Customer Reviews

The Broken Sword: King Arthur Returns

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Murphy and Cochran have done themselves well with this novel. Although I liked The Forever King better, this novel also intrigued me.

First of all, let me list the few faults this novel had compared to the first one: it was a lot darker than the first novel, it had too much on the history of the characters, and it didn't even develop the evil character, Aubrey Katsuleris (Thanatos). Sure, he was developed in some way, but Cochran and Murphy could have taken out about 15 of the 70 or so historical pages involving Arthur and Taliesin, and put Katsuleris into it.

Next, the good things: it displayed Merlin's past, which is good in some ways, we got to see the knights come together again, the bad guy was a lot better in this one, and it was just so great! Worth reading, although I advise you all to read The Forever King before this one.

In "The Forever King" Cochran and Murphy created one of the most original re-interpretations of the Arthur legend. In "The Broken Sword" they continue the story of Arthur, Galahad, and Merlin and give a unique view of the less described elements of the legend - How did Merlin become a wizard? Why did no other Druid help Arthur? And most important of all, Where did the magic go? I fervently hope that the series is continued, as I would love to see how Arthur reclaims his throne.

I won't go into much detail of the book, but suffice it to say that if you enjoy Arthurian myth, but with a twist, then you will totally love this book. The intertwining of past and present is extremely well done, tastefully and with great respect to the Arthurian legends of old, but with a flare lacking in the classical works. My ONLY complaint about the 2 book series is that they cut out what had been a very high profile character and left the fate of this character hanging, and I'd like to know what happens :) Maybe we'll get lucky and there will be a 3rd book to close it out properly.

This book rocks!The desciptions and the way they depicted the Knights of the Round Table were awsome!This book was very well written, and I recomend it whole-heartedly.

I picked it up as something to keep me occupied for an hour and I ended spending the rest of the day reading it. It has a lot of twist and turns and keeps your attention the whole time. If you like something a little off the beaten path, this is the book for you.

First, note that this is a sequel to their earlier Arthurian saga. For my money, it is the lesser of the two, but none-the-less, a book that is a 'must read,' and hard to put down.

For those with no toleration for sex or any type of violence whatsoever, BE WARNED, there is some of each inherent in this interesting tale. I also abhor senseless violence and sex thrown in only as 'a hook.' The violence in this book is every bit as called for as is the violence in any of the Godfather series. The sex, on the other hand, may not have been totally necessary for the completion of the book. I'll leave this issue to the reader.

I anxiously await the 3rd of the series. The last two reviewers of this wonderful book, unfortunately, appeared displeased with it. As a book of fantasy, it cannot be given criticism that would normally accompany a historical manuscript based on facts alone.

Again, this is a wonderful book, and I thoroughly recommend it!!

After reading the truly wonderful "The Forever King", I could barely wait to delve into this sequel. After finishing the novel, I must admit that I felt some disappointment. The villian of the story is so similar to the villian in "The Forever King" that they might as well be clones. Arthur's Aunt Emily is barely in the story at all. Her brief appearance seems to hint at another sequel. A new character, Beatrice, is introduced. She spends most of the story in a hospital while Arthur stays at her bedside. The Knights of the Round Table are released from Camelot and join Hal on a quest to protect Arthur. The Knights are hopelessly outdated, and while this provides some great comic relief at first, the endless drinking and bar-wrecking become mind numbing.

The story once again revolves around a villian who is out to get the grail at any cost. I do hope that if Cochran & Murphy write another sequel, it will have a totally different plot and villian. I did like the book enough that I will buy the sequel if or when it is published, and I'll hope that it is as captivating as "The Forever King."

Confused and boring. While the main idea is interesting although not original, the characters are lifeless and the story didn't grip me.

The villain is _evil_, so evil in fact, that I didn't even bother to ask myself why he was doing all this. The author tries to make him a character, I think, but he remains a cardboard cutout. I soon began to skip over the chapters about him - they were mostly an orgy in occultic practises, with gory details meant to show the readers how evil he is. I've seen it before in other books.

The good guys seem mostly clueless and nice - although the author tried to make them threedimensional individuals, mostly by showing us a lot of angst. It simply didn't work.

King Arthur's knights, woken from a sleep that had lasted from the Middle Ages, are from the "medieval people looked like and thought much like a motorcycle gang" school of thought. I am not even going to begin discussing my views on that one.

I'm interested in the Arthur Legends, and have read rather a lot of different takes on them. Most of them are vastly superior to this one. If you want to read about Arthur, I can recommend T. H. White's 'The Once and Future King', Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy, 'Camelot 3000' (comic) and Rosemary Sutcliffe's 'The Sword and the Circle'.

Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy wrote a fantastic sequel to The Forever King!They are both the best books I've ever read in my life!I reccommend both of them deffinetely!

While I did not enjoy this book as much as The Forever King, it is a good book - The Forever King dealt much more with King Arthur's Fifth Century Britain and I enjoyed that immensely. The Broken Sword picks up where The Forever King left off in today's time period but it dealt much more with Merlin's story. It just depends on which story you are more interested in. I am very excited about the next book and hope it is published soon.

As a side bar, if the authors are reading this review - I would really like to see the stories of Hal's (Galahad) lives through the centuries as he has been reborn looking for Arthur.

Very good books! Don't miss them!!