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Grail Quest #3
Heretic
From New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell, the sequel to The Archer’s Tale and Vagabond —the spellbinding tale of a young man, a fearless archer, who sets out wanting to avenge his family’s honor and winds up on a quest for the Holy Grail. Already a seasoned veteran of King Edward's army, young Thomas of Hookton possesses the fearlessness of a born leader and an uncanny prowess with the longbow. Now, at the head of a small but able band of soldiers, he has been dispatched to capture the castle of Astarac. But more than duty to his liege has brought him to Gascony, home of his forebears and the hated black knight who brutally slew Thomas's father. It is also the last place where the Holy Grail was reported seen. Here, also, a beautiful and innocent, if not pious, woman is to be burned as a heretic. Saving the lady, Genevieve, from her dread fate will brand Thomas an infidel, forcing them to flee together across a landscape of blood and fire. And what looms ahead is a battle to the death that could ultimately shape the future of Christendom.
412 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 6, 2003
657 people are currently reading
6043 people want to read
About the author
Bernard Cornwell
536 books18.8k followersCornwell was born in London in 1944. His father was a Canadian airman, and his mother, who was English, a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. He was adopted and brought up in Essex by the Wiggins family, who were members of the Peculiar People, a strict Protestant sect who banned frivolity of all kinds and even medicine. After he left them, he changed his name to his birth mother's maiden name, Cornwell.
Cornwell was sent away to Monkton Combe School, attended the University of London, and after graduating, worked as a teacher. He attempted to enlist in the British armed services at least three times but was rejected on the grounds of myopia.
He then joined BBC's Nationwide and was promoted to become head of current affairs at BBC Northern Ireland. He then joined Thames Television as editor of Thames News. He relocated to the United States in 1980 after marrying an American. Unable to get a green card, he started writing novels, as this did not require a work permit.
As a child, Cornwell loved the novels of C.S. Forester, chronicling the adventures of fictional British naval officer Horatio Hornblower during the Napoleonic Wars, and was surprised to find there were no such novels following Lord Wellington's campaign on land. Motivated by the need to support himself in the U.S. through writing, Cornwell decided to write such a series. He named his chief protagonist Richard Sharpe, a rifleman involved in most major battles of the Peninsular War.
Cornwell wanted to start the series with the Siege of Badajoz but decided instead to start with a couple of "warm-up" novels. These were Sharpe's Eagle and Sharpe's Gold, both published in 1981. Sharpe's Eagle was picked up by a publisher, and Cornwell got a three-book deal. He went on to tell the story of Badajoz in his third Sharpe novel, Sharpe's Company, published in 1982.
Cornwell and wife Judy co-wrote a series of novels, published under the pseudonym "Susannah Kells". These were A Crowning Mercy, published in 1983, Fallen Angels in 1984, and Coat of Arms (aka The Aristocrats) in 1986. (Cornwell's strict Protestant upbringing informed the background of A Crowning Mercy, which took place during the English Civil War.) In 1987, he also published Redcoat, an American Revolutionary War novel set in Philadelphia during its 1777 occupation by the British.
After publishing eight books in his ongoing Sharpe series, Cornwell was approached by a production company interested in adapting them for television. The producers asked him to write a prequel to give them a starting point to the series. They also requested that the story feature a large role for Spanish characters to secure co-funding from Spain. The result was Sharpe’s Rifles, published in 1987, and a series of Sharpe television films staring Sean Bean.
A series of contemporary thrillers with sailing as a background and common themes followed: Wildtrack published in 1988, Sea Lord (aka Killer's Wake) in 1989, Crackdown in 1990, Stormchild in 1991, and Scoundrel, a political thriller, in 1992.
In June 2006, Cornwell was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's 80th Birthday Honours List.
Cornwell's latest work, Azincourt, was released in the UK in October 2008. The protagonist is an archer who participates in the Battle of Agincourt, another devastating defeat suffered by the French in the Hundred Years War. However, Cornwell has stated that it will not be about Thomas of Hookton from The Grail Quest or any of his relatives.
Cornwell was sent away to Monkton Combe School, attended the University of London, and after graduating, worked as a teacher. He attempted to enlist in the British armed services at least three times but was rejected on the grounds of myopia.
He then joined BBC's Nationwide and was promoted to become head of current affairs at BBC Northern Ireland. He then joined Thames Television as editor of Thames News. He relocated to the United States in 1980 after marrying an American. Unable to get a green card, he started writing novels, as this did not require a work permit.
As a child, Cornwell loved the novels of C.S. Forester, chronicling the adventures of fictional British naval officer Horatio Hornblower during the Napoleonic Wars, and was surprised to find there were no such novels following Lord Wellington's campaign on land. Motivated by the need to support himself in the U.S. through writing, Cornwell decided to write such a series. He named his chief protagonist Richard Sharpe, a rifleman involved in most major battles of the Peninsular War.
Cornwell wanted to start the series with the Siege of Badajoz but decided instead to start with a couple of "warm-up" novels. These were Sharpe's Eagle and Sharpe's Gold, both published in 1981. Sharpe's Eagle was picked up by a publisher, and Cornwell got a three-book deal. He went on to tell the story of Badajoz in his third Sharpe novel, Sharpe's Company, published in 1982.
Cornwell and wife Judy co-wrote a series of novels, published under the pseudonym "Susannah Kells". These were A Crowning Mercy, published in 1983, Fallen Angels in 1984, and Coat of Arms (aka The Aristocrats) in 1986. (Cornwell's strict Protestant upbringing informed the background of A Crowning Mercy, which took place during the English Civil War.) In 1987, he also published Redcoat, an American Revolutionary War novel set in Philadelphia during its 1777 occupation by the British.
After publishing eight books in his ongoing Sharpe series, Cornwell was approached by a production company interested in adapting them for television. The producers asked him to write a prequel to give them a starting point to the series. They also requested that the story feature a large role for Spanish characters to secure co-funding from Spain. The result was Sharpe’s Rifles, published in 1987, and a series of Sharpe television films staring Sean Bean.
A series of contemporary thrillers with sailing as a background and common themes followed: Wildtrack published in 1988, Sea Lord (aka Killer's Wake) in 1989, Crackdown in 1990, Stormchild in 1991, and Scoundrel, a political thriller, in 1992.
In June 2006, Cornwell was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's 80th Birthday Honours List.
Cornwell's latest work, Azincourt, was released in the UK in October 2008. The protagonist is an archer who participates in the Battle of Agincourt, another devastating defeat suffered by the French in the Hundred Years War. However, Cornwell has stated that it will not be about Thomas of Hookton from The Grail Quest or any of his relatives.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 565 reviews
April 16, 2015
I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books of the series, so this one was a bit of a let down for me.
Bernard Cornwell is great at battle scenes, and creating memorable characters. However I found this book not up to the same standards as the other two books. There was a lot less action, and while I really felt for the main character Thomas in the last book because his decisions resulted , but this book I just felt annoyed with him. You would think he would learn from that. But nope.
In this book, after again making foolish decisions for the sake of ANOTHER woman, Thomas is described by another character as a prick-for-brains. I don't think it could be said any better.
The new love interest I found flat and uninteresting, and the "romance" was skipped over altogether. Not something I would normally complain about, but it just seemed that because she was pretty she was automatically Thomas' woman. No chemistry needed, just looks. He'd become a fugitive for her. Because she was pretty. He would sacrifice a friend. Because she was pretty. He would do anything for her. Because pretty.
Doesn't hurt that she also likes to take her clothes off and dance naked in a thunderstorm.
Bloody prick-for-brains.
Bernard Cornwell is great at battle scenes, and creating memorable characters. However I found this book not up to the same standards as the other two books. There was a lot less action, and while I really felt for the main character Thomas in the last book because his decisions resulted , but this book I just felt annoyed with him. You would think he would learn from that. But nope.
In this book, after again making foolish decisions for the sake of ANOTHER woman, Thomas is described by another character as a prick-for-brains. I don't think it could be said any better.
The new love interest I found flat and uninteresting, and the "romance" was skipped over altogether. Not something I would normally complain about, but it just seemed that because she was pretty she was automatically Thomas' woman. No chemistry needed, just looks. He'd become a fugitive for her. Because she was pretty. He would sacrifice a friend. Because she was pretty. He would do anything for her. Because pretty.
Doesn't hurt that she also likes to take her clothes off and dance naked in a thunderstorm.
Bloody prick-for-brains.
August 3, 2021
English archer Thomas of Hookton battles both a brutal army and the Black Death in his quest for the Holy Grail, but most daunting of all is the decision he must make when he finally discovers the truth about the vessel.
August 31, 2022
7,5/10
Me ha pasado algo curioso con esta lectura, leí los dos primeros libros de la saga hace como 8-10 años y lo cierto es que me gustaron, pero no encontraba este libro y lo fui dejando pasar hasta que el otro día hablando con un amigo me dijo que lo tenía y me lo prestó.
Para aquellos que hayáis leído algo de Cornwell, esta novela cumple sus estándares al pie de la letra. Mucha acción, un buen ritmo narrativo en el que es muy complicado aburrirte y unos personajes con los que es fácil empatizar.
Por otro lado diría que peca de una prosa algo ligera, que ojo, a mi me gusta mucho este estilo, de no profundizar demasiado en ciertos aspectos y de ir muy al grano en otros. Para mucha gente esto puede ser un hándicap, pero a mi es un estilo que va muy mucho conmigo.
Al ser el tercer libro de una saga es complicado hablar de la trama sin ofrecer muchos spoilers por lo que así a modo de resumen rápido, os puedo decir que la acción se sitúa en la Francia del siglo XIV y en la lucha entre el rey de Inglaterra con su homónimo francés en la conocida guerra de los cien años. Bajo este contexto nuestro protagonista, un arquero inglés con una gran fama a sus espaldas, recibe la misión de alejarse de la guerra en sí y buscar el santo Grial, el cual podría detener esa barbarie y darle a Inglaterra el poder suficiente para imponerse a su gran rival. A partir de ese momento ocurrirán todo tipo de aventuras hasta llegar al desenlace de la novela.
Lo que hace a esta novela y a sus predecesoras muy interesante, es conocer de primera mano la gran influencia que tuvieron los arqueros ingleses durante esa época, en la que eran considerados los hombres más letales del ejercito y la gran baza contra sus enemigos en las grandes batallas que sucedieron durante esos años.
Me queda un cuarto libro que estoy deseando conseguir para terminar la saga.
Me ha pasado algo curioso con esta lectura, leí los dos primeros libros de la saga hace como 8-10 años y lo cierto es que me gustaron, pero no encontraba este libro y lo fui dejando pasar hasta que el otro día hablando con un amigo me dijo que lo tenía y me lo prestó.
Para aquellos que hayáis leído algo de Cornwell, esta novela cumple sus estándares al pie de la letra. Mucha acción, un buen ritmo narrativo en el que es muy complicado aburrirte y unos personajes con los que es fácil empatizar.
Por otro lado diría que peca de una prosa algo ligera, que ojo, a mi me gusta mucho este estilo, de no profundizar demasiado en ciertos aspectos y de ir muy al grano en otros. Para mucha gente esto puede ser un hándicap, pero a mi es un estilo que va muy mucho conmigo.
Al ser el tercer libro de una saga es complicado hablar de la trama sin ofrecer muchos spoilers por lo que así a modo de resumen rápido, os puedo decir que la acción se sitúa en la Francia del siglo XIV y en la lucha entre el rey de Inglaterra con su homónimo francés en la conocida guerra de los cien años. Bajo este contexto nuestro protagonista, un arquero inglés con una gran fama a sus espaldas, recibe la misión de alejarse de la guerra en sí y buscar el santo Grial, el cual podría detener esa barbarie y darle a Inglaterra el poder suficiente para imponerse a su gran rival. A partir de ese momento ocurrirán todo tipo de aventuras hasta llegar al desenlace de la novela.
Lo que hace a esta novela y a sus predecesoras muy interesante, es conocer de primera mano la gran influencia que tuvieron los arqueros ingleses durante esa época, en la que eran considerados los hombres más letales del ejercito y la gran baza contra sus enemigos en las grandes batallas que sucedieron durante esos años.
Me queda un cuarto libro que estoy deseando conseguir para terminar la saga.
January 31, 2023
An excellent third installment in the Grail Quest series. Its shorter length of under 400 pages (compared to Vagabond's nearly 700 pages) helped with the pace and tightness of the plot.
Although Bernard Cornwell wrote a fourth book, 1356, it doesn't seem necessary. Heretic completely and satisfactorily wraps up the story of Thomas of Hookton's quest for the Holy Grail in tandem with his service as an English archer during the Hundred Years War. In many ways this was the most satisfying of the trilogy because it's almost entirely focused on the grail. Highlights also include the Siege of Calais in the opening chapters and Thomas finally vanquishing his enemies (after they take out some of the good guys first, unfortunately). The book's title primarily refers to Genevieve, a young French woman that Thomas and Robbie encounter on the eve of her being burned at the stake. Thankfully, Thomas confounds the priest's evidence against her and wins her freedom. She creates a wedge between the two best friends, but eventually becomes a trusted confidante and fighter at Thomas' side.
Let's see what 1356 has in store. I know Thomas of Hookton is the main character again, but without searching for the grail, I'll be curious to see whether it will hold my interest.
Although Bernard Cornwell wrote a fourth book, 1356, it doesn't seem necessary. Heretic completely and satisfactorily wraps up the story of Thomas of Hookton's quest for the Holy Grail in tandem with his service as an English archer during the Hundred Years War. In many ways this was the most satisfying of the trilogy because it's almost entirely focused on the grail. Highlights also include the Siege of Calais in the opening chapters and Thomas finally vanquishing his enemies (after they take out some of the good guys first, unfortunately). The book's title primarily refers to Genevieve, a young French woman that Thomas and Robbie encounter on the eve of her being burned at the stake. Thankfully, Thomas confounds the priest's evidence against her and wins her freedom. She creates a wedge between the two best friends, but eventually becomes a trusted confidante and fighter at Thomas' side.
Let's see what 1356 has in store. I know Thomas of Hookton is the main character again, but without searching for the grail, I'll be curious to see whether it will hold my interest.
June 27, 2025
Thomas of Hookton finally finds the Holy Grail after going on a long fruitless journey into France that could have been avoided. If you read the Alchemist, then you would understand what I am talking about. The journey involved a violent confrontation between Thomas and the murderous Harlequin that ended in a satisfying conclusion. What really was perplexing that he endangered himself by saving a beautiful heretic and earned the wrath of the powerful Church. That is a common pulp fiction cliche that would not be done in real life. The Holy Grail was sought by those who thought it would bring peace but most were willing to kill for it for selfish reasons. The British wanted the Grail to draw pilgrims with money, a Cardinal wanted it as a means to become Pope. and others saw it as a source of world power. After all the bloodshed there was an ironic realization the Grail was where Thomas began his quest and it was too dangerous in the hands of mere mortals.
September 26, 2021
Read this book in 2005, and its the 3rd part of the archer "Thomas of Hookton" series.
This book is set in the Middle Ages during the Hundred Years War, in the year AD 1347, England has cpatured Calais and a truce with france is secured, but once again Thomas of Hookton and his companions on the hunt for the Holy Grail.
While travelling to Gascony to engineer a confrontation with his deadliest enemy, Guy Vexille, his campaign is destroyed by the church and he will become the hunted with only a condemned Heretic girl as company, and so he must play hide and seek against an overwhelming enemy.
When at last Thomas meets his enemy, Guy Vexille, face to face, a deadly plague will introduce itself to lay a deadly waste to land and people, and so his search for the grail must be put on hold for the time being.
A marvellous action-packed tale about the Hundred Years War and the plague of AD 1347, in which Thomas of Hookton must try to survive to keep his hunt for the Grail alive, and that's why I like to call this book: "A Great Heretic Grail"!
This book is set in the Middle Ages during the Hundred Years War, in the year AD 1347, England has cpatured Calais and a truce with france is secured, but once again Thomas of Hookton and his companions on the hunt for the Holy Grail.
While travelling to Gascony to engineer a confrontation with his deadliest enemy, Guy Vexille, his campaign is destroyed by the church and he will become the hunted with only a condemned Heretic girl as company, and so he must play hide and seek against an overwhelming enemy.
When at last Thomas meets his enemy, Guy Vexille, face to face, a deadly plague will introduce itself to lay a deadly waste to land and people, and so his search for the grail must be put on hold for the time being.
A marvellous action-packed tale about the Hundred Years War and the plague of AD 1347, in which Thomas of Hookton must try to survive to keep his hunt for the Grail alive, and that's why I like to call this book: "A Great Heretic Grail"!
April 17, 2020
I really enjoyed this series, even if I totally prefered the first two books better than this last one. The constant action kept me reading the story. I absolutely find that Thomas is extraordinary, he was
even abbandoned by his best friend and excommunicated by saving Genevieve that the church considered heretic. Seeing how powerful church men were greedy and did atrocious cruelties in the name of God leaves you thinking. Fortunately today it is no longer like this. I dare not imagine how many innocents have been condemned by the inquisition and reading how they were tortured causes me a lot of sadness.
even abbandoned by his best friend and excommunicated by saving Genevieve that the church considered heretic. Seeing how powerful church men were greedy and did atrocious cruelties in the name of God leaves you thinking. Fortunately today it is no longer like this. I dare not imagine how many innocents have been condemned by the inquisition and reading how they were tortured causes me a lot of sadness.
November 22, 2020
3/5 stars, this one was missing lots of action. Still enjoyable though.
September 13, 2020
Heretic has what Cornwell's fans crave: electrolytes action. Plenty of action. There are battles, both personal, and thus fictional, as well as historical footnotes to the Hundred Years War.
Gritty and fairly fast-paced, this is a perfectly fine book. Quite enjoyable, actually, if you're new to Bernard Cornwell. However, it somewhat pales in comparison to some of his other stuff.
The quest for the Holy Grail with war as the backdrop makes for a good story. The plotting and pace are solid. I think where Heretic drops the ball is in the character department. This is the third book of a series and I only feel slightly attached to Thomas of Hookton, our hero and MC. And it's not just his fault, but Cornwell also did the dirty to a side character, Robbie Douglas the Scot, who is a very likable sidekick. He gets used poorly in this book, I think because Cornwell needed a foil to trip up Thomas. It's unfortunate and I don't think it made a lot of sense. Perhaps I missed something, but his character-180 just seemed to come out of left field.
There is one more book in this series, which I will read. I've come too far not to. I just wish I was more enthused about it. Oh well. Even when Cornwell writes a dud, I still find something to enjoy about it. It's a testament to his prowess as a writer of action-packed historical fiction that I'm still willing to forge through a book/series I might otherwise set aside.
Gritty and fairly fast-paced, this is a perfectly fine book. Quite enjoyable, actually, if you're new to Bernard Cornwell. However, it somewhat pales in comparison to some of his other stuff.
The quest for the Holy Grail with war as the backdrop makes for a good story. The plotting and pace are solid. I think where Heretic drops the ball is in the character department. This is the third book of a series and I only feel slightly attached to Thomas of Hookton, our hero and MC. And it's not just his fault, but Cornwell also did the dirty to a side character, Robbie Douglas the Scot, who is a very likable sidekick. He gets used poorly in this book, I think because Cornwell needed a foil to trip up Thomas. It's unfortunate and I don't think it made a lot of sense. Perhaps I missed something, but his character-180 just seemed to come out of left field.
There is one more book in this series, which I will read. I've come too far not to. I just wish I was more enthused about it. Oh well. Even when Cornwell writes a dud, I still find something to enjoy about it. It's a testament to his prowess as a writer of action-packed historical fiction that I'm still willing to forge through a book/series I might otherwise set aside.
January 16, 2022
This one fairly wraps up the originally planned trilogy with more of Thomas of Hookton and his expert archery skills and mysterious connection to the Holy Grail.
If you've read the other two, you'll know there will be plenty of battles.
There also happens to be a new love interest in a heretical girl who leads him to become a heretic in the middle of the Hundred Year's War -- never a fun time in any case, but now much worse, especially with the oncoming wave of the Black Death -- and, to be frank, it's a real mess.
Not the story, so much, but the whole situation. I mean, sure, to go back to your old murder-y life as you try to convince yourself that the Grail is real and not just a free-for-all power grab from all the people in the Western World, all you have to do is let the girl burn... but no, love trumps all.
Eeek. Well, the whole thing is a mess, and reading this just makes me realize that I'm happy I didn't live through any of this. A lot of great historical novelization here, and overall, an excellent read.
If you've read the other two, you'll know there will be plenty of battles.
There also happens to be a new love interest in a heretical girl who leads him to become a heretic in the middle of the Hundred Year's War -- never a fun time in any case, but now much worse, especially with the oncoming wave of the Black Death -- and, to be frank, it's a real mess.
Not the story, so much, but the whole situation. I mean, sure, to go back to your old murder-y life as you try to convince yourself that the Grail is real and not just a free-for-all power grab from all the people in the Western World, all you have to do is let the girl burn... but no, love trumps all.
Eeek. Well, the whole thing is a mess, and reading this just makes me realize that I'm happy I didn't live through any of this. A lot of great historical novelization here, and overall, an excellent read.
November 28, 2018
This was a great end to this trilogy. This ceries is not for the faint of heart. There is much killing and cruel tortured described within its' pages.
Enjoy and
Be Blessed.
Enjoy and
Be Blessed.
February 25, 2016
Thomasa od Hooktona, nakon ratnih pohoda kroz Francusku, Škotsku, pa opet Francusku, ponovno nalazimo u Francuskoj. Englezi su, nakon mnoštva uspješnih bitaka, upravo izgubili jednu svoju utvrdu, a Francuzi, nakon ove pobjede, ipak nisu odmah odlučili jurišati dalje. Nakon godina ratovanja, na pomolu je primirje (barem privremeno).
Usporedo s onim ratnim, Thomas je ujedno i u pohodu, tj. potrazi, za najvažnijom kršćanskom relikvijom - Gralom - u čije postojanje još uvijek sumnja, ali ga to ipak ne sprečava da ga pokuša pronaći. Dodatnu motivaciju daje mu činjenica da za Gralom traga i njegov rođak Guy Vexille, koji mu je ubio oca, i kojem se Thomas silno želi osvetiti.
Vjerujući da je moguće da se Gral, ili barem neki trag do mjesta gdje je sakriven, nalazi na mjestu na kojem je ta relikvija posljednji put viđena, u razrušenom dvorcu Astarac, Thomas, uz dopuštenje grofa od Northamptona i sa svojom vlastitom malom vojskom engleskih strijelaca, odlazi u pohod na utvrdu koja se nalazi u blizini Astaraca. Ondje neće odmah naletjeti na Gral, ali naletjet će na djevojku koja je osuđena na spaljivanje na lomači zbog hereze, a koju Thomas spasi, osudivši time i sebe na to ga proglase heretikom.
Što zbog praznovjerja, što zbog ljubomore, djevojka će unijeti nemir i neprijateljstvo među Thomasove vojnike, zbog čega će im se put kojim su izvorno namjerili poći ponešto izmijeniti, sklopljeni savezi će se razvrgnuti, a novi sklopiti, a želja za Gralom proširit će se na još neke sudionike potrage, preprečujući put do Grala nepredviđenim sukobima i preprekama...
Ukoliko niste još čitali niti jednu knjigu ove trilogije, predlažem vam da počnete od prve - 'Harlekin', pa nastavite po redu s 'Vagbundom' i tek onda krenete na 'Heretika' - jer mnogi događaji iz ovih triju knjiga su povezani i oni kasniji referiraju se na one prethodne.
Iako se radi o povijesnoj trilogiji, pomiješanoj s nešto fikcije, naglasak u svakoj pojedinoj knjizi se mijenja: 'Harlekin' je bio pretežno povijesni roman, 'Vagabund' također, ali u nešto manjoj mjeri, s većim naglaskom na potrazi za Gralom nego na povijesnim bitkama, dok je 'Heretik' pretežno fikcijski, a tek u manjoj mjeri povijesni roman.
Kao i u prva dva romana, i u ovom se nastavlja Cornwellova oda engleskim strijelcima s dugim lukovima, iako im ovdje daje znatno manje prostora no što su imali u prva dva romana trilogije. Iako ih nema puno, povijesni događaji (bitke) izneseni u ovom romanu izneseni su povijesno točno, baš kao što to Cornwell čini i u prethodnim romanima.
Misterij Grala, o kojem su ispisana mnoga književna djela, ovdje je iznesen na nov način, a mjesto na kojem on stvarno počiva do samog je kraja neizvjesno. Na neki način, Thomasov put i njegova potraga za Gralom ovom knjigom čini puni krug, zaokružujući cijelu tu priču i dajući nam konačan odgovor na sva do sada još neodgovorena pitanja.
Cijela trilogija 'Potraga za Gralom' fascinantno je djelo, i s povijesnog, i s fikcijskog aspekta. Vrlo je zanimljiva i gušt ju je čitati. Iako se u njoj nalazi i gomila opisa vojnih bitaka, one nisu dosadne i suhoparne kako možda znaju biti u nekim drugim romanima, već ih se čita s napetošću i zanimanjem. I stvarni i izmišljeni likovi u ovim romanima sjajno su okarakterizirani i sjajno se uklapaju u priču, a sama je priča iznimno vješto ispričana i itekako zaslužuje da ju se pročita.
Ako ste čitali prva dva romana, sumnjam da vas treba nagovarati da pročitate i ovaj. Ako niste, a volite povijesne romane, iskreno vam preporučam čitavu trilogiju. Nećete požaliti, jako je dobra.
Usporedo s onim ratnim, Thomas je ujedno i u pohodu, tj. potrazi, za najvažnijom kršćanskom relikvijom - Gralom - u čije postojanje još uvijek sumnja, ali ga to ipak ne sprečava da ga pokuša pronaći. Dodatnu motivaciju daje mu činjenica da za Gralom traga i njegov rođak Guy Vexille, koji mu je ubio oca, i kojem se Thomas silno želi osvetiti.
Vjerujući da je moguće da se Gral, ili barem neki trag do mjesta gdje je sakriven, nalazi na mjestu na kojem je ta relikvija posljednji put viđena, u razrušenom dvorcu Astarac, Thomas, uz dopuštenje grofa od Northamptona i sa svojom vlastitom malom vojskom engleskih strijelaca, odlazi u pohod na utvrdu koja se nalazi u blizini Astaraca. Ondje neće odmah naletjeti na Gral, ali naletjet će na djevojku koja je osuđena na spaljivanje na lomači zbog hereze, a koju Thomas spasi, osudivši time i sebe na to ga proglase heretikom.
Što zbog praznovjerja, što zbog ljubomore, djevojka će unijeti nemir i neprijateljstvo među Thomasove vojnike, zbog čega će im se put kojim su izvorno namjerili poći ponešto izmijeniti, sklopljeni savezi će se razvrgnuti, a novi sklopiti, a želja za Gralom proširit će se na još neke sudionike potrage, preprečujući put do Grala nepredviđenim sukobima i preprekama...
Ukoliko niste još čitali niti jednu knjigu ove trilogije, predlažem vam da počnete od prve - 'Harlekin', pa nastavite po redu s 'Vagbundom' i tek onda krenete na 'Heretika' - jer mnogi događaji iz ovih triju knjiga su povezani i oni kasniji referiraju se na one prethodne.
Iako se radi o povijesnoj trilogiji, pomiješanoj s nešto fikcije, naglasak u svakoj pojedinoj knjizi se mijenja: 'Harlekin' je bio pretežno povijesni roman, 'Vagabund' također, ali u nešto manjoj mjeri, s većim naglaskom na potrazi za Gralom nego na povijesnim bitkama, dok je 'Heretik' pretežno fikcijski, a tek u manjoj mjeri povijesni roman.
Kao i u prva dva romana, i u ovom se nastavlja Cornwellova oda engleskim strijelcima s dugim lukovima, iako im ovdje daje znatno manje prostora no što su imali u prva dva romana trilogije. Iako ih nema puno, povijesni događaji (bitke) izneseni u ovom romanu izneseni su povijesno točno, baš kao što to Cornwell čini i u prethodnim romanima.
Misterij Grala, o kojem su ispisana mnoga književna djela, ovdje je iznesen na nov način, a mjesto na kojem on stvarno počiva do samog je kraja neizvjesno. Na neki način, Thomasov put i njegova potraga za Gralom ovom knjigom čini puni krug, zaokružujući cijelu tu priču i dajući nam konačan odgovor na sva do sada još neodgovorena pitanja.
Cijela trilogija 'Potraga za Gralom' fascinantno je djelo, i s povijesnog, i s fikcijskog aspekta. Vrlo je zanimljiva i gušt ju je čitati. Iako se u njoj nalazi i gomila opisa vojnih bitaka, one nisu dosadne i suhoparne kako možda znaju biti u nekim drugim romanima, već ih se čita s napetošću i zanimanjem. I stvarni i izmišljeni likovi u ovim romanima sjajno su okarakterizirani i sjajno se uklapaju u priču, a sama je priča iznimno vješto ispričana i itekako zaslužuje da ju se pročita.
Ako ste čitali prva dva romana, sumnjam da vas treba nagovarati da pročitate i ovaj. Ako niste, a volite povijesne romane, iskreno vam preporučam čitavu trilogiju. Nećete požaliti, jako je dobra.
October 29, 2015
Review in Portuguese from Desbravando Livros:
Depois de sobreviver ao cerco de La Roche Derrien, Thomas viaja para o norte até Calais, onde tenta ajudar o exército inglês a invadir a cidade. Mas o seu destino não é esse e a busca pelo Graal ainda não foi concluída, fazendo com que o nosso personagem principal viaje até Astarac para descobrir mais a respeito do misterioso objeto e também sobre a sua família.
Na maior parte da narrativa, o terceiro e último livro da trilogia não mantém o mesmo ritmo do anterior, mas isso não é necessariamente um problema, pelo menos na minha opinião. É que eu estava tão empolgado com o desenrolar da história em “O Andarilho” que acabei não sentindo a mesma coisa com esse livro.
“Ele atirava sem pensar. Sem mirar. Aquilo era a sua vida, sua perícia e seu orgulho. Pegar um arco, mais alto do que um homem, feito de teixo, e usá-lo para disparar flechas de freixo, com penas de ganso na extremidade e armadas com ponta de estilete. Como o grande arco era puxado até a orelha, de nada adiantava tentar mirar com o olho. Eram anos de prática que permitiam saber aonde iriam suas flechas, e Thomas as disparava em ritmo alucinado, uma flecha a cada três ou quatro segundos, e as penas brancas cortavam o ar em direção ao outro lado do pântano, e as compridas pontas de aço atravessavam cotas de malha e couro e penetravam em barrigas, peitos e coxas franceses. Elas atingiam o alvo com o som de um machado de açougueiro caindo sobre carne, e faziam com que os cavalarianos parassem.”
A maior parte deste livro é focada em fugas que Thomas foi obrigado a realizar para conseguir sobreviver, ainda mais depois de ter salvo uma jovem considerada herege da fogueira. Mesmo assim, apesar de não termos tantas batalhas como nos livros anteriores, quando estas acontecem, só Deus sabe o que vai acontecer, pois as reviravoltas acontecem quando menos se espera.
Um dos pontos que eu praticamente tenho a obrigação de mencionar é o seguinte: quando alguém quer MUITO alguma coisa, essa pessoa fará de tudo para consegui-la. Esse desejo está tão explícito no livro do Cornwell que eu também gostaria de destacar um trecho do mesmo:
“Planchard apanhou a lanterna. - Não posso dizer mais nada, excelência, porque não ouvi nada que me diga que o Graal está em Astarac. Mas de uma coisa eu sei, e sei como sei que meus ossos em breve irão descansar com os meus irmãos neste ossário. A busca pelo Graal, excelência, leva os homens à loucura. Ela os ofusca, ela os confunde, e deixa-os choramingando. É uma coisa perigosa, excelência, que é melhor deixar por conta dos trovadores. Que eles cantem sobre ele e façam poemas a seu respeito, mas pelo amor de Deus não arrisque a sua alma indo à procura dele.”
E só para finalizar: o livro fecha com chave de ouro essa excelente trilogia! Gostei bastante dos três livros e achei a narrativa um pouco diferente dos livros das Crônicas Saxônicas, o que é importante para justificar o incrível trabalho do autor, que dedicou-se bastante às pesquisas sobre a Guerra dos Cem Anos e nos brindou com essa ótima coleção.
Pontos fortes: o desfecho da história é digno de um autor como Bernard Cornwell. Você vai se surpreender!
Pontos fracos: não há um mapa para ajudar o leitor a localizar-se melhor e a narrativa não é tão empolgante quanto a do segundo livro.
Depois de sobreviver ao cerco de La Roche Derrien, Thomas viaja para o norte até Calais, onde tenta ajudar o exército inglês a invadir a cidade. Mas o seu destino não é esse e a busca pelo Graal ainda não foi concluída, fazendo com que o nosso personagem principal viaje até Astarac para descobrir mais a respeito do misterioso objeto e também sobre a sua família.
Na maior parte da narrativa, o terceiro e último livro da trilogia não mantém o mesmo ritmo do anterior, mas isso não é necessariamente um problema, pelo menos na minha opinião. É que eu estava tão empolgado com o desenrolar da história em “O Andarilho” que acabei não sentindo a mesma coisa com esse livro.
“Ele atirava sem pensar. Sem mirar. Aquilo era a sua vida, sua perícia e seu orgulho. Pegar um arco, mais alto do que um homem, feito de teixo, e usá-lo para disparar flechas de freixo, com penas de ganso na extremidade e armadas com ponta de estilete. Como o grande arco era puxado até a orelha, de nada adiantava tentar mirar com o olho. Eram anos de prática que permitiam saber aonde iriam suas flechas, e Thomas as disparava em ritmo alucinado, uma flecha a cada três ou quatro segundos, e as penas brancas cortavam o ar em direção ao outro lado do pântano, e as compridas pontas de aço atravessavam cotas de malha e couro e penetravam em barrigas, peitos e coxas franceses. Elas atingiam o alvo com o som de um machado de açougueiro caindo sobre carne, e faziam com que os cavalarianos parassem.”
A maior parte deste livro é focada em fugas que Thomas foi obrigado a realizar para conseguir sobreviver, ainda mais depois de ter salvo uma jovem considerada herege da fogueira. Mesmo assim, apesar de não termos tantas batalhas como nos livros anteriores, quando estas acontecem, só Deus sabe o que vai acontecer, pois as reviravoltas acontecem quando menos se espera.
Um dos pontos que eu praticamente tenho a obrigação de mencionar é o seguinte: quando alguém quer MUITO alguma coisa, essa pessoa fará de tudo para consegui-la. Esse desejo está tão explícito no livro do Cornwell que eu também gostaria de destacar um trecho do mesmo:
“Planchard apanhou a lanterna. - Não posso dizer mais nada, excelência, porque não ouvi nada que me diga que o Graal está em Astarac. Mas de uma coisa eu sei, e sei como sei que meus ossos em breve irão descansar com os meus irmãos neste ossário. A busca pelo Graal, excelência, leva os homens à loucura. Ela os ofusca, ela os confunde, e deixa-os choramingando. É uma coisa perigosa, excelência, que é melhor deixar por conta dos trovadores. Que eles cantem sobre ele e façam poemas a seu respeito, mas pelo amor de Deus não arrisque a sua alma indo à procura dele.”
E só para finalizar: o livro fecha com chave de ouro essa excelente trilogia! Gostei bastante dos três livros e achei a narrativa um pouco diferente dos livros das Crônicas Saxônicas, o que é importante para justificar o incrível trabalho do autor, que dedicou-se bastante às pesquisas sobre a Guerra dos Cem Anos e nos brindou com essa ótima coleção.
Pontos fortes: o desfecho da história é digno de um autor como Bernard Cornwell. Você vai se surpreender!
Pontos fracos: não há um mapa para ajudar o leitor a localizar-se melhor e a narrativa não é tão empolgante quanto a do segundo livro.
November 14, 2024
I am honestly baffled why people rave about this series. I’ve had so many people recommend it to me. On some level I see why, on the surface it has everything I could want. Historical fiction filled with battles, my favourite. Set in the reign of Edward 3rd, also a favourite. With some fantasy that’s not so fantasy twist, which I very much enjoy. However, after over 1200 pages this series is a massive let down.
Every interesting and fun way this series could have ended just didn’t happen. In the end quite literally nothing happens. No pay off, no great battle, nothing. Half the plot lines such as Jeanette and her son? Completely ignored in this book. I mean I didn’t like her as a character but why have her as such a focal point to just drop her. Sir Guillaume getting his lands back? No that’s not happening. After 3 books with this brave and loyal character let’s give him the most dissatisfying ending possible. This is all before I get onto the character assassination of Robbie. Completely and utterly destroyed a good character and gave him no redemption at any point but don’t worry, he’s forgiven. Finally, my biggest issue with this book was Genevieve. A tortured and abused child (she is 15!) who is sexualised by every man in this book. I know it’s medieval times but come on. Then out of nowhere, 23 year old Thomas abandons everything he was doing for 3 books for her because he loves her. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed her character but the way she was used to change the story made no sense to me. It also made no sense to swap her out for Jeanette and hope we wouldn’t notice. You can’t back a character you met 5 minutes ago!
The sad thing is this book actually isn’t bad. I liked the pacing for the majority until the rushed ending. It was interesting throughout and the battles were amazingly written. I like the final bit between Thomas and his cousin, although Robbie should have been involved. The problem is, it’s meant to be an ending and it is just so disappointing. I honestly wish I never started this series because it’s just wasted my time. There was so much potential just ignored. Imagine is Thomas would have had to team up with his cousin. That hatred having to be put aside in order to survive that would have been interesting! Not Thomas parading around with some child who likes to dance under lightning. It felt like lazy writing. As if the author got bored writing them and thought “that will do as an ending”.
Overall, I’d honestly say don’t bother with this series and even if you’ve read 1 and 2, don’t bother with this. Better to imagine your own ending than what’s written here.
I am aware I may be being too harsh but I thought this may be one of my most favourite series ever and instead it’s left me not wanting to read another one of this authors books again.
Every interesting and fun way this series could have ended just didn’t happen. In the end quite literally nothing happens. No pay off, no great battle, nothing. Half the plot lines such as Jeanette and her son? Completely ignored in this book. I mean I didn’t like her as a character but why have her as such a focal point to just drop her. Sir Guillaume getting his lands back? No that’s not happening. After 3 books with this brave and loyal character let’s give him the most dissatisfying ending possible. This is all before I get onto the character assassination of Robbie. Completely and utterly destroyed a good character and gave him no redemption at any point but don’t worry, he’s forgiven. Finally, my biggest issue with this book was Genevieve. A tortured and abused child (she is 15!) who is sexualised by every man in this book. I know it’s medieval times but come on. Then out of nowhere, 23 year old Thomas abandons everything he was doing for 3 books for her because he loves her. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed her character but the way she was used to change the story made no sense to me. It also made no sense to swap her out for Jeanette and hope we wouldn’t notice. You can’t back a character you met 5 minutes ago!
The sad thing is this book actually isn’t bad. I liked the pacing for the majority until the rushed ending. It was interesting throughout and the battles were amazingly written. I like the final bit between Thomas and his cousin, although Robbie should have been involved. The problem is, it’s meant to be an ending and it is just so disappointing. I honestly wish I never started this series because it’s just wasted my time. There was so much potential just ignored. Imagine is Thomas would have had to team up with his cousin. That hatred having to be put aside in order to survive that would have been interesting! Not Thomas parading around with some child who likes to dance under lightning. It felt like lazy writing. As if the author got bored writing them and thought “that will do as an ending”.
Overall, I’d honestly say don’t bother with this series and even if you’ve read 1 and 2, don’t bother with this. Better to imagine your own ending than what’s written here.
I am aware I may be being too harsh but I thought this may be one of my most favourite series ever and instead it’s left me not wanting to read another one of this authors books again.
July 1, 2023
Conclusione della trilogia della Graal (il quarto romanzo, mi par di capire, è un'aggiunta di qualche anno dopo). Il più grande problema del romanzo è vedere il protagonista, l'arciere Thomas di Hookton, fare gli stessi errori e ritrovarsi praticamente nelle stesse situazioni del primo romanzo. Altro vulnus è l'aver abbandonato alcune trame e personaggi dei primi romanzi, che si meritano niente più di una menzione. Inoltre, mentre i precedenti due romanzi avevano il loro supporto narrativo in grandi battaglie o fatti d'arme campali (materia favorita e privilegiata dell'autore), questi adesso latitano clamorosamente. Le grandi battaglie lasciano posto a scaramucce (interessanti e magnificamente narrate, sia chiaro, ma sempre scaramucce). C'è poi la solita caratterizzazione carente di molti personaggi, che sono un po' da "fumettone", ma chi conosce Cornwell ormai passa sopra queste cose. Come ormai abbiamo fatto il callo all'anticlericalismo dell'autore, per cui in generale tutti i religiosi del romanzo (eccetto uno) sono o malvagi o ignoranti: è un peccato che sia assente un lato positivo in queste figure, perché i lati negativi sono ben descritti e restituiscono la "peggiore" mentalità medievale; accanto a questa gradirei però anche veder rappresentati gli aspetti positivi.
La prima parte del romanzo non è malaccio: c'è una missione, anche se un po' deboluccia secondo me, e un perché da proseguire; come minus abbiamo l'assenza del cattivo-antagonista (Guy Vexille, il cugino di Thomas). Il tutto viene in pratica rimescolato dalle scelte scellerate e un po' illogiche del protagonista; nella seconda parte Thomas incorre in un paio di grossi "colpi di fortuna", un po' gratuiti, che lo indirizzano verso il finale. Alcune sottotrame non vengono risolte (anche se sono secondarie).
Il finale è soddisfacente sia come azione sia come "destino" dei protagonista, anche se la morale è un po' banalotta, in fonda. L'arrivo finale della peste (non è certo spoiler questo, il romanzo è ambientato nel 1347!) convenientemente permette all'autore di far morire caterve di personaggi senza tante storie.
Di molto positivo c'è lo stile, qui tra i migliori dei molti romanzi che ho letto dell'autore: le descrizioni sono ricche, la penna agile passa da un personaggio all'altro senza problemi, le immagini sono davvero efficaci e gli amanti dell'azione non potranno esaltarsi per (ad esempio) la descrizione particolareggiata ma anche precisa e puntuale della vestizione di Guy Vexille e molti altri dettagli che danno un fortissimo senso di realtà dell'epoca. Leggendo Cornwell si è davvero immersi visivamente, olfattivamente, sensorialmente, insomma, nell'età medievale.
La prima parte del romanzo non è malaccio: c'è una missione, anche se un po' deboluccia secondo me, e un perché da proseguire; come minus abbiamo l'assenza del cattivo-antagonista (Guy Vexille, il cugino di Thomas). Il tutto viene in pratica rimescolato dalle scelte scellerate e un po' illogiche del protagonista; nella seconda parte Thomas incorre in un paio di grossi "colpi di fortuna", un po' gratuiti, che lo indirizzano verso il finale. Alcune sottotrame non vengono risolte (anche se sono secondarie).
Il finale è soddisfacente sia come azione sia come "destino" dei protagonista, anche se la morale è un po' banalotta, in fonda. L'arrivo finale della peste (non è certo spoiler questo, il romanzo è ambientato nel 1347!) convenientemente permette all'autore di far morire caterve di personaggi senza tante storie.
Di molto positivo c'è lo stile, qui tra i migliori dei molti romanzi che ho letto dell'autore: le descrizioni sono ricche, la penna agile passa da un personaggio all'altro senza problemi, le immagini sono davvero efficaci e gli amanti dell'azione non potranno esaltarsi per (ad esempio) la descrizione particolareggiata ma anche precisa e puntuale della vestizione di Guy Vexille e molti altri dettagli che danno un fortissimo senso di realtà dell'epoca. Leggendo Cornwell si è davvero immersi visivamente, olfattivamente, sensorialmente, insomma, nell'età medievale.
December 15, 2022
The pace changes up in the third book in the series - apart from the starting battle, Cornwell sticks to fiction and strays from the historical for this one.
And, personally, I think it’s the better for it. This was probably the best of the bunch. More focused, and with a little inkling of a message, some depth. Something to do with the church and abuse of power - I wasn’t paying too much attention to be honest, because the action scenes were once again so good.
Thomas and his band capture a single fortress town and spends most of his time there, as all the pieces of the plot and the various players slowly converge.
There’s a much greater focus on the titular Grail this time round, which is also for the better of the story overall.
Despite my probably ambivalent sounding reviews for the Grail Quest, I’d nonetheless unequivocally recommend this to pretty much anyone. It was a very well written series, with a satisfying ending, many crazy historically accurate battle scenes, and a little heart and depth inserted towards the end.
Good stuff Cornwell - I’ll be back for more.
Would I re-read: no.
And, personally, I think it’s the better for it. This was probably the best of the bunch. More focused, and with a little inkling of a message, some depth. Something to do with the church and abuse of power - I wasn’t paying too much attention to be honest, because the action scenes were once again so good.
Thomas and his band capture a single fortress town and spends most of his time there, as all the pieces of the plot and the various players slowly converge.
There’s a much greater focus on the titular Grail this time round, which is also for the better of the story overall.
Despite my probably ambivalent sounding reviews for the Grail Quest, I’d nonetheless unequivocally recommend this to pretty much anyone. It was a very well written series, with a satisfying ending, many crazy historically accurate battle scenes, and a little heart and depth inserted towards the end.
Good stuff Cornwell - I’ll be back for more.
Would I re-read: no.
February 24, 2022
“It was here, and may still be here.” “I would like nothing more, but where Parsifal and Gawain failed, can we hope to succeed?”
Fun, if bloody historical fiction set in fifteenth century Gascony (France). That it’s a Grail Quest is no spoiler. Though the protagonist has been developed over two previous novels, Cornwell eases the new reader into both character and setting.
“I am a heretic, and what choice do I have? The Church expelled me, so if I am to love God I must do it without the Church. You must do the same now, and you will find that God still loves you however much the Church might hate you.”
Cornwell masters inner dialogue and interpersonal strife. Excellent variety of believers and non-believers; skeptics and seekers. He’s heavy-handed with the coincidences, but that’s true of all his stories.
“God seems very far away sometimes, especially in the dark.”
Fun, if bloody historical fiction set in fifteenth century Gascony (France). That it’s a Grail Quest is no spoiler. Though the protagonist has been developed over two previous novels, Cornwell eases the new reader into both character and setting.
“I am a heretic, and what choice do I have? The Church expelled me, so if I am to love God I must do it without the Church. You must do the same now, and you will find that God still loves you however much the Church might hate you.”
Cornwell masters inner dialogue and interpersonal strife. Excellent variety of believers and non-believers; skeptics and seekers. He’s heavy-handed with the coincidences, but that’s true of all his stories.
“God seems very far away sometimes, especially in the dark.”
July 3, 2019
Tercera entrega de la saga, un libro algo más breve, pero que para nada me defrauda. Suspense y aventura sin tregua entre luchas, asedios, peste, y la jodida inquisición. Me deja un poco desconcertado el final, pues tengo leído que es una tetralogía, y realmente parece el final del todo.
En la Wikipedia sale una cuarta entrega titulada "1356"
En la Wikipedia sale una cuarta entrega titulada "1356"
September 29, 2014
-Remate a la trilogía siguiendo a pies juntillas los derroteros previos.-
Género. Novela Histórica (aunque sea al fondo y mínimamente).
Lo que nos cuenta. A mediados del siglo XIV, Thomas de Hookton llega a tiempo para participar en el combate de Calais entre fuerzas francesas que trataban de romper el asedio a la localidad y fuerzas inglesas que trataban de terminarlo de una vez por todas. Thomas pone al día al conde de Northampton sobre su búsqueda y, mientras prosigue su intervención en la guerra, tendrá que seguir buscando y vigilando de reojo a su primo y competidor, Guy. Tercer y último libro de la trilogía Arqueros del Rey.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Novela Histórica (aunque sea al fondo y mínimamente).
Lo que nos cuenta. A mediados del siglo XIV, Thomas de Hookton llega a tiempo para participar en el combate de Calais entre fuerzas francesas que trataban de romper el asedio a la localidad y fuerzas inglesas que trataban de terminarlo de una vez por todas. Thomas pone al día al conde de Northampton sobre su búsqueda y, mientras prosigue su intervención en la guerra, tendrá que seguir buscando y vigilando de reojo a su primo y competidor, Guy. Tercer y último libro de la trilogía Arqueros del Rey.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
September 28, 2015
I have just finished this last entry of The Grail Quest and I have to say that for the series as a whole, my feelings are greatly mixed. There is a lot to like in the series, especially in the descriptions of the battles and the details of the people, the places and the things. Unfortunately the series also has weaknesses, the greatest of which being the characters. In Archer’s Tale, the story was so fun and the descriptions of the battles so detailed that I really didn’t care too much that the characters were fairly shallow. I was learning a bit of history, I was having fun and the fate and motivations of the characters seemed more of an afterthought. However, with each subsequent book I found myself less interested in the story and so I was forced to noticed the flaws and lack of consistency in the characters. I also realized after finishing Heretic, that I was much more interested in reading about the Hundred Years War than I was about Thomas’ hunt for the Grail.
While Vagabond still focused a bit on the war between England and France (and even some of the conflict between England and Scotland), Heretic starts with with an actual historical battle (the siege of Calais) but soon after forgets about it as England and France go into a truce. And so the rest of the story focuses on Thomas’ hunt to find the Holy Grail before his evil counterpart, his cousin Guy Vexille. To start, the author says at the end of the book that most of this section was pulled from his imagination, and the places where the action takes place is not real. To me, this makes me incredibly less interested and makes me feel that the book has entered the fantasy territory and strayed from historical fiction. As Thomas and his companions find themselves victorious after the siege of Calais, a treaty is being signed between England and France. And yet the Earl of Northampton, bewitched by Thomas’ quest to find the Grail, gives Thomas a force of men (two of which being Robbie and Sir Guillaume of course) and orders them to sneak into French territory near the fictional town of Astarac and capture a castle. The purpose of this, to draw Guy Vexille to them, capture him and force him to tell them where the Grail is. Um, what? Did the earl miss the part where there was a truce? This decision isn’t even questioned. The characters acknowledge the fact that they are breaking this truce but apparently don’t care. The earl of Northampton has now lost all credibility as a character, willing to risk the diplomacy of his country on the chance that a fairy tale is real.
I wish I could say that the earl was the only character to become nonsensical since the previous books, but it’s just not so. Robbie, the lovable Scottish oaf that we met in Vagabond who was fairly entertaining to read in that book was wildly inconsistent in Heretic and borderline insane. He is suddenly struck with the fear of God and deciding to make things right to save his soul due to the evil deeds done in book two. Now, if the author had left it at this, I would have been fine with it. Characters can have a change of heart and Robbie had a good reason. Except he kept changing his mind about what he wanted and by the end his character was just zig-zagging from one motivation to another until I didn’t care if he fell into a spiked pit or was catapulted through time to fight Napoleon Bonaparte. We also have a new (sigh) love interest for Thomas, a condemned heretic named Genevieve, because apparently Thomas is James Bond and must have a new woman in every entry of the series. The result of this being that each woman is an under-developed, shallow character that we could care less about. Jeanette was an interesting character in Archer’s Tale until we found out that even after all her and Thomas had been through and all he did for her, a shiny set of armor and the promise of wealth was all she needed to turn her tail on him and forget he ever existed. And yet he still bends over backwards for her again in Vagabond? What the hell, Thomas? Then there was Elenor, who was pretty and definitely more loyal, but lacked any other motivation at all. She was essentially a pair of occupied clothing that followed Thomas around. Genevieve’s only traits is that she was tortured by a Dominican priest, like Thomas, and so is fueled with hatred for the church and set on revenge. Other than that, she can handle her weapons and Thomas loves her for no real reason other than that they were both tortured. Ah, young love.
Then we have Thomas... sigh. If anyone asked me now what was noteworthy about Thomas, the main character of the series, I would tell them, “well, he was a very good archer.” That’s it? “Well, he wanted revenge for his dead father and his dead woman.” But that doesn’t really describe his character does it? “Well, he wants to find the Holy Grail.” Why? “Well... because his dad wrote a bunch of crazy ramblings in a book and his evil cousin wants it.” But why does HE want it? And that’s the question. In fact, in every book, at least a couple of times, Thomas claims he doesn’t know if the Grail exists and always seems ready to abandon the search without so much as a care about all of the wasted time he spent searching for it. All he wants is to fight and shoot his bow, and that’s what he’s made for. And so my question is, why is HE the one searching for the Grail? Why does he care? I personally think the author would have done much better to make the Grail hunter a completely separate character with their own motivations for wanting the Grail, and then tying Thomas to that character. This other character would be the historian, or the religious person, or a disgraced royal looking for something to bring back wealth and fortune to his family. Thomas just wants to fight, and so the two of them team up, the other using Thomas’ historical ties to the Grail and Thomas using the quest as an excuse to continue fighting something. But, I spend too much time fixing stories and I digress.
Overall, while I did enjoy the series as a whole fairly well, the glaring problems with Heretic really took things down a peg for me. I think that there is enough rich history in the time period of the Hundred Years War that the author didn’t have to invent three quarters of a story to propel the hunt the an object that’s mythical to begin with. If I’m going to be invested in this quest, give me a rich historical backdrop to throw the Grail into and make me believe it could have really existed there. Also, give a reason to actually care about whether or not the characters find it. The only ones who seem to actually want it in this story are power Hungry religious or political figures who only want it for fame or wealth. The good guys just want it because it’s there and don’t seem to offer any justification that goes against the antagonist’s motivations. My advice if you’re planning to read this series: read Archer’s Tale. If you enjoyed the story about the battles leading up to Crecy but weren’t compelled by the side story of Thomas’ revenge or his half-hearted hunt for the Grail, just stop there and leave it with a good taste in your mouth. But if the real reason you’re reading is to find out what happens to the Grail and see if anyone finds it, by all means, keep reading. I won’t say that that plot thread is unresolved, but I can’t guarantee you’ll care by the time you get there.
As unsatisfied as I was by the end of this series, I am still as eager to read The Last Kingdom as I was to read Archer’s Tale, though perhaps a little bit of that is due to the fact that the show is coming out soon. I’m hoping that these problems I found with this series are specific to The Grail Quest and I won’t have the same problems with the Saxon tales. I’m not ready to quit you yet, Cornwell. Vikings, here I come.
While Vagabond still focused a bit on the war between England and France (and even some of the conflict between England and Scotland), Heretic starts with with an actual historical battle (the siege of Calais) but soon after forgets about it as England and France go into a truce. And so the rest of the story focuses on Thomas’ hunt to find the Holy Grail before his evil counterpart, his cousin Guy Vexille. To start, the author says at the end of the book that most of this section was pulled from his imagination, and the places where the action takes place is not real. To me, this makes me incredibly less interested and makes me feel that the book has entered the fantasy territory and strayed from historical fiction. As Thomas and his companions find themselves victorious after the siege of Calais, a treaty is being signed between England and France. And yet the Earl of Northampton, bewitched by Thomas’ quest to find the Grail, gives Thomas a force of men (two of which being Robbie and Sir Guillaume of course) and orders them to sneak into French territory near the fictional town of Astarac and capture a castle. The purpose of this, to draw Guy Vexille to them, capture him and force him to tell them where the Grail is. Um, what? Did the earl miss the part where there was a truce? This decision isn’t even questioned. The characters acknowledge the fact that they are breaking this truce but apparently don’t care. The earl of Northampton has now lost all credibility as a character, willing to risk the diplomacy of his country on the chance that a fairy tale is real.
I wish I could say that the earl was the only character to become nonsensical since the previous books, but it’s just not so. Robbie, the lovable Scottish oaf that we met in Vagabond who was fairly entertaining to read in that book was wildly inconsistent in Heretic and borderline insane. He is suddenly struck with the fear of God and deciding to make things right to save his soul due to the evil deeds done in book two. Now, if the author had left it at this, I would have been fine with it. Characters can have a change of heart and Robbie had a good reason. Except he kept changing his mind about what he wanted and by the end his character was just zig-zagging from one motivation to another until I didn’t care if he fell into a spiked pit or was catapulted through time to fight Napoleon Bonaparte. We also have a new (sigh) love interest for Thomas, a condemned heretic named Genevieve, because apparently Thomas is James Bond and must have a new woman in every entry of the series. The result of this being that each woman is an under-developed, shallow character that we could care less about. Jeanette was an interesting character in Archer’s Tale until we found out that even after all her and Thomas had been through and all he did for her, a shiny set of armor and the promise of wealth was all she needed to turn her tail on him and forget he ever existed. And yet he still bends over backwards for her again in Vagabond? What the hell, Thomas? Then there was Elenor, who was pretty and definitely more loyal, but lacked any other motivation at all. She was essentially a pair of occupied clothing that followed Thomas around. Genevieve’s only traits is that she was tortured by a Dominican priest, like Thomas, and so is fueled with hatred for the church and set on revenge. Other than that, she can handle her weapons and Thomas loves her for no real reason other than that they were both tortured. Ah, young love.
Then we have Thomas... sigh. If anyone asked me now what was noteworthy about Thomas, the main character of the series, I would tell them, “well, he was a very good archer.” That’s it? “Well, he wanted revenge for his dead father and his dead woman.” But that doesn’t really describe his character does it? “Well, he wants to find the Holy Grail.” Why? “Well... because his dad wrote a bunch of crazy ramblings in a book and his evil cousin wants it.” But why does HE want it? And that’s the question. In fact, in every book, at least a couple of times, Thomas claims he doesn’t know if the Grail exists and always seems ready to abandon the search without so much as a care about all of the wasted time he spent searching for it. All he wants is to fight and shoot his bow, and that’s what he’s made for. And so my question is, why is HE the one searching for the Grail? Why does he care? I personally think the author would have done much better to make the Grail hunter a completely separate character with their own motivations for wanting the Grail, and then tying Thomas to that character. This other character would be the historian, or the religious person, or a disgraced royal looking for something to bring back wealth and fortune to his family. Thomas just wants to fight, and so the two of them team up, the other using Thomas’ historical ties to the Grail and Thomas using the quest as an excuse to continue fighting something. But, I spend too much time fixing stories and I digress.
Overall, while I did enjoy the series as a whole fairly well, the glaring problems with Heretic really took things down a peg for me. I think that there is enough rich history in the time period of the Hundred Years War that the author didn’t have to invent three quarters of a story to propel the hunt the an object that’s mythical to begin with. If I’m going to be invested in this quest, give me a rich historical backdrop to throw the Grail into and make me believe it could have really existed there. Also, give a reason to actually care about whether or not the characters find it. The only ones who seem to actually want it in this story are power Hungry religious or political figures who only want it for fame or wealth. The good guys just want it because it’s there and don’t seem to offer any justification that goes against the antagonist’s motivations. My advice if you’re planning to read this series: read Archer’s Tale. If you enjoyed the story about the battles leading up to Crecy but weren’t compelled by the side story of Thomas’ revenge or his half-hearted hunt for the Grail, just stop there and leave it with a good taste in your mouth. But if the real reason you’re reading is to find out what happens to the Grail and see if anyone finds it, by all means, keep reading. I won’t say that that plot thread is unresolved, but I can’t guarantee you’ll care by the time you get there.
As unsatisfied as I was by the end of this series, I am still as eager to read The Last Kingdom as I was to read Archer’s Tale, though perhaps a little bit of that is due to the fact that the show is coming out soon. I’m hoping that these problems I found with this series are specific to The Grail Quest and I won’t have the same problems with the Saxon tales. I’m not ready to quit you yet, Cornwell. Vikings, here I come.
August 28, 2020
Πολύ ενδιαφέροντες χαρακτήρες κι εξέλιξη της πλοκής. Εδώ δίνεται, θυμάμαι καλά, η μεγαλύτερη σημασία στην κόντρα Σκοτίας-Αγγλίας, η οποία μάλιστα αντικατοπτρίζεται και σε δύο πρωταγωνιστικά πρόσωπα. Η αποστολή παίρνει άλλη τροπή, πρωτόγνωρη για τα δεδομένα. Το τέλος δε με ικανοποίησε και τόσο από άποψη πλοκής αλλά η ατμόσφαιρα και οι σκηνές στο τέλος μου έχουν μείνει.
Συνολικά, μια υπέροχη τριλογία για κάποιον που θέλει να εντρυφήσει στην ευρωπαϊκή ιστορία, στους πόλεμους, τον οπλισμό και τις τακτικές του Μεσαίωνα. Επίσης, αξίζει για τα ταξίδια, την εναλλαγή τοπίων και προσώπων, στοιχεία που έχουν ριζώσει μέσα μου.
Συνολικά, μια υπέροχη τριλογία για κάποιον που θέλει να εντρυφήσει στην ευρωπαϊκή ιστορία, στους πόλεμους, τον οπλισμό και τις τακτικές του Μεσαίωνα. Επίσης, αξίζει για τα ταξίδια, την εναλλαγή τοπίων και προσώπων, στοιχεία που έχουν ριζώσει μέσα μου.
August 26, 2024
Think about it....
August 1, 2008
This series by Bernard Cornwell consists of three books: The Archer's Tale, Vagabond, and Heretic. I'm just gonna lump them all together here since there's really not a whole lot to set them apart. By that I mean that they've definitely got the trademarks of an overly prolific author who just churns stuff out within his comfort zone (e.g., I got tired of hearing about how an arrow head "pierced mail and leather" after the fifth time in one book) so that you get largely the same story being told 3 times, with slight variations and a big payoff at the end. So it makes sense to consider them all at once, because otherwise I'd just end up repeating myself. A lot like the author.
But actually, I kind of enjoyed these books despite how they felt stretched out and meandering. They tell the story of Thomas of Hookton, an English archer during the middle ages who is searching for the Holy Grail. The Grail-with-a-capital-G is, as you may know, supposedly the cup from which Christ drank at the last supper and which caught the blood from His side as He hung on the cross. The Grail Quest books are, as you might further surmise from this short description, works of historical fiction set towards the end of the middle ages. In a way, the books read a lot like fantasy except that all the fantasy staples that makes me groan and roll my eyes every other page are have blessedly gone missing. You've still got big beefy guys in armor who scream battle cries as they storm castles, trample the country side, and generally hack the living daylights out of each other, but you don't have tired stuff like wizards, elves, prophecies, magic, political intrigue, and whatever other junk most fantasy authors like to fish out of the recycling bin. It was oddly refreshing, even if it's only because I've not read much historical fiction before.
It's also a lot of what I would call "military pr0n" of the medieval variety. One of Cromwell's hallmarks seems to be that he takes an imaginary character (such as the aforementioned Thomas of Hookton) and slips him in to real historical events, like this battle or that siege or that some other big event that generally takes a name according to the "The Verb of Location" standard. Cromwell then goes to great, delightful lengths to describe the tactics and strategies that each side used, steeping the whole thing in human drama from a soldier's point of view. At times it read a bit like the instruction manual to a real-time strategy game like Age of Empires with detailed explanations about how the English placed their pike men along a low ridge that gave them an attack bonus against mounted infantry that stacked with their terrain bonuses AND faction attributes. Well, maybe it wasn't that blatant, but I still dig that kind of thing. And casting the main character in the role of an English Archer with his big ole longbow (though, oddly, it was never called by that name) gave him a good excuse to teach us all about archery and the overwhelmingly effective use of such archers in warfare. Fun stuff.
But even if there was a history-cum-videogame abstraction to the battles at times, I was nonetheless struck by how incredibly savage and harsh warfare apparently was in those days. Cornwell didn't shy away from vivid descriptions of bloody hand-to-hand fighting and brutal tactics that don't much resemble the romanticized image of a chivalrous knight of the Round Table. I was also forced to admit that Cornwell writes some of the best insults I've ever seen. When one side accuses the other of being "turds birthed from Satan's own arse" that's the kind of curse that you just gotta sit up and admire.
What about the story? Well, it's nothing too fantastic, mainly following Thomas around as he follows the trail of the Holy Grail while being pursued by his villainous cousin. Well, when he's not busy being an archer, bedding wenches (he goes through three love interests in a very James Bond-esque fashion in the course of the trilogy), laying siege to castles, and getting tortured by the Spanish Inquisition (which, by the way, everybody expected as soon as the first Dominican priest was introduced, contrary to what any flying circus tells you). But while his path is circuitous, this is the quest that ties all the books together, and it's resolved nicely at the end so that I was left with a satisfied feeling that I had seen something that was entertaining and a bit educational, but not necessarily full of itself.
But actually, I kind of enjoyed these books despite how they felt stretched out and meandering. They tell the story of Thomas of Hookton, an English archer during the middle ages who is searching for the Holy Grail. The Grail-with-a-capital-G is, as you may know, supposedly the cup from which Christ drank at the last supper and which caught the blood from His side as He hung on the cross. The Grail Quest books are, as you might further surmise from this short description, works of historical fiction set towards the end of the middle ages. In a way, the books read a lot like fantasy except that all the fantasy staples that makes me groan and roll my eyes every other page are have blessedly gone missing. You've still got big beefy guys in armor who scream battle cries as they storm castles, trample the country side, and generally hack the living daylights out of each other, but you don't have tired stuff like wizards, elves, prophecies, magic, political intrigue, and whatever other junk most fantasy authors like to fish out of the recycling bin. It was oddly refreshing, even if it's only because I've not read much historical fiction before.
It's also a lot of what I would call "military pr0n" of the medieval variety. One of Cromwell's hallmarks seems to be that he takes an imaginary character (such as the aforementioned Thomas of Hookton) and slips him in to real historical events, like this battle or that siege or that some other big event that generally takes a name according to the "The Verb of Location" standard. Cromwell then goes to great, delightful lengths to describe the tactics and strategies that each side used, steeping the whole thing in human drama from a soldier's point of view. At times it read a bit like the instruction manual to a real-time strategy game like Age of Empires with detailed explanations about how the English placed their pike men along a low ridge that gave them an attack bonus against mounted infantry that stacked with their terrain bonuses AND faction attributes. Well, maybe it wasn't that blatant, but I still dig that kind of thing. And casting the main character in the role of an English Archer with his big ole longbow (though, oddly, it was never called by that name) gave him a good excuse to teach us all about archery and the overwhelmingly effective use of such archers in warfare. Fun stuff.
But even if there was a history-cum-videogame abstraction to the battles at times, I was nonetheless struck by how incredibly savage and harsh warfare apparently was in those days. Cornwell didn't shy away from vivid descriptions of bloody hand-to-hand fighting and brutal tactics that don't much resemble the romanticized image of a chivalrous knight of the Round Table. I was also forced to admit that Cornwell writes some of the best insults I've ever seen. When one side accuses the other of being "turds birthed from Satan's own arse" that's the kind of curse that you just gotta sit up and admire.
What about the story? Well, it's nothing too fantastic, mainly following Thomas around as he follows the trail of the Holy Grail while being pursued by his villainous cousin. Well, when he's not busy being an archer, bedding wenches (he goes through three love interests in a very James Bond-esque fashion in the course of the trilogy), laying siege to castles, and getting tortured by the Spanish Inquisition (which, by the way, everybody expected as soon as the first Dominican priest was introduced, contrary to what any flying circus tells you). But while his path is circuitous, this is the quest that ties all the books together, and it's resolved nicely at the end so that I was left with a satisfied feeling that I had seen something that was entertaining and a bit educational, but not necessarily full of itself.
Read
August 11, 2011I really enjoyed this series, although the brutal violence and the constant blasphemies were rather hair-raising. The constant turns of Fortune's wheel kept me riveted to the story: Thomas is triumphant, Thomas is excommunicated, Thomas is a fugitive, etc.
How absolutely frightening was the power of the church! How horrible to see Christianity misused by evil men for selfish greed. I am so thankful for God's Word available to read so we need not kowtow in fear and ignorance to the demands of an organized church. It really, really bugged me that the vicious, godless killlers of Thomas's company condemned and rejected Genevieve so readily just because the church named her a heretic. Characters could see the evil, self-serving, cruel behavior of churchmen and still thought that the priests could speak for God. As Thomas said, "We only know God through His Church." Thank the Lord, I have the Scriptures to help me know God. BTW, I really liked Abbot Planchard.
Note to myself: This isn't a particularly literary reference, but Guy Vexille reminded me of a character in the movie "Serenity" or the TV show "Firefly" who did evil things in order to bring in a perfect world. Guy said, "The world is beset by evil, and the Church is corrupt, and the devil does his work unhindered. If we have the Grail we can change that. The Church can be cleansed, a new crusade can scour the world of sin. It will bring the kingdom of Heaven to earth. . . We shall take the world, Thomas, and open it to the love of God. . . All the grace and beauty of God poured onto the world. No more sadness, no more sin, just the harmony of God in a world of peace." So incredibly creepy to see men of evil who think they are good.
How absolutely frightening was the power of the church! How horrible to see Christianity misused by evil men for selfish greed. I am so thankful for God's Word available to read so we need not kowtow in fear and ignorance to the demands of an organized church. It really, really bugged me that the vicious, godless killlers of Thomas's company condemned and rejected Genevieve so readily just because the church named her a heretic. Characters could see the evil, self-serving, cruel behavior of churchmen and still thought that the priests could speak for God. As Thomas said, "We only know God through His Church." Thank the Lord, I have the Scriptures to help me know God. BTW, I really liked Abbot Planchard.
Note to myself: This isn't a particularly literary reference, but Guy Vexille reminded me of a character in the movie "Serenity" or the TV show "Firefly" who did evil things in order to bring in a perfect world. Guy said, "The world is beset by evil, and the Church is corrupt, and the devil does his work unhindered. If we have the Grail we can change that. The Church can be cleansed, a new crusade can scour the world of sin. It will bring the kingdom of Heaven to earth. . . We shall take the world, Thomas, and open it to the love of God. . . All the grace and beauty of God poured onto the world. No more sadness, no more sin, just the harmony of God in a world of peace." So incredibly creepy to see men of evil who think they are good.
July 19, 2010
This is the best of the three book "Grail Series". Cornwell manages to tie up all the loose ends while providing the reader with a satisfactory conclusion that does not strain one's credulity.
The story opens with the siege of Calais and ends with the first of the plagues that ravaged Europe for hundreds of years. In between Thomas of Hookton continues his quest for the Holy Grail, which his family is supposed to have or have had in its possession.
In the process he is given an order to try and find the Grail by his liege Lord, The Duke of Northumberland. He begins by capturing a castle in France as a base of operations, saves an accused heretic, Genevieve, from being burned at the stake, falls in love with her, is deemed a heretic himself, hides out in a monastery near his ancestral home, escapes those who would torture him to find out what he knows, returns to his soldiers, fights a last battle in the midst of the plague and ends up in England with Genvieve.
As is always the case with Cornwell's writing the battle scenes are second to none. The characters are slightly stereotyped but not so badly that it detracts from the exciting plot.
A very good read.
The story opens with the siege of Calais and ends with the first of the plagues that ravaged Europe for hundreds of years. In between Thomas of Hookton continues his quest for the Holy Grail, which his family is supposed to have or have had in its possession.
In the process he is given an order to try and find the Grail by his liege Lord, The Duke of Northumberland. He begins by capturing a castle in France as a base of operations, saves an accused heretic, Genevieve, from being burned at the stake, falls in love with her, is deemed a heretic himself, hides out in a monastery near his ancestral home, escapes those who would torture him to find out what he knows, returns to his soldiers, fights a last battle in the midst of the plague and ends up in England with Genvieve.
As is always the case with Cornwell's writing the battle scenes are second to none. The characters are slightly stereotyped but not so badly that it detracts from the exciting plot.
A very good read.
June 5, 2018
Heretic is the last chapter of The Grail Quest series.
Even though the author admits there are only 2 historical facts in the whole book - at the beginning and the end - this is none-the-less an awe inspiring masterpiece.
With vivid battle scenes, intriquing characters and heart-renching episodes, even though the era itself was a time when close relationships were considered a rareity.
The story was fascinating and spell binding, gripping the reader throughout.
Sorry to see the story of Thomas, Genevieve, Robbie and their friends come to an end.
Throughly enjoyable, hard to put down.
Even though the author admits there are only 2 historical facts in the whole book - at the beginning and the end - this is none-the-less an awe inspiring masterpiece.
With vivid battle scenes, intriquing characters and heart-renching episodes, even though the era itself was a time when close relationships were considered a rareity.
The story was fascinating and spell binding, gripping the reader throughout.
Sorry to see the story of Thomas, Genevieve, Robbie and their friends come to an end.
Throughly enjoyable, hard to put down.
November 9, 2007
Good finish to the trilogy. His battle scenes are so good, it really makes me want to learn more about the Hundred Year's War. And a new take on the Grail search makes this a fast, easy trilogy to read.
May 29, 2015
“Heretic” struck me as very different to the first two books in the Grail series. A couple of episodes did draw me in but on the whole I found it lacking. I do like the main character – Thomas – but missed his Jewish friend who has a passion for checking the colour of people’s urine, plus Thomas's one-time lover Jeanette, neither of which appear at all in this volume.
I would’ve rated this novel three stars but, like all the Bernard Cornwell books that I’ve read to date, I’ve deducted a star because they are all let down by substandard elements of style. Long-winded sentences are plentiful. The needless dialogue attribution drives me to distraction whilst the overuse of the word “then” is surprising for such a seasoned author.
This, of all the books I’ve *ever* read, may well hold the record of overusing the word “then”. Sometimes it’s in consecutive sentences. Occasionally it’s used twice in the same sentence. The best authors avoid using “then” wherever possible. It is achievable to write a long novel without using this word at all, except maybe in dialogue, but in the main narrative it sounds like a child’s voice. Think of a seven-year-old telling you about their holiday: “And then I did this, and then I did that, and then …’
Take this for example:
>Then the routiers would take a new oath, go to war and fight until a truce was called, and then, knowing no trade except killing, they would go back to the lonelier stretches of countryside and find a town to savage.<
To start a sentence with “then” or “and then” is particularly bad form. First, it’s obvious that the above info happens next. Second, if one was to remove the childish opening and adjust the syntax to eliminate some of the commas and superfluous conjunctions a stronger sentence will be revealed:
>The routiers would take a new oath. They’d go to war until a truce was called. Knowing no trade except killing, they’d return to the lonelier stretches of countryside and find a town to savage.<
Notice how we have the same info but in fewer words.
I sometimes wonder if Mr Cornwell gets paid per word. If his works were thoroughly copy-edited they'd be all about 50 pages shorter. The story would remain the same but the reading experience would be much smoother.
This is a typical long-winded sentence, kept going by numerous conjunctions, punctuation, plus this one has a “then” for good measure:
>The valley where that poor village lay had already been plundered, and so he meant to stop in the next valley where a slew of plump settlements were strung along the road south from Masseube, and then, when his men were busy about their devil’s business, he and a few men would ride with Robbie to the hills overlooking Astarac and, if there were no coredors or other enemies in sight, let the Scotsman ride on alone.<
The above mammoth sentence could easily be cut down to three or four more concise sentences. It would have more impact if some of those commas and conjunctions were replaced with full stops. To this reader at least the above is like listening to a hyperactive child. There are many of this type of sentence all the way through the novel.
What really makes me groan most of all when reading Mr Cornwell’s books is the dialogue attribution. The two main annoyances are the repetition of informing the reader who’s talking when it’s obvious which character it is, plus the invariable inclusion of attribution after the first few words. This is like trying to listen to someone talk whilst another person keeps interrupting.
This quote shows the last point made above:
>‘I was reminded the other day,’ he said, ‘of one of the psalms of David.'<
No need at all to insert “he said”. It only disrupts the sentence flow.
The quote below is extremely stupid:
>‘I am Galat Lorret,’ Lorret said.<
It’s as though the author thinks his readers are stupid. This isn’t a Spartacus scenario. Nobody in the scene needed to step forward and claim to be Galat Lorret. Why insult our intelligence by adding the pointless attribution?
Another recurring irritation in this author’s works are his telling the reader that a character is dressed all in black, only to follow this up by describing each garment preceded by the adjective black:
>He was dressed all in black. Black boots, black breeches, black jerkin, black cloak, black broad-brimmed hat and a sword scabbard sheathed in black cloth.<
I’ve lost count of how many times Mr Cornwell has done this in his novels. In fact, I was part-listening to this from an audio recording, and guessed the moment the narrator said, “He was dressed all in black”, that he’d go on to describe each article as being black. I shook my head at this childish way of writing. You may expect to read this sort of thing in a book for under ten-year-olds, but not in one written by a seasoned author.
Apart from the overuse of adjectives – something else this author is guilty of, along with using too many adverbs – it’s also a waste of words in general. Had Mr Cornwell attended creative writing classes at university level and studied the art of English style he’d know that every word in fiction should matter. His historical accuracy is always commendable. If only he’d spend half as much effort on his use of style. Clearly this doesn’t bother the majority of readers who give him five-star ratings, but to me story and style should complement each other. If the style’s not up to standard, I’m left distracted by it, unable to be drawn into the story.
I sometimes wonder why I keep reader this author’s works. Truth is, despite the poor English style, his historical knowledge and ability to tell a story are superb. If he’s writing about a period or situation that interests me I’ll check it out. If he picks something I’m only half interested in, however, I won’t go near it because of the distracting elements of style. I would’ve given up on this one after the thirtieth use of “then” had I only been reading this in PDF format instead of additionally listening to it in audio format.
I would’ve rated this novel three stars but, like all the Bernard Cornwell books that I’ve read to date, I’ve deducted a star because they are all let down by substandard elements of style. Long-winded sentences are plentiful. The needless dialogue attribution drives me to distraction whilst the overuse of the word “then” is surprising for such a seasoned author.
This, of all the books I’ve *ever* read, may well hold the record of overusing the word “then”. Sometimes it’s in consecutive sentences. Occasionally it’s used twice in the same sentence. The best authors avoid using “then” wherever possible. It is achievable to write a long novel without using this word at all, except maybe in dialogue, but in the main narrative it sounds like a child’s voice. Think of a seven-year-old telling you about their holiday: “And then I did this, and then I did that, and then …’
Take this for example:
>Then the routiers would take a new oath, go to war and fight until a truce was called, and then, knowing no trade except killing, they would go back to the lonelier stretches of countryside and find a town to savage.<
To start a sentence with “then” or “and then” is particularly bad form. First, it’s obvious that the above info happens next. Second, if one was to remove the childish opening and adjust the syntax to eliminate some of the commas and superfluous conjunctions a stronger sentence will be revealed:
>The routiers would take a new oath. They’d go to war until a truce was called. Knowing no trade except killing, they’d return to the lonelier stretches of countryside and find a town to savage.<
Notice how we have the same info but in fewer words.
I sometimes wonder if Mr Cornwell gets paid per word. If his works were thoroughly copy-edited they'd be all about 50 pages shorter. The story would remain the same but the reading experience would be much smoother.
This is a typical long-winded sentence, kept going by numerous conjunctions, punctuation, plus this one has a “then” for good measure:
>The valley where that poor village lay had already been plundered, and so he meant to stop in the next valley where a slew of plump settlements were strung along the road south from Masseube, and then, when his men were busy about their devil’s business, he and a few men would ride with Robbie to the hills overlooking Astarac and, if there were no coredors or other enemies in sight, let the Scotsman ride on alone.<
The above mammoth sentence could easily be cut down to three or four more concise sentences. It would have more impact if some of those commas and conjunctions were replaced with full stops. To this reader at least the above is like listening to a hyperactive child. There are many of this type of sentence all the way through the novel.
What really makes me groan most of all when reading Mr Cornwell’s books is the dialogue attribution. The two main annoyances are the repetition of informing the reader who’s talking when it’s obvious which character it is, plus the invariable inclusion of attribution after the first few words. This is like trying to listen to someone talk whilst another person keeps interrupting.
This quote shows the last point made above:
>‘I was reminded the other day,’ he said, ‘of one of the psalms of David.'<
No need at all to insert “he said”. It only disrupts the sentence flow.
The quote below is extremely stupid:
>‘I am Galat Lorret,’ Lorret said.<
It’s as though the author thinks his readers are stupid. This isn’t a Spartacus scenario. Nobody in the scene needed to step forward and claim to be Galat Lorret. Why insult our intelligence by adding the pointless attribution?
Another recurring irritation in this author’s works are his telling the reader that a character is dressed all in black, only to follow this up by describing each garment preceded by the adjective black:
>He was dressed all in black. Black boots, black breeches, black jerkin, black cloak, black broad-brimmed hat and a sword scabbard sheathed in black cloth.<
I’ve lost count of how many times Mr Cornwell has done this in his novels. In fact, I was part-listening to this from an audio recording, and guessed the moment the narrator said, “He was dressed all in black”, that he’d go on to describe each article as being black. I shook my head at this childish way of writing. You may expect to read this sort of thing in a book for under ten-year-olds, but not in one written by a seasoned author.
Apart from the overuse of adjectives – something else this author is guilty of, along with using too many adverbs – it’s also a waste of words in general. Had Mr Cornwell attended creative writing classes at university level and studied the art of English style he’d know that every word in fiction should matter. His historical accuracy is always commendable. If only he’d spend half as much effort on his use of style. Clearly this doesn’t bother the majority of readers who give him five-star ratings, but to me story and style should complement each other. If the style’s not up to standard, I’m left distracted by it, unable to be drawn into the story.
I sometimes wonder why I keep reader this author’s works. Truth is, despite the poor English style, his historical knowledge and ability to tell a story are superb. If he’s writing about a period or situation that interests me I’ll check it out. If he picks something I’m only half interested in, however, I won’t go near it because of the distracting elements of style. I would’ve given up on this one after the thirtieth use of “then” had I only been reading this in PDF format instead of additionally listening to it in audio format.
December 17, 2018
This book brought me back in time to an era when The Grail and similar such powerful relics were believed to be real. This was a magical time as well was a very violent era when mythology and all things mystical were blended with reality. Throughout the book even the most threatening knight or men-at-arms, as Cornwell names the characters who were soldiers, despite their strength and prowess in battle to be somewhat naive.
The soldiers and many people in Europe, as described by Cornwell in Heretic, often had a belief in the supremacy the Church in every aspect of life. The Inquisition could often be the fate of those who did not obey monks and priests.
The seeking of mystical relics, religion, the manipulations of lords and kings by monks and priest were often used as a call to war.
Some soldiers fought for the love of their women.
Fierce battles were wonderfully written and described in detail and clarity.
A wonderfully written story. Today I am taking another book written by Cornwell The Lords Of The North out from the library, my workplace as an author where I do most of my writing!!!, and I am really looking forward to reading the novel!!!!
The soldiers and many people in Europe, as described by Cornwell in Heretic, often had a belief in the supremacy the Church in every aspect of life. The Inquisition could often be the fate of those who did not obey monks and priests.
The seeking of mystical relics, religion, the manipulations of lords and kings by monks and priest were often used as a call to war.
Some soldiers fought for the love of their women.
Fierce battles were wonderfully written and described in detail and clarity.
A wonderfully written story. Today I am taking another book written by Cornwell The Lords Of The North out from the library, my workplace as an author where I do most of my writing!!!, and I am really looking forward to reading the novel!!!!
May 11, 2025
Bit of a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise fun series. Felt like the weakest of the three books with a rushed and unsatisfactory ending.
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