Product Description

The eagerly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling Harlequin, this is the second instalment in Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest series.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7614 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Vagabond, the second entry in the "Grail Quest" sequence, has been eagerly anticipated by those who read the first book, and it doesn't disappoint. Thomas has managed to survive the battle of Crécy. Still nursing his wounds, he is dispatched by the king on a mission to look into the matter of his father's inheritance, which is obscurely connected to the Holy Grail. This most precious relic of the Christian faith is a much sought-after object, offering the power of total victory in war to its owner. But Thomas finds himself in the middle of a battle against an army invading the North of England, and other shadowy forces pursuing the grail are prepared to slaughter anyone who stands in their way. In the ruins of his birthplace, Thomas discovers more about his father, and a dangerous voyage to France brings him up against his cousin and arch-enemy, Count of Astarc Guy Vexville. The stage is set for a merciless showdown.

Thomas is a protagonist drawn quite as pithily as his much-loved predecessor, and the sheer verve of Cornwell's storytelling here is irresistible. We are plunged into a distant age: bloody, colourful and dangerous. Roll on, volume three! --Barry Forshaw

Synopsis
The eagerly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling Harlequin, this is the second instalment in Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest series. In Harlequin, Thomas of Hookton travelled to France as an archer and there discovered a shadowy destiny, which linked him to a family of heretical French lords who sought Christendom's greatest relic. Having survived the battle of Crecy, Thomas is sent back to England, charged with finding the Holy Grail. But Thomas is an archer and when a chance comes to fight against an army invading northern England he jumps at it. Plunged into the carnage of Neville's Cross, he is oblivious to other enemies who want to destroy him. He discovers too late that he is not the only person pursuing the grail, and that his rivals will do anything to thwart him. After hunting and wounding him, Thomas's enemies turn him into a fugitive. Fleeing England, he travels to Normandy, determined to rescue Will Skeat, his old commander from Harlequin. Finally Thomas leads his enemies back to Brittany, where he goes to discover an old love and where his pursuers at last trap their reluctant pilgrim.

Vagabond is a vivid and realistic portrait of England at a time when the archer was king of Europe's battlefields.

From the Publisher
Vagabond is a vivid and realistic portrait of England at a time when the archer was king of Europe's battlefields.

Customer Reviews

only for long bow enthusiasts
way too much emphasis on how archers worked/fought/prepared/ and not enough on how they felt, ate, walked, sat, talked, and what the countryside was like. It read like a 'Robert Hardy told me all he knew about longbows and you're going to get the whole lecture.'

Second Book in the Grail Quest

Bernard Cornwell is the author of the acclaimed Richard Sharpe series, set during the Napoleonic Wars To my shame I have not read any of these. The books about Arthurian England are much more my cup of tea and I read those avidly. He has also written among others, Stonehenge 2000 B.C. Bernard Cornwell lives with his wife on Cape Cod.

This second book in the series is even better than the first, perhaps because the reader is now more aware of the storyline and is familiar with the main characters. Although the first book was a good read and well up to Mr. Cornwell's high standard. In this one the story gathers pace and takes the reader along on a wave of emotion for Thomas of Hook ton.

Thomas, a young archer has been fighting in what became known as the Hundred Years' War. He has been with the English army in France and while the English are on foreign soil the Scots see it as their opportunity to come down from the north.

Sent back to England Thomas becomes involved in the fighting at Durham. He he meets an enemy, a Dominican, who, like most other people is looking for the holy relic, the grail. Thomas has one advantage, an old book left by his father seems to offer clues to its resting place. But after all the turmoil and upheaval will the relic even be in the place where it has rested for so many years . . . ?

An entertaining sequel, but lacks direction
"Vagabond" is the second book in Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest trilogy, following on from where the story left off in "Harlequin", in 1346, just after the Battle of Crécy. Thomas of Hookton has been sent, along with his companions Eleanor and Father Hobbe, to Durham, in search of answers from a certain monk who knew his father - who was rumoured to have possessed the Holy Grail. Pursuing him is the Inquisitor Bernard de Taillebourg, who also seeks the Grail and will let no one stand in his way. Little known to Thomas is the fact that at the same time a Scots army is approaching the gates of Durham, and that his life and those of his companions are all in danger.

This is certainly an action-packed tale - we are hardly 20 pages into the book before we are into our first battle, which turns out to be merely a prelude to the main event, the Battle of Neville's Cross. After that we follow Thomas as he journeys the length of the kingdom from Durham to Dorset, and from there on to Caen and Britanny. Unfortunately, as with "Harlequin", there seems to be little direction to this story. Events simply happen; never is there a sense that we are going somewhere and we discover little more concerning the Grail than we knew at the outset. Thomas appears to wander aimlessly from place to place, sometimes deeply driven by his quest, but at other times strangely disinterested. After "Harlequin" I would have liked to have seen a development of Thomas's character, which sadly Cornwell never provides. Part of the problem lies in the style of narration he has chosen in this series, which slips disconcertingly between a wide number of points of view. This means that even when we do come back to Thomas, the main character, we are always kept at a distance, and it is difficult to ever connect emotionally or sympathise with him.

What Cornwell is very good at, however, is his evocation of time and place, and it is this feature of his writing which saves "Vagabond". His battle scenes are, as always, described in vivid detail and draw the reader right into the thick of the action. Similarly his depictions of the medieval landscape are colourful and the cast of supporting characters serves to flesh out this world in a interesting and believable manner.

"Vagabond" is by no means Cornwell's best work, and though it is perfectly readable and entertaining in the short term, it is also fairly forgettable. The scene has certainly been set, however, and there are many questions still to be resolved in the series's climax, "Heretic".