Vagabond audiobook

This historical novel still burns pretty brightly, just like the Hundred Year's War it depicts.What a nasty time. It makes me thankful that we're not quite THERE yet.Thomas continues his adventure in gross poverty and murder in an appropriately low style, joining armies all over the place to shine as the wonderful archer that he is. We see a lot of England this time and I really appreciated the battles with the Scots. Oh, and hearing "The English" become a substitute for all rapists, brigands, and assholes was also great. It turned the term into a general-purpose curse word. :) Solid continuation. Just a hit of Grail stuff, good buddy-building, and endless war.

And as always in Cornwell’s books, along with the great characters, such vivid descriptions of seiges and battles that you feel you were there. Another great read.

The search for the Grail continues, Tomas of Hookton continues its adventure in the border of England and Scotland. King Edward the third sent him to find out whether there is truth to Grail. But this adventure brings him only pain and suffering because he is not the only one seeking the Grail. Continuation of the book is a bit more intriguing than the first part but still good.

Well...what can I say here? It took me forever (not literally of course) to get around to this book. It's one I kept moving other books "in front of" so to speak (please forgive the poor grammar).Thomas is still somewhat undecided here...well actually he's not. He simply wants to lead archers in battle but he's been charged with finding the Holy Grail (sadly he doesn't really believe the Grail is real and he does believe that his father was a bit...well...cracked[?]) So accordingly he makes some very, shall we say, poor decisions? These of course lead us into the rest of the story and giive us another reliably readable adventure from Mr. Cornwell.Recommended, enjoy.Oh, and now I have to make a spot on my reading list for the next one.

Read this book in 2005, and its the 2nd part of the "Thomas of Hookton" series.In this book Thomas is sent back to England to find to Holy Grail.During his hunt he will become involved with many enemies specialized in the art of sword fights, and he only being an archer, while his greatest fear will come at the Battle of Neville's Cross, where he will learn that a lot more people are in search for the Holy Grail and wanting him dead.The only option fot Thomas will be to escape England and head to France, and there to rescue his old commander, Will Skeat, but even there they are not safe from enemies who will try to hunt them down.What is follow is a gripping and action-packed tale about the Hundred Years War, and especially how to be an archer of England and feel king of the battlefields.Very much recommended, for this is another terrific tale that will take us back to the war between England and France, and that's why I like to call this episode: "A Glorious Thomas Of Hookton Sequel"!

Mais uma incrível sequência, de outra incrível obra do mestre.Thomas continua sua missão em descobrir o passado do seu pai, sobre o Graal e se aproximar de Guy Vexille e seus segredos. Enquanto isso, a guerra dos 100 anos continua, agora com os escoceses também tomando parte sobre. Inclusive, temos o adicional de Robbie Douglas na história (com a saída de outros tão importantes quanto).Acredito que, para quem leu as Crônicas do Rei Artur, talvez ache Thomas com uma personalidade e falas extremamente parecidas com as de Derfel, mesmo sem todo o background que o segundo tem. Mas nada que afete a história. Mal posso esperar pelo final!

Povijesna trilogija Bernarda Cornwella prati Thomasa od Hooktona, fikcionalnog lika engleskog strijelca, kroz neke od prvih bitaka između engleske i francuske vojske, za koje se kasnije ispostavilo da su bile samo uvod u ono što će postupno prerasti u Stogodišnji rat između ovih dviju zemalja.Radnja je napeta, ne samo zbog toga što Thomas iz jedne bitke ulazi ravno u drugu, već i zbog toga što on usput slijedi i put svoje zakletve i svako malo doznaje nešto novo i neočekivano u vezi Harlekina i ukradene relikvije, zbog čega često upada u sukobe i izvan bojišta. Glavnina romana fokusirana je na nekolicinu glavnih likova, koji su sjajno okarakterizirani, ali jednako dobra karakterizacija odlikuje i one sporedne likove, pa čak i one koji se tek par puta pojave u čitavom tijeku radnje.Same bitke, kao i sve ono što im prethodi i što slijedi nakon njih, opisano je u svoj svojoj surovosti i realnosti: sve one pljačke, ubojstva, gramzivost i spremnost na najgroznija djela kako bi se u ratu profitiralo ili proslavilo Cornwell se ne gnuša prikazati baš onako kako jest, a to (ponekad) nije nimalo lijepo za vidjeti. Kako sam autor kaže, namjerno je rat tako prikazao, kako bi čitatelji mogli vidjeti da rat nisu samo bitke dvaju suprotstavljenih vojski, već on uključuje i masakr nevinih građana - staraca, žena i djece, i često posve nepotrebne okrutnosti.Iako pri opisivanju ratnih pohoda autor ne pristaje ni uz jednu suprotstavljenu stranu, već nam priču priča potpuno objektivno, za ovu bi se trilogiju moglo reći da je ona u biti oda engleskim strijelcima. Činjenica je da je Engleska mnoge svoje bitke uspjela izvojevati upravo zaslugom svojih strijelaca, koji su u povijesti postali poznati po svojim iznimno dugačkim lukovima, kakve nije upotrebljavala niti jedna druga vojska. Ti su lukovi često u fokusu ovih romana i autor se ne libi iskazati i vlastito divljenje strijelcima koji su ih rabili, a koji su bili u stanju izboriti pobjedu čak i protiv osjetno brojnijeg neprijatelja. Posebno je zanimljivo to što je upravo jednog engleskog strijelca Cornwell postavio u ulogu glavnog protagonista, zbog čega smo dobili priliku iz prve ruke vidjeti koju su ulogu strijelci imali u engleskoj vojsci i zbog čega su bili tako važni.Ako uživate u čitanju povijesnih romana, ova se trilogija svakako mora naći na vašoj listi za čitanje. Čitajući, puno toga ćete doznati što možda još niste znali o razdoblju Stogodišnjeg rata, posebno o ulozi engleskih strijelaca u njemu, a malo mitologije vezane uz Gral ovdje je da napetost održi cijelo vrijeme na visokom nivou. Tijekom čitanja ove 2/3 trilogije bilo mi je teško knjige ispustiti iz ruku, te jedva čekam da se prevede i posljednja trećina. Skupna recenzija prve dvije knjige trilogije o Gralu je na FB stranici.

Review in Portuguese from Desbravando Livros:Vou começar bem direto: o 2º livro da trilogia é ainda melhor do que o primeiro! Mais batalhas, mais tramas e mais reviravoltas acontecem no segundo volume dessa trilogia. Desta vez, Thomas está mais interessado em procurar o Graal e volta à sua aldeia natal para procurar o santo objeto.O que ele ainda não sabe é que novos pretendentes à relíquia aparecem a cada dia e a sua tarefa fica mais difícil. Neste livro, Thomas toma partido em lutas que não lhe dizem respeito, faz novos amigos e inimigos e também descobre várias pistas do que pode ter acontecido com o Graal."... Era um sinal, pensou Thomas, e ele não queria acreditar em sinais e visões, queria acreditar no seu arco. Pensou que talvez Eleanor tivesse razão e que o conflito com o seu vencedor inesperado era um sinal do céu de que ele devia entrar na cidade atrás do avant-coureur, mas também havia inimigos no alto da montanha e ele era um arqueiro, e arqueiros não abandonavam uma batalha.- Nós iremos para a cidade – disse ele – depois da batalha."A narrativa do autor continua sensacional. Não tenho palavras para expressar o quanto fico feliz quando chego ao final de qualquer livro do Bernard Cornwell e me deparo com desfechos realistas e histórias muito bem desenvolvidas. Recomendo muito os livros desse autor para quem gosta de romances históricos e obras que contenham batalhas como cenário principal." - Arqueiros! – berrou Thomas, imaginando-se de volta à França e responsável por uma tropa de arqueiros de Will Skeat. – Arqueiros! – gritou, avançando até a borda do fosso. – Matem eles agora!Homens foram para o lado dele, tiveram um grito de triunfo e puxaram suas cordas.Agora era a hora da matança, a hora dos arqueiros."Pontos fortes: melhor e mais intenso do que o primeiro livro!Pontos fracos: achei que a trilogia continuaria sem um mapa para me localizar melhor, mas ainda bem que o autor pensou nisso e providenciou um excelente mapa para os leitores.

This is book two of Cornwell's Grail Quest series also called The Archer's Tale series. They follow Thomas of Hookton as he travels around somehow managing to entangle himself in every single major battle England fought during the early part of the Hundred Years War. The early part of this book was very familiar to me but the last third or so was not. I am guessing that my first time through I DNF'd this book right about the point Thomas got caught up by the (SPOILERS). I feel like a broken record when it comes to my reviews of Bernard Cornwell's books because there are two things that stand out no matter what he is writing or when his historical fiction is to take place. 1) BC does an amazing job of recreating the battles and other major historical events he is depicting. He also does so in a way that truly draws the reader in through the character and plot development. 2) BC hates the church and his personal bias is like a toxic flood seeping into his otherwise pristine writing. In this work especially BC throws away historical fact and plays up the popular myth of what the inquisition was really like. Rather than continue a long rant here, I would encourage the interested reader to do a quick fact check for yourself. This article by the National Review might be a good place to start.

A lot better book than Archer's tail! It began quite interesting and then came the boring part. Luckily, very quickly it became very intense and unpredictable. The book has finished quite interesting luring us to read the next one in the series. This one surprised me actually. I was postponing reading it because I didn't want to deal with a lot of boring descriptions and prolonged battles. This time it was quite the opposite, battles were the best parts, a lot of things happend in short time, mystery was there... But still, there were a number of boring parts. I get that so much description belong here because of the genre but I feel it is unnecessary.Can't wait to finish this trilogy and I hope that it will be the best one yet.

This was a great book. This is the second of three. I will give a full review later.Be Blessed.

Bernard Cornwell, OBE was born in London, England on 23 February 1944. His father was a Canadian airman, and his mother was English, a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, WAAF. He was adopted at six weeks old and brought up in Thundersley, Essex by the Wiggins family, who were members of the Peculiar People. That is a strict sect who were pacifists, banned frivolity of all kinds and even medicine. So, he grew up in a household that forbade alcohol, cigarettes, dances, television, conventional medicine and toy guns. Unsurprisingly, he developed a fascination for military adventure. Cornwell was sent to Monkton Combe School which is an independent boarding and day school of the British public school tradition, near Bath, Somerset, England and as a teenager he devoured the Hornblower novels by CS Forrester. After he left the Wiggins family, he changed his name to his mother’s maiden name, Cornwell. He tried to enlist three times but poor eyesight put paid to this dream and he went to the University of London to read theology. On graduating, he became a teacher, then joined BBC.He is an English author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe television films. He started to write after his life changed in 1979, when he fell in love with an American. His wife could not live in the UK so he gave up his job and moved to the USA. He could not get a green card, so he began to write novels. The result was his first book about that 19th century hero, Richard Sharpe, Sharpe’s Eagle. Today Bernard Cornwell has 20 Sharpe adventures behind him, plus a series about the American Civil War, the Starbuck novels; an enormously successful trilogy about King Arthur, The Warlord Chronicles; the Hundred Years War set, Grail Quest series; and his current series about King Alfred. The author has now taken American citizenship and owns houses in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Florida, USA and two boats. Every year he takes two months off from his writing and spends most of his time on his 24 foot Cornish crabber, Royalist.Vagabond is the first book by Bernard Cornwell that I had read. I was on holiday, had read the books that I had taken with me, so I borrowed this book from my husband. He has read many Bernard Cornwell books and enjoys them immensely. I was quite excited to read a book by a new author. The Grail Quest is a trilogy of books set in the 14th Century. Vagabond is the second book in the series. It starts in 1346 with the Battle of Neville’s Cross in Northern England. While King Edward III fights in France, England lies exposed to the threat of invasion. The battle is peripheral to the main plot of the hero, Thomas of Hockton’s, search for the grail which is supposedly under the control of his family and has been hidden by his dead father. Thomas, is a protagonist drawn quite pithily. He is an archer and hero of Crécy, finds himself back in the north just as the Scots invade on behalf of their French allies. Thomas is determined to pursue his personal quest: to discover whether a relic he is searching for is the Holy Grail. It is the archers whose skills will be called upon, and who will become the true heroes of the battle.Thomas struggles with his doubts that the Grail even exists and travels around England and Northwestern France while working off his guilt at not being able to save his two early travel companions from being murdered. Cornwell’s battle descriptions are as good as any in historical fiction. His description of this Middle Ages’ environment is also excellent. I was particularly impressed with his analysis of the power and influence of the Catholic Church in those days. The sheer verve of Cornwell’s storytelling here is irresistible. The reader is plunged into a distant age: bloody, colourful and dangerous. However, I found that the story did tend to drag a bit through the middle of the book.Still, I really did enjoy this book. I recommend it and I will read more by this author.

**Actual rating 4.5**Bernard Cornwell is one of my favorite authors so please don't expect any kind of unbiased review here, I loved this book just like I love all his books. (According to GR I have read 22 of his books which puts him in 2nd place behind Stephen King.I don't think anyone will ever catch King.....)This is the 2nd installment of the Grail Quest series and it takes place in France around 1350. Thomas of Hookton is an English archer and he's on a quest for, you guessed it, the Holy Grail. Lots of great bloody warfare and religious mysteries ass well as an interesting back-story in this book. Evil enemies (and allies), castle sieges, love gained and love lost (butchered). Great stuff!I really enjoyed all the info about the English archers of the day and how it made them such a superior fighting force. The siege weapons were fun to read about as well.Highly recommended for any historical fiction fan!