The Winter King
Ratings57
Average rating4.2
15
Ratings57
Average rating4.2
Uther, the High King of Britain, has died, leaving the infant Mordred as his only heir. His uncle, the loyal and gifted warlord Arthur, now rules as caretaker for a country which has fallen into chaos - threats emerge from within the British kingdoms while vicious Saxon armies stand ready to invade. As he struggles to unite Britain and hold back the Saxon enemy, Arthur is embroiled in a doomed romance with beautiful Guinevere.
Featured Series
3 primary booksThe Warlord Chronicles is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 1994 with contributions by Bernard Cornwell, Gaetano Luigi Staffilano, and 2 others.
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http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2007/12/review-of-winter-king.html
A gritty historical fantasy tale, more concerned with describing the geopolitical scene then with story or characters.
After having read The Skystone, the beginning of this book gave me a breath of fresh air. Its is much better written, there is more characterization and the elements of the Arthurian Fantasy were actually present here. Arthur, Merlin, Morgan, Uther and many others. The characters introduced were very different from what you would expect. Merlin is a vicious old men, who enjoys raping and torturing children for his experiments. There is no real magic in the world, but the magical wielders are able to fake it, so that most people believe in them. All of this contribute to an air of realism to the story.
However, the book pacing is atrociously slow, the author spends most of the time naming and and describing all of Britain's kingdoms and rulers, and how they relate to each other.
Read 3:21 / 19:55 41%
Very Good book and very different from what I was expecting. I enjoyed it but can see why it might not be to everyone's taste.
Warning it is told/written by narrator “who was their” I know sometimes books like this arent to everyones liking
Also it is about king Arthur but is more about narrator, and starts when Arthur is grown up and it does sort of spin the story in a historical context so dont expect the usual Arthur style story.
Sorry not very good at explaining and tried to avoid spoilers.
Brilliant
A great start to what I think will be a great series, all the foundations of another masterclass by Mr Cornwell. I could read his books all day long, the perfect mix of action and character to draw you in and hold you there.
