Bernard cornwell.

[huxley]

anyone read his books? I came across his books and they seem interesting.

medival settings, right? I came across his warlord chronicles.

 

[The Ace]

He also wrote "Sharpe," an excellent decription of British India (One of the best descriptions of the battle of Assaye I've ever read) and, of course his brilliant treatment of the Peninsular war. These are well worth a read.

 

[Wolfbrother]

I absolutely loved his Warlord Chronicles. Its is grim, but it feels a lot more real than other Arthurian legend.

 

[iansales]

Not mediaeval. The Dark Ages. As an attempt at an historical Arthur, I thought they were quite good. Of course, the mythical Arthur is much more interesting

 

[Somni]

Most of his historic novels are very good, seems to range in time periods though with a focus on the Napoleonic and Dark/Early middle ages. Think there might be a Roman one or two but could be wrong.

However, I did not like the Grail quest trilogy very much. Not sure why, just did not find them as enjoyable.

 

[Talysia]

I've read some of his Sharpe novels, and I thought they were excellent.

 

[Connavar]

I have been wanting to try this guy. I am alittle sick of Athurian stories right now which of the other series of his are recommend? Is his Napoleonic good? I havent read books about that time.

 

[Somni]

Not read much Sharpe, though it is supposed to be pretty good. I quite enjoyed The Starbuck Chronicles (American Civil War era I think).

 

[Gav]

I've read the Sharpe books, Stonhenge and his American Civil War stuff.

His best has to be Sharpe. Very entertaining swashbuckling stuff.

Stonehenge was a bit "meh" I thought. Interesting speculative stuff, but missing zing.

And the civil war stuff was just sharpe set in America.

 

[Connavar]

Thanks Gav for the info.

Gonna look into in sharpe.

 

[Ragnar]

The Sharp books are very enjoyable, although I haven't read them all. The Warlord trilogy is an excellent read and probably Cornwell's best to date - perfect if you're sick of Arthurian stories because they really subvert the legends that you're so familiar with. All the others mentioned are definitely worth reading - the currently on-going Saxon Stories are shaping up nicely too. The Starbuck Chronicles (set during the American civil war) are entertaining enough but are not as good as his other work.

 

[elvet]

I loved the Warlord trilogy, and I'm not overly fond of detailed military sequence description. Cornwell balances those passages with strong characters and a realistic approach to the legend. It is one of my favorite renderings of Arthurian fiction (up there with the Once and Future King and Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy).

 

[chump]

I have read all of his books and enjoyed almost all of them with the execption being stonhenge. The warlord chornicles and his newest saxon series are particularly good.

 

[BloodNguts]

Hi guys, I just registered to drop a tidbit. I've been reading a lot of thoughts on here.

About Cornwell, he is on my enjoyable to read list. Stonehenge is really bad though, and I don't find Arthurian tales all that memorable.

The Sharpe books are cool but not too deep. I like the way they are historical more than anything. In the US, they don't teach history in too much detail. Sharpe always wins!

I liked the harlequin books and the starbuck books the most. The audio version if the starbuck trilogy is pretty entertaining. Perhaps a bit more character development than the other ones?

 

[The Ace]

The Sharpe novels are set during the Peninsular war and are the stories of a fictional hero during Arthur Wellesley's (later Duke of Wellington, yes, and the inventor of the boot) brilliant campaign of 1812-14 when a string of military victories saw the british, portugese, spanish and their allies break out of Portugal, liberate Spain and finally force Napoleon to abdicate. Sharpe always wins because Wellington never lost a battle.

 

[Werthead]

The Sharpe novels are set during the Peninsular war and are the stories of a fictional hero during Arthur Wellesley's (later Duke of Wellington, yes, and the inventor of the boot) brilliant campaign of 1812-14 when a string of military victories saw the british, portugese, spanish and their allies break out of Portugal, liberate Spain and finally force Napoleon to abdicate. Sharpe always wins because Wellington never lost a battle.

Actually, Sharpe always wins because he's an unstoppable human killing machine who can sustain many times the number of injuries that would kill an ordinary mortal human. Seriously, if it wasn't for the niggling problem of 190 years of intervening time, Richard Sharpe and Jack Bauer would make an awesome double-team.

That said, they're fun books. Not as good as Cornwell's inspiration, the Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser (Cornwell sometimes takes major liberties with history, whilst Fraser takes virtually none at all), but still enjoyable.

I mean to get around to his Warlord Chronicles trilogy, which has been favourably compared to George RR Martin.

 

[BloodNguts]

I mean to get around to his Warlord Chronicles trilogy, which has been favourably compared to George RR Martin.

By a used car salesman? I really liked George's books. They seem more epic to me. Lets think of it this way, Martin A's, Warlord C+. Definitely readable but not so much memorable. I wouldn't say they are bad, either. They just aren't on the same level imo.

 

[Culhwch]

Different strokes. I'd put the Warlord books up with aSoIaF, if not above. Similar, but both brilliant for different reasons.

 

[Connavar]

Isnt his Warlord more of heoric fantasy or historical fiction?

In what are they similer to ASOAF? Which by the way i didnt like at all.

 

[Culhwch]

Historical fiction, with only a little mysticism involved. Probably more on the side of heroic fantasy, I'd say, if I had to make a comparison. They follow Derfel, one of Arthur's spearmen, and it tell's Arthur's story from his viewpoint. The similarities with Martin come in the style, a sort-of no holds barred reality, a harsh grittiness. Well concieved and executed. I think you'd like them, Connavar.