As with the first of Bernard Cornwell’s take on the Arthur legend, here we have a tale that uses little of the well-known legends, such as a magnificent Camelot or the Lady of the Lake. The famous characters of Guinevere, Merlin, Galahad, and Lancelot all appear, yet they all differ from the usual depictions in literature and film.Merlin is a famous druid here, thus in some respects he does fit in with the wizard character that he’s best known for. It’s clever how he and other druids make themselves powerful by playing on people’s superstitions. For a narrator we have Derfel, one of Arthur’s most trusted warlords. He makes a good lead character. He effectively replaces the role usually occupied by Lancelot.One of the biggest changes in this compared to other Arthurian retellings is Lancelot’s character. He’s portrayed as a self-obsessed coward, not as an infallible hero. I liked the characters, the author’s plotting skills, and enjoyed this sequel more than Book 1, but – as with all Bernard Cornwell novels I’ve read to date – certain poor elements of style distract me from the narrative. Three style aspects in particular let this otherwise talented author down in my eyes. One is the amount of long-winded sentences. Most of these could’ve been reduced in length. Why Mr Cornwell feels the need to keep a sentence running with superfluous “ands”, other conjunctions, and commas I don’t know. The quote below isn’t long-winded, but it demonstrates a wasteful amount of words through needless repetition:>The King was dressed entirely in black: black shirt, black trews, black cloak and a pair of black boots<Why tell us the colour of the king’s wardrobe and follow on by specifying the colour of each garment individually when we know that they are all black? I’ve lost count of how many books this author has done this exact same thing. It’s something I’d only expect to read in a children’s book.On the subject of wasteful words or childish language, there is a word in particular that the author repeats countless times throughout this book, which one may expect to hear a child use when recalling an event: “then”. Anyone who’s studied fiction writing will know that “then” should be avoided. The best writers never use it. It’s not so bad if you’re writing for children, but otherwise why not take the time to revise every sentence when redrafting, thus ensuring that this word doesn’t appear? I can’t think of any other successful author who drives me to distraction with the overuse of “then” as Mr Cornwall.The weakest chink of all in this otherwise talented author’s armour is his continuous insistence of breaking dialogue up by inserting attribution in the middle of sentences. This usually is unnecessary too, as I’d say 90 per cent of the time he breaks the narrative flow by informing the reader which character is talking when it’s blatantly obvious who it is.The quote below shows how disruptive it is to insert attribution within a sentence:‘He pays attention,’ I said, ‘to his weapons.’The next quote shows not only the unnecessary action of using attribution but also the stupidity of it:>‘I want to march with Merlin, Lord,’ I said.<The reason why this is stupid is because this is part of an exchange between Arthur and Derfel only. Derfel always addresses Arthur as Lord but even without this form of address the reader couldn’t fail to know who was speaking.Other authors have written dialogue with similar pointless attribution to this and as a result I don’t go on to read any of their other works. They spend so long researching the story’s historical aspects that they take no time to brush up on their English style.The reasons why I still read more of Bernard Cornwell’s works despite the above-mentioned style issues is because he knows how to write a great story with strong characters. He evokes atmospheric scenes that appear vividly in the mind’s eye. His description of battles is among the best I’ve ever read. He can conjure gruesome pictures one minute and make me laugh the next.Therefore, despite the negative comments in this review, I’ll be reading the last of this series, plus a few other Cornwell tomes.
Review in Portuguese from Desbravando Livros:Uma obra-prima da literatura estrangeira! Um dos melhores livros já lidos na minha vida! Uma obra sem comparação! Esse é o único jeito possível de começar a resenhar esse livro magnífico de Bernard Cornwell. Com uma narrativa absurdamente leal aos fatos descobertos pelo autor, somos transportados novamente para a Britânia de antigamente, onde seus habitantes tentam defender suas terras dos invasores saxões.Dessa vez, além dos problemáticos saxões, nosso protagonista também terá que lidar, junto a Artur, com o rápido crescimento do cristianismo na Britânia. Esses cristãos, além de serem fervorosos, procuram acabar com a "magia" dos antigos deuses que sempre estiveram presentes nas orações dos habitantes dessa terra. Para que isso não aconteça, Merlin empreende uma busca por um caldeirão mágico que tem tudo para dar errado, pois o território a ser desbravado é controlado por inimigos sedentos por sangue."- Você é um idiota, Derfel. Mas é um idiota bom em usar uma espada, e é por isso que preciso de você se formos andar pela Estrada Escura. – Ele se levantou. – Agora a escolha é sua." Merlin"Fiquei imóvel quando acordei. Não houvera sonho, mas eu sabia o que queria. Queria pegar o osso e parti-lo em dois, e se esse gesto significasse andar na Estrada Escura até o reino de Diwrnach, que assim fosse. Mas também queria que a Britânia de Artur fosse íntegra, boa e verdadeira. E queria que meus homens tivessem ouro, terras, escravos e posto. Queria expulsar os saxões de Lloegyr. Queria ouvir os gritos de uma parede de escudos rompida e o toque das trombetas de guerra enquanto um exército vitorioso perseguia até a ruína um inimigo espalhado. Queria marchar com meus escudos estrelados na terra lisa do leste que nenhum britânico livre vira em uma geração. E queria Ceinwyn."A narrativa, assim como no livro anterior, continua sendo em primeira pessoa, o que é importantíssimo para fazer com que o leitor se sinta na pele do personagem em questão. Derfel, agora já velho e cristão, está contando e transcrevendo a história de Artur para a sua atual rainha Igraine, e não há ninguém melhor do que ele para fazer isso, pois lutou ao lado do herói por quase toda a vida.E também acredito que não só eu, mas todas as pessoas que já leram As Crônicas de Artur, começaram a nutrir um ódio imenso pelo personagem Lancelot. Apesar de ser exaltado como um exímio e leal guerreiro nas canções dos bardos (e em praticamente todos os livros que falam da lenda de Artur) e todos saberem que o mesmo nunca esteve nem mesmo em uma parede de escudos, ele ainda assim não possui miolo algum em sua cabeça e faz de tudo para prejudicar os outros, inclusive Derfel. Prestem bastante atenção nesse personagem, pois ele será imprescindível para o andamento da história."Nós comemoramos. E como comemoramos. Porque agora parecia que tínhamos algo por que lutar. Não por Mordred, aquele sapo desgraçado, mas por Artur, porque apesar de toda a sua bela conversa sobre o Conselho governar Dumnonia no lugar de Mordred, todos sabíamos o que as palavras significavam. Significavam que Artur seria o rei de Dumnonia em todos os sentidos, menos no nome, e por este bom objetivo levaríamos nossas lanças à guerra. Comemoramos porque agora tínhamos uma causa pela qual lutar e morrer. Tínhamos Artur."Quem ainda não deu uma chance para As Crônicas de Artur ou qualquer outro livro desse autor precisa desesperadamente rever os seus conceitos e as suas prioridades de leitura. Vale a pena investir cada centavo do seu bolso e cada minuto do seu tempo em séries dessa magnitude!
Do You like book Enemy Of God (1998)?
Grading on a bit of an unfair curve as this was much better than most 4-star books I've read. But considering how much I enjoyed The Winter King, I expected this to be slightly better than it was. There was a lot of fluff and stalling, at least more than I remember from the first book. Also, the female characters are not well-created, a common problem for most male authors. Still, the moments of good writing and excitement Cornwell builds (there's always three or four scenes from Cornwell's books that I remember and he doesn't go over-the-top with battles, which I like) have me excited for the story's conclusion.
—Jake
An absolute page turner. Derfel is a wonderful central character. I really like the way the story is written as a memoir. Because of that, we have a bit of a glimpse of his future. I keep reading to discover how he winds up in such a situation as an old man. Of course, that's not the only reason. Mr. Cornwell has developed wonderful characters and plots that kept me wondering what would happen next and astounding me when I found out!I don't remember reading another book or series that i thought read like an adventure movie! I keep telling myself that this should be a movie..but if it were, it would never do the book justice!
—Rhonda
8/10A slight improvement on the previous novel but definitely a feel of a second book in a trilogy. I enjoyed the first book but it took some time to get into and there were a hell of a lot of names to take on board (only for the majority of them to die or no longer be involved after 50 pages). This one was a little slow at the start and it took me a while to get back into the flow of the style and era but when things got going then the pages flew by.Derfel and Arthur are two very well rounded characters, add into that some of the side characters (if you can call Merlin a side character) the ensemble make for a great read. Lancelot is a dick but to stir those emotions means he's written well. Other than the slow start one thing that lowered the overall rating was the weak ending. It's a bridge from this novel to the next but the climax sort of felt like a wet fart. No point in jumping the gun as there is one more novel to go so let's hope for a great finale and move past how it ended.Overall a very good read but a few minor flaws making it lose a little rating overall but looking forward to the finale and how things come together.If you like this try: "Argincourt" by Bernard Cornwell
—Richard
