The Winter King
[The Warlord Chronicles #1]
By Bernard Cornwell
Published Year: 1995
Page Count: 486 pages
Medium Used: Kindle PW
Genre: Historical Fiction, War, Britain, King Arthur, Christianity, 2024-read.
Rating : 5/5
I think this work must be commended from the fact that it is almost 99 percent a concoction and an output from the imaginative mind of Bernard Cornwell. As he mentions in the Author's Note towards the end, the existence of a warlord named and celebrated as Arthur cannot be claimed with surety. Based loosely on the historical records that put a person matching the image of Arthur during the 5th or 6th centuries AD, this story is weaved. There are multiple elements added to reflect the conditions of that time period(I am sure he has done justice enough to the facts). The period espoused civil wars within the Britain, wars with Saxons(Germans) that are trying to make frequent forays into Britain .. seize the power and colonize it, religious dissent and tolerative practices between Christians and heathen believers, fight for the throne of Britain between different lord kings and a crippled,toddler child king.
I enjoyed reading of multiple fictitious places created. The Ynys Terbes where the king is mad enough to invest all his resources into patronizing poetry instead of building a safeguarding, military force. The Isle of Dead where souls/people, insane or imprisoned for political convenience, are condemned to a life of dreary and savage existence. Although I had little to no knowledge on the pagan gods of the Britain which are in a fight for survival against the Roman introduced Christianity, i enjoyed reading the different spells and beliefs that made everyone shiver in their boots. Oaths were held sacred and from a king to a warlord to the most common of commoners, everyone feared and felt sacrileged should they break one.
The Civil War in the story mentioned is of Arthur's making and despite his calm headed thinking, it feels like he is driven by the Gods themselves into his alliances and quarrels. He breaks oaths, promises, fights endlessly, loves with total abandon, makes new friends, promises peace in the times of strife. Where Arthur should be idealized as a war lord that is victorious just by his force of skill, this book shows him as an idealist and someone with their head in the clouds. He dreams and aims for peace instead of war. He chooses to be a war lord instead of a king even though he has the choice. He only wins the Civil War because of some help that arrives at the right time. Do these traits make a person a hero? Maybe they do. Maybe they don't. But whatever he is, the character development felt good enough that we are not left with jaws open and startled at his decisions and actions.
Totally, an engaging read. But I dont think historical, war fiction will ever be the same for me having read The Cromwell series by Hillary Mantel, which came much later than this book. And I keep second guessing how this story would have felt reading if it was rendered in the style of Wolf Hall!
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