"Bernard Cornwell the Archers Tale" Topic

I am a big fan of Cornwell and spotted his book in my local book store, is this series worth picking up??

I greatly enjoyed The Archer's Tale and Vagabond and recommend them highly. I haven't managed to pick up Heretic yet but now that you've brought the series back to mind I might try to track it down after Cold Wars.

If you liked Cornwell's Sharpe's stuff this series has a bit of a different feel to it but it's all still very well written and keeps you engaged.

Have read all three. Some very nice twists. Love all his books.

Good read. I am also a Cornwell fan, but he has a habit of repetitiveness after a couple of series.

Matt

I adore the Archer series. Read away.

Joey

I liked the series too. One of my favorite series of his.

I liked the series.

I liked it. Easy read.

Dreadful. Simply awful. Achieves the impossible goal of being worse than Sharpie.

Allen

i think cornwall stinks so I will stay away, worse than sharpe? is that possible?…can cultural relativism reach such depths?..

A really good read. With Cornwell, you know you'll get a rip-roaring story with a range of simple but fun characters, and lashings of popular history.

I've always enjoyed his books, with the realisation they are entertainment, not education.

And you've also got to remember that authors of light historical fiction, like Cornwell, do more than any dry military history tome to keep the world of the past alive in the eyes of the general reader.

I liked it very much. I also enjoy his several other series. Maybe not great literature, but I find it very engaging. I had "Archer's Tale" as an airline read for a trans-Atlantic flight. I didn't set it down until it was time to de-plane.

I liked this trilogy much more than many of his others. The first book especially.

I found this trilogy to be very tedious, it held no surprises whatsoever. An easy read, and a good treatment for insomnia.

I didn't recognise "The Archer's Tale" title, but apparently that was the title in the US. The UK title of the book was "Harlequin".

Excellent series. Wonder if he'll do any more?

"i think cornwall stinks so I will stay away"

Don't cross the Tamar then. I thought this thread was about Bernard Cornwell, not the Duchy of Cornwall! :-)

I liked it as well. He is a light, fun read.

Pick it up, Irish. If you like Cornwell you should like this series. As for those of you who speak ill of him, why do you read him? And if you don't read him, how can you comment on his books? A bit like biting into an apple, not liking it, so condemning all apples in the future.

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

I read the first, and thought "this might be alright" then I read the second and third, and thought "this should have stayed at a one off book, not dragged out for three" I found that the plot line was pretty obvious, especially the thing in book one turning up in book three. I found the treatment of certain charachters at the end of book three to be a "what did he have a deadline to finish this", as there is a certain paragraph which manages to kill off most of the cast.
I really thought it should have been a longer stand alone single book, not dragged out for three. Now if he would just go back and finish the "starbuck" series I may be happier (but that lost a bit of direction to be honest)

I started reading the 1st book, and like Allen found it dreadful. Too melodramatic. There was also nothing sympathetic about the main character (at least I felt), so pretty much got half-way through and sold it on Ebay.

"As for those of you who speak ill of him, why do you read him?"

To try it out? I'd guess some people felt it would get better. I'm also a sucker for medieval historicals that are not Harlequin bodice rippers.

Unfortunately for me this one did not get better,

Right now I'm reading Folett's _A World Without End_ which is OK (it has its own set of problems, not the least of which that Follett has issues with professional soldiers it seems), and quite a bit better than _An Archer's Tale_

Damon.

I read all of the Sharpe books and the Archer's Trilogy. They are light, easy and enjoyable reads. My favourite author of late. Have fun and read what you want…don't worry about other people's tastes. Allowing yourself to be engaged in reading to stimulate the mind and your experiences is far better than wasting time in front of the ID-10-T (idiot) box also known as the televesion set!!

I enjoyed the Starbuck chronicles. Not because it was top drawer literature, but I was really into the ACW at the time. Also the Arthur series and some of the Sharpe stories. I would say good 'pulp' fiction in a historical setting.

I would like to go to the place…but it is a very long way away, the closest Tamr river to me is in Tasmania and that is around 1300k away to the south

Now if we were to talk about Allan Mallinson

The first book in the trilogy is great – a must read. I am struggling with the second though, but will push through.

I'm sorry to have to say that in my opinion they are awful, simply awful.

First book is not very good, the second is bad, the last is simply atrocious leaving the reader with that typical face of having wasted his time.

Avoid.

Oops, more or less said the same as mweaver, which can't be bad at all but makes for poor literary style.

However, like I once said in another posting

"…Cornwell's Harlequin series was so weak, predictable and boring it is hard to believe that it was written by the same author of the extraordinary Warlord Chronicles Trilogy…er, was it?"

After all these years, still a major doubt of mine.