ridel reviewed O Inimigo de Deus by Bernard Cornwell (Crônicas de Arthur)
Review of 'O Inimigo de Deus' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Maybe it’s the age of the book, but I find that despite the great historical detail spent by Bernard Cornwell in making 500 AD Britain come alive, it doesn’t really get me as a reader.
I like the grounded Arthurian legend, and the intermixture of internal politics and external wars is juggled very well. I find that the author’s sense of pace is hugely missing though. The novel doesn’t have a good arc, and various plots will abruptly end and leave you wondering why you’re still reading. Partly this is due to “Good is Dumb” syndrome: all characters that are even remotely good seem to lack basic intellect and the ability to sniff out treachery or evil. As such, the narration doesn’t even speak of the antagonist for half the book because they aren’t aware!
Finally, I think if you’re the kind of reader to really hate characters, this might …
Maybe it’s the age of the book, but I find that despite the great historical detail spent by Bernard Cornwell in making 500 AD Britain come alive, it doesn’t really get me as a reader.
I like the grounded Arthurian legend, and the intermixture of internal politics and external wars is juggled very well. I find that the author’s sense of pace is hugely missing though. The novel doesn’t have a good arc, and various plots will abruptly end and leave you wondering why you’re still reading. Partly this is due to “Good is Dumb” syndrome: all characters that are even remotely good seem to lack basic intellect and the ability to sniff out treachery or evil. As such, the narration doesn’t even speak of the antagonist for half the book because they aren’t aware!
Finally, I think if you’re the kind of reader to really hate characters, this might be a hard read for you. The amount of preachy, moral high-horse pettiness that gets around Britain makes me gag. I don’t like that style of characterization and it’s used to a great degree in the Warlord Chronicles.
All in all, an okay follow-up. I’m not sure I’m going to continue…
Honestly even not being familiar with Arthur aside from the bare minimum, Lancelot and Guinevere’s treachery is so obvious that it was annoying to read. Good is Dumb, and damn are they dumb. I also really, really hate pettiness, and Guinevere is basically all that.
Part 3 starts off really rough too - the 10 year time skip really hurts the novel and brings the plot shuddering to a halt. It’s almost like there are two novels in this.
