Harlequin

HARLEQUIN by Bernard Cornwell
The Grail Quest
Harper Collins - June 2001
ISBN 0006513840 - Paperback
Historical / Military Adventure - 1342, England and France, Battle of Crecy

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.com
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Here is Cornwell's best selling novel from last year in paperback at last. If you were hoping for another installment of Sharpe's adventures don't despair for this is the first part of a trilogy set during the Hundred Years' War and is replete with just the sort of thrilling battles and derring-do that make Cornwell's books so readable. Meet Thomas of Hookton, the son of a very unusual preacher and soon entrusted with a quest - to avenge his father's death and bring back the village's treasure - the very lance that St George used to kill the dragon and the very essence of Englishness - after it is stolen away by his black-hearted cousin. Thomas leaves Oxford University and becomes an archer, one of the famed longbow men that are to win the Battle of Crecy and soon is fighting hard in France. He has become one of the feared Hellequin, the French term for the English archers as the Devil loves them so much that he won't keep them in Hell but allows them to trouble folk on earth…

From the opening of this novel when the village of Hookton is laid waste by the villains to the thrilling description of the Battle of Crecy it is action all the way. Thomas swears his knightly oath to restore the lance and falls in love, makes friends and enemies and helps history be made in the same inimitable style as Sharpe. At times I wondered if I was in fact reading about Sharpe and his chosen men despite the difference in period but despite this sense of sameness that does pervade some of the book the narrative rips along at the pace of a speeding arrow and left me hoping that it wouldn't be long before Thomas is back on his quest again. As usual it is a tale with far wider appeal than the average military novel and if you enjoy a heady mix of action, romance and a bit of Mediaeval mysticism this ought to please. It is a tale for all those who like a good story, whatever their preferences and it tends to transcend genres in the same way that George MacDonald Fraser does. Great stuff!