Spoiler-free
And thus, The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell concludes with Excalibur! I’d like to start this review by giving myself a well-deserved pat on the back. I used to be AWFUL at finishing series, always drawn to that new first book without ever delving deeper. It got to the point where I had read all these different series, but the number that I had finished was laughably small. When this realisation dawned on me, it made me sad that I never committed to living out these characters' stories to their fullest, so endeavoured on making an assertive change. So far, since starting this blog, I have done exactly that! Making progress in and even sometimes finishing every series I start! Hell Yeah!
The Warlord Chronicles has been my first read of Bernard Cornwell’s work and it’s honestly been such a delight. For some strange reason, I entered 2026 really craving an Arthurian retelling, so this was definitely the case of the right book, right time. Scratching this itch was very satisfying! The first book, The Winter King, was an impressive start and set up the historical time context, the characters we all know and love, along with the key themes of brotherhood, honour and religion, which play heavily throughout the series. Book 2, Enemy of God, took these themes and ran wild with it! The second book became much darker and even grittier than the first, and with it Bernard Cornwell produced one of the best sequels I have ever read! The third and final book, Excalibur, keeps this momentum going and rounds off this story in a satisfying way. I’ll be honest, after the sheer epicness of Enemy of God, I had very high hopes for this finale and as good as it was, it failed to surpass the excellence of Book 2. Not to worry though, it was no doubt an amazing conclusion to a phenomenal trilogy.
The way in which this series treads the line between fantasy and historical fiction is honestly so impressive. You could really read this either way. The magic presented is rooted in the historical context of the time and is always ambiguous as to whether it’s true or not. Thus is the power belief holds during the 5th Century.
Merlin sighed. ‘You are absurd, Derfel, entirely absurd. The existence of tricks does not imply the absence of magic, but magic is not always granted to us by the Gods. Do you understand nothing?’
Belief’s power doesn’t only stop with the existence of magic, but furthermore to the existence of Gods. The 5th Century is the time Christianity began to really take a hold over Britain, slowly replacing Paganism, in which our main character Derfel, holds dear to his heart. These discussions surrounding faith and religion are pivotal to the war at this time, along with our characters' motivations and intentions. It’s honestly fascinating seeing how much impact the introduction of Christianity had on this time period and to the minds of everyday folk.
'Gods aren’t fools, boy,’ he growled, ‘ Why should they fight when men can do their killing for them?’ He began walking again. ‘I am old now,’ he told me, ‘and in all my years I have never seen the Gods. We believe in them, but do they care about us?’
Spitting Interlude
It would be rude to finish off this trilogy of reviews without featuring the much beloved (by absolutely no-one) spitting interlude.
I tried to push her away again, but she just spat at me, hit me again, then shouted at her Blackshield bodyguard to come to her aid.
He spat. ‘ You squeal like a spavined pig.’
I spat in his face. ‘Shall I give you to Arthur, Lord King?’
I spat in his face, but he just laughed at me.
‘You worm-ridden toad,’ I said, spitting on the floor. ‘You just wanted power.’
‘Broceliande?’ Sagramor said, then spat. ‘ I hate the sea.’
End of interlude.
This trilogy was an absolute delight and had some truly epic moments in each of the three books! This has without a doubt, made me much more inclined to pick up The Saxon Stories at some point too! Whilst this third book, is probably my least favourite I still thoroughly enjoyed it! Book 2 simply set the bar way too high!
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘 4.25 stars
Spoiler Chat
This book got off to a mighty good start! I feel like the momentum really carried through from the epicness of Book 2 and just steamrolled ahead.
Part One: The Fires of Mai Dun
The 1vs1 duel between Derfel and Liofa was badass! I also loved how Aelle vouched for Derfel to have this right of a fight instead of the Saxons just killing him there and then. I know Aelle is Derfel’s father, but he had no real reason to be kind to him. Besides, he has loads of sons. It’s weird how much of a liking Aelle takes towards him, and it’s a good job too… Otherwise, this would have no doubt been the end for our boy Derfel.
The two swords met plumb.
Only this time there was no ringing sound, but a crack.
For Liofa's blade had broken.
A lot of the time, I find that the action scenes in books rarely make it to the highlights of my review but this absolutely did. Page after page I was invested in the ebb and flow of this duel, it was really quite existing. Liofa was a formidable match for Derfel. The whole scene reminded me of the 1vs1 duels in Mordhau and I just loved the clunkiness of it. You could really feel the weight of every swing as exhaustion settled in.
The organisation of this whole ritual on Mai Dun was fascinating. I honestly had no idea what Merlin and Nimue were up to, but I had an inkling that a sacrifice would be involved… As soon as I saw all the fires surrounding the mountain top with all the treasures present I just knew someone was about to get cut. I’ve seen enough horror films to spot a cult sacrifice when I see one. The build up to this event was crazy good. I loved the internal thoughts of Derfel trying to figure out whether he truly believes in their magic or not. It seemed that when he saw Olwen the Silver glowing in the dark, he was all for it, only for that hope to be shattered upon the realisation it was all a trick. It was honestly kinda heart-breaking to have him so desperately needing to believe in Merlin’s power.
So Olwen the Silver had been no nymph, no messenger from the Gods after all, but a human girl smeared with the juices of shellfish. The magic was not of the Gods, but of Merlin, and all my hopes seemed to die in that dark chamber.
When it was revealed that Merlin and Nimue wished to sacrifice Arthur’s son I’m not gonna lie… That gagged me. But hey, it makes sense. This goes to show the lengths in which Merlin and Nimue will go to in order to restore the Gods to Britain. They truly care about nothing else and that makes them a force to be reckoned with. They’re honestly pretty evil and lowkey the villains of the whole story and I love them for it. Unfortunately, they don’t succeed and this has major effects on public perception towards Arthur, who disrupted the Pagan Ceremony preventing the God’s return.
Part Two: Mynydd Baddon
This was Guinevere’s time to shine baby! Up until now, she has proved herself to be a force to be reckoned with in terms of castle politics and the manipulation of men. She is a smart cookie, there’s no doubt about that.
‘It doesn’t become princesses,’ Guinevere murmured softly, ‘to show anger in public. Be mysterious, my dear, and never let men know what you’re thinking. Your power lies in the shadows, but in the sunlight men will always overcome you.
However, now she has further proved herself to be a titan of this story, by proving her prowess in military tactics. Who knew? The way she basically rolls fire down the kill to set her enemies ablaze was badass and surprised absolutely everyone. It’s interesting that Derfel allowed her the 20 men in which she needed to carry out the task, as he must have somehow believed in her capabilities to do so. But, it also goes to show just how desperate Derfel was in that moment and when all hope is lost, you have no choice but to place your trust in the unexpected. Anyway, this was a badass moment for Guinevere and she knew it.
There was Arthur’s bear and Ceinwyn’s star, but in the middle, in the pace of honour as befitted a victorious warlord, there was a flag showing Guinevere’s badge of a moon-crowned stag. The dawn wind lifted it, she saw the badge and I saw her smile.
Another standout moment of this part was yet another one of Merlin’s tricks - using Gawain’s dead body to ride into battle and frighten the enemy troops. This was honestly wild and I can just imagine the dead body flopping around on the horse like a ragdoll. Bernard Cornwell is not afraid to take this retelling to the dark and grotesque places and I commend him for it. These moments of gothic excellence and graphic horror really elevate this series.
But it was the horseman I watched. He rode so awkwardly and I could see now that he was tied onto the horse. His ankles were linked under the stallion’s black belly with rope, and his body was fixed to the saddle by what had to be strips of timber clamped to the saddle’s tree. He had no helmet so that his long hair flew free in the wind and beneath the hair the rider’s face was nothing but a grinning skull covered by desiccated yellow skin. It was Gawain, dead Gawain, his lips and gums shrunken back from his teeth, his nostrils two black slits and his eyeballs empty holes. His head lolled from side to side while his body, to which the dragon banner of Britain was strapped, swayed from side to side.
Lancelot finally got what was coming to him! His death was horrendous yet immaculate. He deserved everything he got, the pompous prick! Yet another instance of how willing Cornwell is to take these graphic moments to their extreme.
We stripped Lancelot’s body naked. I threw his sword and his fine scale armour into the river, burned his clothes, then used a big Saxon war axe to dismember his corpse. We did not burn him but tossed him to the fishes so that his dark soul would not scour the otherworld with its presence. We obliterated him from the earth, and I kept only his enamelled sword belt that had been a gift from Arthur.
I mean, damn… Derfel really got what he needed with this one. Obliterating Lancelot from the earth is wild and to state that you don’t want his dark soul to scour the otherworld with its presence? Derfel read Lancelot for filth. The absolute shade of it all was insane!
Part Three - Nimue’s curse
This is where the momentum starts to cease and everything slows down a bit. It’s a shame because I feel like this part has just as much potential with its moments but the execution of these plot points just didn’t feel quite so strong or intense. For example with Diwrnach’s death, we were literally just told that he died.
Diwrnach drowned, over a hundred of his spearmen were massacred and the remainder fled in panic. In two summer months Arthur had ended the rebellion in Powys, cowed Byrthig and destroyed Diwrnach.
I felt somewhat betrayed by this, I’m not gonna lie. Diwrnach’s character was one in which I was invested in and excited to see where his story took him and to have it just be told to me as if in a history book sucked. This happened again much later with Derfel recounting the fate of Ceinwyn. I feel like this was a very anti-climatic way of handling key emotional events.
In the end Ceinwyn died of a fever. I was with her, and I wanted to burn her corpse.
There is a lot of tension built up over time with Ceinwyn’s sickness and to have it end in such a blunt way was a little disappointing. It also confused me why Morgan was willing to do the pagan ritual, due to her converted faith of Christianity.
I heard later how Morgan took the severed hand with its fatal scar and sealed it in the clay womb. Then, to a pagan chant as old as time, she pulled the bloody hand out through the birth canal and tossed it onto the brazier.
And thus I became a Christian.
I understand that the motivation of Morgan performing this pagan magic to lift Nimue’s curse and thereby save Ceinwyn was under the pretext that Derfel would convert to Christianity, but surely by performing this pagan ritual, Morgan is recognising the powers of the old ways? How can she claim to be a Christian when she so clearly still believes in the pagan ways and knows they hold strength and power? This seemed to go straight over Sansum’s head somehow. It all just got very confused and messy for my liking, but maybe I just missed something and I am the problem…
I really enjoyed Guinevere’s bard, Taliesin! He just added some much needed fun and spice to the series. I very much imagined him as a classic DnD style bard, so that no doubt added a lot to his character.
The final battle against Mordred was cool and all, but for whatever reason I found that it lacked the intensity of previous battles. When I look back on this series, I can’t see myself remembering all that much about this battle, which is a shame considering how it’s the final climax of the series. I think it says more about how epic prior moments have been as opposed to this being anyway lacklustre. Oh, Nimue sacrificing Merlin to the Sea Goddess, Mabawydan, was wild and harps back to what I was about earlier. Them two will truly stop at nothing to achieve their goals and duty to the Gods. They are both absolutely bat shit crazy and I’m kinda obsessed with it. They are cult leader villains, but due to Derfel’s perspective in narrating the story, appear to be (for a long time) mysterious heroes. This is just one of the many reasons why Derfel is an outstanding POV character. This series would never be as good coming from any other character’s mouth.
The Ending
Throughout this series, we have been receiving snippets of ‘present day’ Derfel who is recounting the tale of Arthur to Queen Igraine. This led me to believe that the trilogy will end with an epic moment, and possible death of Derfel in this ‘present day’ timeline. Instead, we got nothing of the sort and I’m not fully sure I understand why we needed all these scenes, as they never seemed to build up to anything in the end. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed each of them up until this point and it was fun to see how the recounted events have affected Derfel’s character over the years, but other than him secretly holding onto his pagan beliefs, I’m not sure if much else was revealed. It’s nothing bad, by any means, I think I just had it in my head that this timeline would end with some big bombastic moment, when it actually turned out to be much more sombre and open.
Overall, this trilogy has been EPIC! Derfel has truly rooted himself as one of my all time favourite POV characters. His perspective on the world and insights on religion and faith have been fascinating from start to finish. Also, his relationship with Arthur has been incredibly touching and felt so real and raw the whole way through. There is so much that I am going to take away from this series, it’s jam packed with dark, gritty, brutal, gruesome moments that I just love so much. I would love to see this adapted one day. My dream would be a Robert Eggers adaptation, as I just feel like the dark gritty vibes would be represented so perfectly with his distinct style.
This will never happen, but it’s a dream! And yes, I know there is an adaption floating around already, but I saw the trailer and it’s pretty clear that the showrunners had no idea what they were doing, so I’m just gonna burn that from my memory. Who cares anyway? When the books are this good!
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