A bloody tale of the anglo french wars (Harlequin - Bernard Cornwell)

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	Harlequin - Bernard Cornwell
Date:	28/01/09 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: well researched, fast paced and exciting throughout

Disadvantages: takes a little while to get going initially, characters are sometimes a little two dimensional.

'Harlequin' is the first of three novels in Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest series, and chronicles the adventures of an English archer named Thomas of Hookton, whose idyllic life is changed irrevocably when a mysterious band of norman raiders sack his village, killing his mother and his eccentric priest father, and making off with a dusty relic from his fathers chapel- a crooked and ancient lance supposedly used by St George of the kill the dragon.
Thomas sets off to France to fulfil his dreams of becoming a war leader and seeking revenge on his parents' killers, and becomes embroiled in a quest for the elusive Holy Grail amidst the carnage of the hundred years war with France.

Cornwell does a brilliant job in depicting the siege and fall of the French city of Caen, with skulls are cleaved with axes and chests pierced with arrows as the invaders press upon the defenders' barricades in a crush of heaving, mailed bodies. The book is populated with a number of entertaining characters, such as the earthy, jovial archer-captain Will Skeat, the scheming, slimy knight Sir Simon, the sinister and mysterious aristocrat Guy Vexille and Jeanette, the beautiful yet hate-filled widow with whom Thomas falls in love.

After a slow start the book moves along at a fast pace, and quickly becomes hard to put down. The cast of characters, whilst a little two dimensional at times, interact to create a compelling story, and the book culminates in the epic battle of Crecy, where the French aristocracy make their bloody stand against the English. Old scores are settled on the battlefield, as Cornwell brilliantly depicts a scene of widespread slaughter, the air filled with the sound of thundering hooves and hissing arrows, agonised screams and the ringing of sword blows on armour as the French cavalry charge throws itself against the English ranks.

The grail takes a back seat for much of the story, and should really be thought more as a loose thread linking Thomas' various adventures together. It works very well, and the book leaves you eager to take up the story again with the second instalment, 'Vagabond'.

Harequin is a great opener to a great series- any fan of historical novels cannot fail to enjoy this well-researched, well-written and very bloody book.

Summary: An excellent historical novel- highly recommended.