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raerae 's review for:
The Winter King
by Bernard Cornwell
In an ancient England torn apart by invading Saxon forces and its own internal struggles - Arthur rises to prominence as a warlord protecting the kingdom Dumnonia and ensuring that King Uther's heir, a crippled child named Mordred, would live to take his throne. The Winter King begins the mythical tale of Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, and others in a novel that weaves fantastic scenes of battle into the background hum of ancient gods amidst the Druids' dying religion. In the last days of native Britons, before they are eventually overran by the persistent Saxons, a handful of heroes arise in one last struggle against inevitable fate.
The narrator, Derfel, is an orphan turned solider turned lord under the tutelage of Arthur and Merlin. His perspective of events will cause the reader's heart to sink and soar throughout a novel that is turbid with action, violence, and the brutality of the dark middle ages. The characters are strong and enchanting, each given its own life in the care of Cornwell's measured prose. Merlin is a cocky and enigmatic wizard who leads an audacious quest to find the lost treasures of Britain, Arthur is a man torn hopelessly between various oaths that he inevitably spoils in fits of impulsiveness, and Derfel is the practical yet romantic narrator whose personal story may seem small compared to the activities of the greater heroes - yet his story is touching, more familiar, for Derfel is the small person tossed into turmoil in a time when violence seeks all.
I always find myself so hopelessly in love with everything Cornwell writes. The intense struggles, the vicious and brutal battles, the stories of empathy and hope against the background of a world that is surely dying - Cornwell stirs the reader's emotions into a frenzy that will enable you to be carried away by your own sense of wonder.
The narrator, Derfel, is an orphan turned solider turned lord under the tutelage of Arthur and Merlin. His perspective of events will cause the reader's heart to sink and soar throughout a novel that is turbid with action, violence, and the brutality of the dark middle ages. The characters are strong and enchanting, each given its own life in the care of Cornwell's measured prose. Merlin is a cocky and enigmatic wizard who leads an audacious quest to find the lost treasures of Britain, Arthur is a man torn hopelessly between various oaths that he inevitably spoils in fits of impulsiveness, and Derfel is the practical yet romantic narrator whose personal story may seem small compared to the activities of the greater heroes - yet his story is touching, more familiar, for Derfel is the small person tossed into turmoil in a time when violence seeks all.
I always find myself so hopelessly in love with everything Cornwell writes. The intense struggles, the vicious and brutal battles, the stories of empathy and hope against the background of a world that is surely dying - Cornwell stirs the reader's emotions into a frenzy that will enable you to be carried away by your own sense of wonder.