've dug into a few Bernard Cornwell IPs before (The Grail Quest, Last Kingdom). The first book was a great start, but Enemy of God is really the gold standard in historical fiction.
The narrative is constructed in a way that we don't know the exact ending, but we do know some broad strokes: Derfel, once a pagan warlord, is now a Christian monk maimed with the loss of a hand. Knowing this, the reader is constantly skeptical of any turn in the story that presents hope, and scoffs at any character that preaches about the inherent goodness of others, or the eventual salvation of Britain. No one does this more, believes more firmly in this goal, than Arthur himself. This puts the famous king in an interesting position as both admirable and pitiable.
The highest praise I can give a book like this is that when my mind wanders, I find myself thinking about Derfel, Arthur, their triumphs, and their challenges.
The narrative is constructed in a way that we don't know the exact ending, but we do know some broad strokes: Derfel, once a pagan warlord, is now a Christian monk maimed with the loss of a hand. Knowing this, the reader is constantly skeptical of any turn in the story that presents hope, and scoffs at any character that preaches about the inherent goodness of others, or the eventual salvation of Britain. No one does this more, believes more firmly in this goal, than Arthur himself. This puts the famous king in an interesting position as both admirable and pitiable.
The highest praise I can give a book like this is that when my mind wanders, I find myself thinking about Derfel, Arthur, their triumphs, and their challenges.