Heretic - Bernard Cornwell

'Heretic', the third and final book in Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest series, opens with a skirmish as the French army attempts cross the river Ham in another attempt to reclaim the English-occupied city of Calais. English archer Thomas of Hookton comes to the aid of his lord, the Earl of Northampton, assisting his escape when the Earl and his men become trapped on a marshy outcrop by the river in the face of overwhelming French odds. This is all depicted in a lively and exciting way, and kicks the off the book nicely, the pages thick with imagery of the splashing of hooves through water, the clashing of steel on steel and the thudding of crossbow bolts through armour ...  Read the complete review

So, finally, after a mammoth 900+ pages, we come to the end of Bernard Cornwell's Grail trilogy. Has it been worth the journey or a huge waste of time? Well, like most journeys, it was fun setting off (the first book), dragged a little when you realised how far you still had left to go (the second book) and you can feel yourself starting to get more excited as you near your journey's end. It's just a shame that (to really overstretch the travel metaphor) Heretic gets stuck in a few traffic jams along the way. The book benefits hugely from the fact that this time it concentrates on just a handful of characters that we've been with throughout the journey. This ...  Read the complete review