Reader’s Diary

Bernard Cornwell

“Excalibur” is the grand conclusion to Cornwell’s “Warlord Chronicles” trilogy. Merlin attempts a gruesome rite to restore the old gods while Christianity continues to spread. Arthur’s triumph at Mynydd Baddon - an outstanding battle account from a writer famed for his combat scenes - ironically leads to Mordred’s resurgence; it is also the setting for Arthur’s reconciliation with Guinevere. And, finally, the conflict between Arthur and the Mordred, the king he was oath-bound to serve, is tragically resolved at the battle of Camlann.

This book, like the other two, is told by Arthur’s last warlord. We at last learn what forced this devout pagan to become Christian and how he lost his hand in the process.

Cornwell has written over a dozen entertaining Richard Sharpe books, but his three Arthurian novels are better than all his Napoleonic stories put together.

Bernard Cornwell

“Enemy of God” picks up where “The Winter King” left off; Britain is at peace: the Saxons are at bay, and Arthur rules. But disaster, in the form of Guinevere’s ambition and King Mordred’s coming-of-age, is about to strike. Narrator Derfel accompanies Merlin on a quest for a legendary cauldron and the story of Tristan and Iseult is told in an especially brutal and touching way. The conflict between Christianity and paganism provides yet another plot element in this, the second of Cornwell’s “Warlord Chronicles” trilogy. It’s as complex as its predecessor, and just as absorbing.

Bernard Cornwell

In “The Winter King” Cornwell gives us a plausible Arthur. This is not Lerner and Loew’s Arthur, but a warlord from the Britain’s Dark Ages. We can’t know whether Arthur ever existed, but this is an Arthur that could have been. The book is the first of the “Warlord Chronicles” trilogy and a complex and convincing historical novel from an era which barely has a history.

Cornwell’s Aruthur is the bastard son of King Uther of Dunmonia and, on Uther’s death, regent for the infant King Mordred (Uther’s legitimate son). Arthur unites the fractious kingdoms of Britons against the Saxon invaders. He has a vision of a peaceful, united Britain, but it is a vision endangered by his own tragic flaw: his love for Guinevere, for whom he betrays his betrothed.

The story is also the autobiography of the narrator, Derfel, an orphaned Saxon raised in Merlin’s Tor, who defends Lancelot’s doomed kingdom in Brittany and rises to become a leading warrior in Arthur’s army. He tells the story from a monk’s cell long after the events of the novel. How Derfel, a devout pagan, becomes a Christian monk, is a mystery presumably resolved in a later volume.

Fan’s of Cornwell’s Richard Sharpe series will recognize Cornwell’s trademark ability to describe a battle. What is surprising is his talent at telling a tale of political intrigue in a setting almost as complex as the Japan of Jame’s Clavell’s Shogun. “The Winter King” is a substantial, absorbing, satisfying story.

Stephen Lawhead

Stephen Lawhead brings the “Song of Albion” trilogy to a neat conclusion in “The Endless Knot”. The early part of the book, which tells of the flowering of Llew’s reign, and the last part, which relates Llew’s final victory and apotheosis, are the equal of the previous two books in the series. The middle of this book, however, which is the story of a quest in Albion’s blasted, cursed continent, is weak in comparison with the rest of the work; it could have been shortened considerably without harming the story.

Whatever the minor failings of “The Endless Knot”, the “Song of Albion” as a whole is compelling reading, a wonderful tale well told. I’m almost sorry to have finished it.

Stephen Lawhead

Can a blind bard and a maimed warrior save Albion? The question is answered in this, the second book in Lawhead’s “Song of Albion” trilogy. It begins with the high king’s funeral, tells the tale of the war between good and evil, and ends with the crowning of a new high king. The villeins are suitably villainous, the heroes are properly heroic, and the world is gloriously mythic. On to book three…

Christopher Hunt

According to this account of a motorcycle trip from Hanoi to Saigon, travel in Vietnam isn’t comfortable, but it is interesting. Hunt bought a Russian motorcycle for $400 and travelled south, attempting to follow the route of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Physical and political barriers prevented him from staying with the trail for the whole trip, but didn’t prevent him from writing an entertaining account of his adventures.

Hunt is a competent reporter and doesn’t hesitate to poke fun at himself - a combination that makes for an enjoyable book. He portrays a country rife with petty corruption, one still littered with the often-deadly remains of war. The Vietnamese who appear in the book range from bureaucrats and policemen to entrepreneurs and veterans form the North and South and Hunt tells some interesting stores about their lives.