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Bernard Cornwell Book Review

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Plot Summary of Harlequin
"Bernard Cornwell has a new series entitled "The Grail Quest" and "Harlequin" is the first book in the series. Thomas of Hookton is the son of a village priest and his housekeeper. The book opens with an attack on the English village by pirates from France. Thomas is the only survivor and vows to avenge his parents' death and recover the religious relic stolen from the church. He joins the army of King Edward III as an archer and goes to France to fight in what is to become the Hundred Years War. As usual with Cornwell's fiction the action is plentiful and the protagonist has one adventure, or misadventure, after another. He makes enemies and friends. His enemies try to kill him and his friends try to save his life. Cornwell's depiction of life in the fourteenth century is bleak, especially if you are fighting a war on foreign soil. The pages turn fast and at the end the reader is panting for the next instalment."
Penny, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Harlequin
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30%




Time/era of story: - middle ages
War Thriller Yes
Armed Forces: - Army
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Gender - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use? - a significant amount
Ethnicity/Race - British
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - Prince/Nobleman/King
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant

Setting
Europe Yes
European country: - France

Style
Part of a series? Yes
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Harlequin
Knight with Armour by Alfred Duggan
Uther by Jack Whyte
The Deluge by Henryk Sienkiewicz
The Virtues of War: A Novel of Alexander the Great by Steven Pressfield
The Last Templar by Michael Jecks


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Bernard Cornwell Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Mai Tsuji  

SCHOLARS:


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