The Winter King

Books | Fiction / Historical / Medieval

4.4

(244)

Bernard Cornwell

With The Winter King, the first volume of his magnificent Warlord Chronicles, Bernard Cornwell turns to the story he was born to write: the mythic saga of King Arthur. Now a major television show.The tale begins in Dark Age Britain, a land where Arthur has been banished and Merlin has disappeared, where a child-king sits unprotected on the throne, where religion vies with magic for the souls of the people. It is to this desperate land that Arthur returns, a man at once utterly human and truly heroic: a man of honor, loyalty, and amazing valor; a man who loves Guinevere more passionately than he should; a man whose life is at once tragic and triumphant. As Arthur fights to keep a flicker of civilization alive in a barbaric world, Bernard Cornwell makes a familiar tale into a legend all over again.

Buy now:

More Details:

Author

Bernard Cornwell

Pages

448

Publisher

St. Martin's Publishing Group

Published Date

1997-04-15

ISBN

125001736X 9781250017369

Ratings

Google: 5

Community ReviewsSee all

"Just finished this and thought it was very good."

Sarah

"Own all 3 in series"

Naomi James

"High King Uther has died, leaving his infant grandson as heir and his bastard son and gifted warlord Arthur as his protector in a country that has fallen into chaos, with threats from both within and without. Told in the first person from the flawed perspective of one of Arthur’s sworn soldiers, Derfel, in his old age, The Winter King humanizes many of the characters from the legendary tale of Arthur, bringing both perspective and realism to the story. I picked this up on the recommendation of some of the readers of /r/Fantasy, who suggested it as an Arthurian tale that might not drive me nuts. Unfortunately, I really just do not click with ye olde Arthur of the Britons, and I was honestly glad to be finished with this story, even though it was really written very well. I did kind of get a kick out of some of the locales of this book, though, as on one of my trips to England I went to Glastonbury and got to see the holy thorn and the tor, and see some of the locales legend has associated with the story, and this is the first Arthurian tale I’ve picked up since that visit. Either way, very good historical fiction; I’d have loved it more if they’d changed all the names to protect the guilty."

Amanda Ebbutt

"I think this is my sign to give up trying to force myself to like any form of media about Arthur or Merlin."

Haeliegh Justice

"Hmmm. He does very realistic battle scenes. Right down to lice on the soldiers and sweat and exhaustion. He makes you feel how totally exhausting it must have been to engage in that kind of brutal face to face warfare. At the same time, he has druids performing magic. I liked the realism, but also the intersection between historical fiction and a dash of fantasy. "