Whilst I found the characters intriguing and the storyline engrossing, I just did not enjoy the reading experience. Chapters were few and far between and it felt clunky and heavy in parts.

Playing Devil’s advocate, it didn’t help that I started reading this during the current Ukraine-Russia crisis which has limited my concentration. I’d definitely suggest being patient when reading this, there are many characters with similar sounding names and it was sometimes hard to keep track of, although there is a dense character list at the beginning.

Bit of a miss for me, though I may pick it up and try rereading at some point in the future.

Fun Military Historical Fiction of Arthuriana

Absolutely loved this book, full of great story narrative and kept me engrossed from beginning to end. I cannot wait to read the next two in the series.

4,5. You get the feeling that the book is all about politics and arranged marriages, but it's actually a dense and interesting story.

This is the second or third book I have read by Cornwell and I'm still not convinced that he's all that great of a writer. I've read historical fiction from several other authors whom I consider to be far better writers. I am not entirely sure I want to invest the time to finish this series...

Phenominal. As a man (man-child) who has read the vast majority of the books of popular arthurian legend, I can in my enthusiastic amateur opinion give this book all the stars. This novel takes its arthurian legend seriously. Bernard Cornwell is to Arthuran legend what Patrick O'Brien is for the Napoleanic wars, just very very good stuff here and I cannot recommend it enough.

Stripping away mythological elements, Cornwell weaves a more realistic tale of the legendary "king" Arthur. Narrating the tale is Derfel, a secondary character to the traditional stories, and he gives us insider info on the storybook lives of Arthur, Merlin, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the others. (Much like Biff, in Lamb!) The people of "Camelot" become human, as Derfel exposes their quirks and weaknesses while still appreciating their feats and victories (and treacheries).

The book revs up slowly. I found it hard to get into, partly because the type is so small I had to use readers for the first time in my life (!), and partly because the pacing is slow while minute details are abundant. At first, I could not understand the hype around this series which finds itself on many "all time best" lists. Cornwell's genius is that this deliberate widening of the narrative lens eventually draws you in and immerses you in the Briton of the Dark Ages. Here there is overwhelming cultural clash: the lingering ruins of the Roman empire, nostalgia for the age of the Druids, the emergence of Christianity, political clashes between states, and the threat of invading Saxons, Franks, and even the Irish. To quote Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

A little over halfway through this tome—actually when Merlin truly enters the story—I found myself obsessed with reading it. As soon as I finished, I opened the second book of the series. It is amusing to anticipate some of the elements of the story to come and know that we are only a third of the way through the story at this point.

Note that the TV series deviates extremely from the novels, almost to the point of nonrecognition.

The grand myth of Arthur and his merry band come to life in "The Winter King". This new retelling of the ancient legend shows the dark ages in all their horror and brutality, and I enjoyed every minute. Far better than "Saxon Tales", this is a thrilling adventure from start to finish. 5 Stars!!