All Things Medieval discussion

Bernard Cornwell is well known for his action packed Saxon series. Feel free to discuss his works here.

what would be a good book to start of Cornwell's? my husband is having knee surgery and they said he can't do anything for at least two weeks so he's requesting help in finding a few books.

I tried one of them (think it was The Archer?) - definitely not a writer for me.

Susanna wrote: "I tried one of them (think it was The Archer?) - definitely not a writer for me."

Talk about 'co - inside - in - seas' - I was just about to open up the first in a Cornwell trilogy when I noticed your 1*, Susanna.

The three I deftly hoisted into the WPB.

Have kept those four Viking stories though, they look interesting but maybe, given my age and reading life, perhaps the Merlin story will be just too much of a yawn to plough through again.... either way, it won't be today that I embark.

ETA - last week I listened to Azincourt, which was a good ride

I own a few Arthur stories and am scared to read them because of the whole 'I know the story so how different could it be' feeling. I have Mists of Avalon and Rosalind Miles books and one called In the Shadow of the Oak King.

With the Arthur stories you have to space them out, i.e. after reading Stewart's plus a couple other versions of Arthur a year or two ago I need a break before I can try anyone else's.

I still can't decide if I want to try BC or not. I know his battles are supposed to be pretty bloody.

The Arthur series is the antithesis of Mists of Avalon. What magic there is is mostly revealed as trickery, rather than mystical. I rather enjoyed both the Arthur trilogy, and what I've read of the lords of the north series. I've not read any of his earlier stuff. It's all good blokey stuff.

I enjoyed The Last Kingdom a lot and have the others in the series to read. Harlequin (Archer's Tale) was good too - fairly gory, but not gratuitous, although the focus is on war. I tried to read the Arthur book but couldn't get on with it. I think I've been forever spoiled by Mary Stewart's rendering of the tale. I didn't go for BC's Stonehenge and to me The Winter King has that sort of feel - as far as I read, so it's not for me. My favourite Cornwell, which I'd happily re-read is a non-Medieval called Gallow's Thief. For me it was one of those 'glued to the hand' books.

This is not actually medieval, but I do love Cornwell's Sharpe series - Richard Sharpe is a marvelous character (and of course, it's helped by my visualizing Sean Bean as Sharpe!) I haven't read any of his other work, though I have the Arthurian trilogy and a few volumes of the Alfred the Great ones, so I'm interested to see what people have said about those.

I've read a couple of his books; I don't think I'll be reading any more. They were OK, but the man seems to have a loathing of priests and the church and religion in general that comes through in his writing. He populates the novels of his I've read with money loving priests (only after silver), who spout religious platitudes and rape young girls (the first chapter of Azincourt). He makes a joke out of the faith of leaders like Alfred the Great; treating Alfred as though he is more a fan of God and dismissing God as more of Alfred's hobby and certainly of no real value. To me, he seems to have no understanding of the faith that moved these people and without which there would be no England today.

i thought the Viking series was great.I introduced my husband to them and he was engrossed.If you read BCs biography you will realise why he dislikes organised religion.

Enjoyed the Viking books and the Arthurian ones, have the 100 years war ones in a pile awaiting a read.
I think his portrayal of some holy folk is fairly unsympathetic right enough, but from the perspective of the characters it seems to make sense to me. His portrayal of the heathens isn't all tree hugging and flowers though, eg: Nimue in the Arthurian books.

I keep seeing his Viking books cheap around at stores and have almost picked them up. I would like to try them one of these days.

Nona wrote: "what would be a good book to start of Cornwell's? my husband is having knee surgery and they said he can't do anything for at least two weeks so he's requesting help in finding a few books. "


Was that the one where the lead character has a dog as a patron saint and goes around with a dog's paw around his neck? If so that is the only one I have read and I came to the same conclusion you did.The characterisations were flat and formulaic, among other things. Though the book did contain the immortal line 'If I were literate, I could read you like a book'.

My husband and son have enjoyed the viking series. I have too.They are classic Bernard Cornwell. Hero with chip on shoulder and lots of violence (not too graphic) .However the stories progress at a good fast pace and they give a lot of reasonably accurate history and not much soppy romance.The series start with The Last Kingdom. I think they would be perfect for a husband recovering from a knee operation.i would also suggest he might enjoy the Flashman series.

Just finished his Grail books, the Crecy and archer tales. Not his best, otherwise I've only read his Arthur and Anglo-Saxon stuff (both series I enjoyed).
The Grail tales seem a bit formulaic and like Tom Clancy with crossbows and knights...full of chivalric military geek stuff...like fan fiction from a longbow enthusiast...each book repeating how to load a 14th cent canon in detail, or how a bodkin arrow drives through knightly armour. Also seems to have a few wee jokes planted in them. The rants about blue warpaint and Scots aimed at Gibson's film? The similarity between names Plantard/Planchard?

Read The Archer's Tale and was not impressed. I believe I gave it 2 stars.

I havn't read that series.The Viking books are a good read in a reasonably accurate historical setting. a pleasant way of passing the time, they are not Booker Prize winners but probably much more fun.

I really liked his Sharpe series. (Of course it probably helped that I envisioned Sean Bean when I was reading them.) I think he writes some of the best battle scenes I've ever read.

I am a bit ambivalent about Cornwell. When I'm in the mood I really, really enjoy reading them as pure adventures. I think I prefer the Sharpe series, with the Harlequin series next. (For some reason the hero of the Viking stories grates on me.)

As has been said, I find his relentless negativity towards priests and the like a bit of a downer. OK, some priests were (and are) unpleasant people but they were and are not ALL like that.

In addition, I find his women characters very cardboardy indeed.

I found his women, in the one that I read, exceptionally cardboardy.

Yes they are but I still buy the books. You don't buy Cornwell for sensitive depictions of a female point of view you buy them to read about an alpha male fighting his enemies, with a few sidekicks, a chip on his shoulder,and improbable amounts of enemies.

Yeah, and that's why I don't buy them at all.

yes but if you were Nona"s husband confined to bed with an incapacitated knee I think he would enjoy reading them. How did the operation go Nona?