The Winter King (The Arthur Books #1) by Bernard Cornwell

Final Rating: 4.1/5

 

The Winter King is an entertaining retelling and expansion of a myth that has captivated humans since the 6th century.
 

    The Winter King is an entertaining retelling and expansion of a myth that has captivated humans since the 6th century. Mr. Cornwell weaves a tale that captures the reader and transports them into the realistic world of Early Britain during the Dark Ages complete with all the brutal savagery that satisfies the reader's most dark curiosities. Abandon all preconceived images of the "heroes" of the Arthur legend, the author has challenged all our images and spun those one-note characters of legend into a rich tapestry of complex, emotional, and riveting entities that just leap off the pages. Battle scenes galore will meet the reader and the author's artistry with descriptions of geography and the grittiness of early human life will cause you to read far into the night. It's very hard to put down this book, once you enter the unpredictable kingdom of Dumnonia and its surrounding realms.

   In the end however, there were a few topics and details that brought down my overall rating: combating and shockingly insulting Religious topics (that began to upset and bore me), long political and war strategies (that unfortunately dragged the overall pace of the story down), repetitive scenes/ actions and curses, the continued almost uncharacteristic emotional displays of strong male characters, Arthur's portrayal etc. Overall, I would still recommend this book and will read the next two in this series. Mr. Cornwell has broken any mold I have ever experienced or known that existed and paints with his pen a world that I will be pleased to enter again.

-First read at local library and then purchased title for kindle

Next in Series:

Enemy of God (The Arthur Books #2)

by Bernard Cornwell

Excalibur (The Arthur Books #3)

by Bernard Cornwell