Friday Book Report: The Archer's Tale by Bernard Cornwell

Bernard Cornwell’s novel, The Archer’s Tale is the first book in the “Grail Quest” series, and it begins the journey of young Thomas of Hookton. Thomas was educated at Oxford to become a priest, but his true calling is archery, and he wants nothing more than to become an archer for the English.  Thomas not only has to battle the French during the Hundred Years War, but also his conscience.  Thomas must decide if he wants to be a mere archer in his King’s army or if he will accept the daunting quest of retrieving his family’s legendary heirloom.  This book was published in 2001 by HarperCollins Publishing.

In the spring of 1343, a gang of French raiders ambushes the small English village of Hookton.  The French attackers pillage and plunder the town, taking anything that will fetch a price and kidnapping the women of the town.  Thomas of Hookton, a young and aspiring archer and the bastard son of a priest (yes, a priest) is the only survivor left.  His father’s dying wish is for Thomas to reclaim the legendary lance of St. George that the raiders pilfered from the town.  Thomas promises his father he will return the lance to England and kill the man responsible for the death and destruction of Hookton.  A banner of golden eagles on a blue field and the knowledge that his cousin was amongst the mauraders are the only clues that Thomas has.  So, in 1343 Thomas heads to France to join the English army during the Hundred Years War and during every raid and battle he is constantly looking for that banner with the golden eagles.

Thomas enjoys being an archer in the English army, and after a while he forgets about the lance and his family responsibilities.  He meets and forms an alliance with the French widow Jeannette, the Countess of Armorica when they both discover they have a similar enemy in the English army, a proud and vengeful knight named Sir Simon Jekyll.  After a failed attempt on Jekyll’s life, Thomas and Jeannette must flee the army camp to request the help of Jeannette’s dead husband’s family.  Again they must flee and end up joining the army of Edward, the Prince of Wales.  After a fierce battle and the sacking of Caen, Thomas saves a young French woman from certain rape and death and in turn she saves his life.  And so the real journey begins, the French girl’s father was present during Hookton’s demise and they form an alliance to find the lance and kill the man that has betrayed them both. 

This is one historical fiction novel not for the faint of heart.  It’s bloody, it’s gory and there are vivid descriptions of not just battles and war, but of the aftermath of a 14^th century battle.   It was really tough for me to get through, because some of the scenes were so gruesome, and the women treated so poorly I often felt like I didn’t want to keep reading.  Add to that, that this story doesn’t start to kick into gear until about halfway through, and it was a struggle.  But if you can get through the horrific details, it’s not a bad story.  The battle scenes were some of the most descriptive I’ve ever read, and the plot can be intriguing.  I thought at times Cornwell became too descriptive in his scenes (he spends about 3 pages describing how a 14^th century cannon works) and that took away from the storyline.  Cornwell didn’t have to go into great detail about some things, and other parts he was very vague and non-descript.  Otherwise, I found it was a fairly enjoyable read. 

This book won’t make you think too hard, and it won’t provoke any deeper meanings; but for pure entertainment purposes, anyone that enjoys historical fiction and bloody battles will probably enjoy this book.  Thomas does battle with his conscience throughout the book.  His destiny and the lance of St. George are always in his mind, even though he tries to push past them and just become an archer.  He doesn’t want to accept his destiny, but it won’t seem to go away and certain situations and circumstances in this book always seem to lead him back to where he doesn’t want to be, despite it being the right decision.  This is the first in a series and it sets up Thomas’ journey nicely, while this isn’t typically my type of book I just might read the rest to see how it all turns out.

I give this book a B-.  This isn’t my favorite type of book, but it kept me entertained for the most part.  It started out really slow, and some unnecessary descriptions of scenes and objects took away from the storyline, but overall it’s not badly written.  It’s just very graphically written, and if you do not want to hear about bloody battles and pillaging of towns, then do not read this book.  It’s very unpleasant in parts, much like the 14^th Century was.  If you enjoy the bloodier historical fiction novels, you probably would enjoy this book.  But if you like the lighter side of historical fiction, this isn’t the book for you.