I'll Sleep When I've Read... The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell

 

Title: The Winter King

Author: Bernard Cornwell

Publication: 5 October 1995/reprint: 15 April 1997

Format: paperback & Kindle ebook

Amazon Description: 

It takes a remarkable writer to make an old story as fresh and compelling as the first time we heard it. With The Winter King, the first volume of his magnificent Warlord Chronicles, Bernard Cornwell finally turns to the story he was born to write: the mythic saga of King Arthur.

The tale begins in Dark Age Britain, a land where Arthur has been banished and Merlin has disappeared, where a child-king sits unprotected on the throne, where religion vies with magic for the souls of the people. It is to this desperate land that Arthur returns, a man at once utterly human and truly heroic: a man of honor, loyalty, and amazing valor; a man who loves Guinevere more passionately than he should; a man whose life is at once tragic and triumphant.

As Arthur fights to keep a flicker of civilization alive in a barbaric world, Bernard Cornwell makes a familiar tale into a legend all over again.

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

I stayed up late Friday just to read. I did the same on Saturday. I almost didn't get a pre-work nap on Sunday because I was soooooooo close to being done.

And then I was.

And now I have a massive book hangover.

There have already been teaser snippets on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and now you get some more because that's part of the beauty of I'll Sleep When I've Read... posts. I make up my own rules. Since I had already covered Parts One and Two, this will only have blips from Three and Four and will pretty much focus on characters. Most people know the main characters of Arthurian Legends -- Arthur, Merlin, Guinevere, Lancelot, Galahad ... and, of course, Camelot -- so I thought it would be nice to highlight what Cornwell does with them. Part Five was too busy ripping my soul apart to have me take any suitable notes. I guess you'll just have to read the book ... and the next ... and the next ...

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If you want to share whatever has kept you up past your bedtime because you just needed one more chapter ... or the entire book ... please comment! My TBR pile is already toppling, but I can always add more.