Heretic (The Grail Quest, Book 3) [Paperback]

Bernard Cornwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 7, 2004

The eagerly anticipated follow-up to the number one bestseller Vagabond, this is the third instalment in Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest series. In 1347 the English capture Calais and the war with France is suspended by a truce. But for Thomas of Hookton, the hero of Harlequin and Vagabond, there is no end to the fighting. He is pursuing the grail, the most sacred of Christendom's relics, and is sent to his ancestral homeland, Gascony, to engineer a confrontation with his deadliest enemy, Guy Vexille. Once in the south country Thomas becomes a raider, leading his archers in savage forays that will draw his enemy to his arrows. But then his fortunes change. Thomas becomes the hunted as his campaign is destroyed by the church. With only one companion, a girl condemned to burn as a heretic, Thomas goes to the valley of Astarac where he believes the grail was once hidden and might still be concealed, and there he plays a deadly game of hide and seek with an overwhelming enemy. Then, just as Thomas succeeds in meeting his enemy face to face, fate intervenes as the deadliest plague in the history of mankind erupts into Europe. What had been a landscape of castles, monasteries, vineyards and villages, becomes death's kingdom and the need for the grail, as a sign of God's favour, is more urgent than ever.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cornwell is a master of the historical action novel, and he outdoes himself again with this gripping third volume in his Grail Quest series, set during the bloody Hundred Years' War (The Archer's Tale; Vagabond). For years, English archer Thomas of Hookton has been searching for the Holy Grail. Thomas is not certain it ever existed, but obscure clues link his family to the mysterious vessel. In 1347, driven by his desire to plumb the truth of the Grail as well as to earn money from the plunder of French lands and property, Thomas and a small group of soldiers capture a castle in Gascony, the homeland of Thomas's father. Thomas hopes to hold the castle against the French, raid the countryside for loot and draw the attention of his evil cousin Guy Vexille, a French nobleman who murdered Thomas's father and who may have information about the Grail. Vexille appears, but so does the army of a local lord, sent to besiege the castle, and the vicious brother of a treacherous and cunning bishop who is determined to secure the Grail. Fighting honorably amid extreme brutality, Thomas is aided by loyal English archers, English and French men-at-arms, local bandits, a Scottish mercenary and a heretic girl with unusual powers. Outnumbered by his enemies, he faces the might of a huge cannon and the power of the Church's greed-not to mention the dreaded Black Death. Most daunting of all, however, is the decision Thomas must make when he finally discovers the truth about the Holy Grail. Graphic battlefield action, strong characters and sharp plotting are Cornwell's trademarks, and his fans will love this latest melee.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Thomas of Hookton, English archer and illegitimate son of a disgraced French priest, returns in the third and final volume of Cornwell's best-selling Grail Quest series. As the Hundred Years' War rages on, Thomas continues to fight for the earl of Northampton and the Crown while remaining devoted to the quest he first undertook in The Archer's Tale (2001) and refined in Vagabond (2002). Spurred on by a series of enigmatic clues, he remains determined to unearth the greatest treasure in all of Christendom--the Holy Grail. Together with his ragtag band of loyal followers and a beautiful woman accused of heresy, Thomas lays a trap in Gascony for his evil cousin and sworn enemy Guy Vexille. Both determined to win the ultimate prize, Thomas and Guy ultimately meet in a decisively gruesome battle. Though triumphant, Thomas must eventually contemplate the price of his victory and decide if the sacred trophy he sought is worth the havoc it will continue to wreak on mankind. Oozing with all the blood, gore, and action that fans of Cornwell's graphically detailed historical fiction have come to expect, the conclusion of this gripping trilogy is on target to please a ready-made audience. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harper Collins Pb; U.K. edition (June 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007149891
• ISBN-13: 978-0007149896
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,117,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bernard Cornwell was born in London in 1944 - a 'warbaby' - whose father was a Canadian airman and mother in Britain's Women's Auxiliary Air Force. He was adopted by a family in Essex who belonged to a religious sect called the Peculiar People (and they were), but escaped to London University and, after a stint as a teacher, he joined BBC Television where he worked for the next 10 years. He began as a researcher on the Nationwide programme and ended as Head of Current Affairs Television for the BBC in Northern Ireland. It was while working in Belfast that he met Judy, a visiting American, and fell in love. Judy was unable to move to Britain for family reasons so Bernard went to the States where he was refused a Green Card. He decided to earn a living by writing, a job that did not need a permit from the US government - and for some years he had been wanting to write the adventures of a British soldier in the Napoleonic wars - and so the Sharpe series was born. Bernard and Judy married in 1980, are still married, still live in the States and he is still writing Sharpe.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not as good as the first two, November 9, 2003

By 

ilmk "ilmk" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heretic (The Grail Quest, Book 3) (Hardcover)

The concluding part of Cornwell's trilogy, Heretic, promised to provide a fabulously roaring end to the tale of Thomas Hookton, English Archer during the early years of the Hundred Years War. But, unfortunately, it went out with a tired whimper rather than the exciting bangs of the previous two novels.
It opens with Thomas' rescue of the overly adventurous Earl of Northampton at a skirmish at Calais and his subsequent orders to go to Astarac and locate the Grail, ensuring his cousin, Guy de Vexille, is aware of his presence.
So, Thomas takes his new band of archers south and captures the Castillon D'Arbizon in a nighttime raid and manages to avert the superstitious and fear induced heretical burning of the Church-condemned beghard, Genevieve, who is, luckily for Thomas, also very beautiful (inducing a fit of jealousy in the ever present Robbie). Meanwhile, the evil Dominician is back, this time in the guise of Louis Bessieres, Cardinal Archbishop of Livorno, with his brother, Charles and they are seeking, in a tower at Soissons, to create an artificial Grail. This they achieve and Thomas and Genevieve are evicted from D'Arbizon by a group of his own men, led by Robbie who's unrequited lust for Genevieve allows his religious fervour to flourish. Thomas is subsequently excommunicated, takes up with a band of corredors led by Phildin, and spends much of the time moving through the Berat countryside before returning to D'Arbizon.
Meanwhile, the Count of Berat is murderd by his nephew, Joscelyn, who turns out to be another Jekyll. Joscelyn promptly takes his cannon to D'Arbizon, aided by Charles Bessiers and Guy Vexille to both remove the English garrison under Sir Guillaume and capture the grail. As Thomas reenters D'Arbizon, killing Bessiere's on the way, they discover the false grail and destroy it before most of the protagnists die either from the ensuing battles or the Plague which has arrived in France. We also finally get to see Thomas, archer, in a final duel with his cousin, Guy, swordsman, with the inevitable result. At the end Thomas and his Genevieve ride into the English sunset, with Robbie reconciled to them and they locate the true Grail.
All in all, a good final part to the trilogy with the exception that Cornwell has taken the safe option that most modern Grail stories follow. In true Indiana Jones style, the baddies fall for the fabulously wealthy cup whilst the hero realises that it the Grail is liable to be a simply crafted vessel and then it ends up being removed for all time so that evil men can't kill more for it. A tad cliched and hence the earlier statement that it ends with a whimper.
Nevertheless, Harlequin and Vagabond provide an excellent foray into the Hundred Years War and Thomas of Hookton is a character well worth following and if Cornwell were to write more of him I'd eagerly wait for it to hit the shelves.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Violent Conclusion to Violent Saga, August 16, 2004

By 

Scott Schiefelbein (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Heretic (The Grail Quest, Book 3) (Hardcover)

Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest trilogy concludes with "Heretic," and a bloody conclusion it is, too.

Thomas of Hookton lives in violent times. In "The Archer's Tale," Thomas's father was butchered by Thomas's cousin, Guy Vexille, and Thomas's woman, Eleanor, was also murdered by Guy in "Vagabond." Thomas has survived several vicious battles and an even more vicious round of torture at the hands of a Dominican priest. And through it all, Thomas has sought the holiest of holy relics, the Grail . . . although Thomas has not always pursued his quest with vigor.

Now, in "Heretic," Thomas at last closes in on the object of his quest by returning to his ancestral home of Astarac. By pursuing the Grail here, Thomas also hopes to draw out his cousin so Thomas can avenge his father and Eleanor.

Cornwell, as usual, keeps Thomas the Archer occupied, wielding a new, mightier bow with the same lethal efficiency. For those who have not yet read this series, the archer was not the little guy standing in the rear picking off foes with little pinpricks. The archer was king of the battlefield, using a variety of arrows to slaughter men and horses, perforating even the strongest armor with cannon-like shots. The arrival of primitive cannon technology in this series does not alter the balance of power.

Thomas, being Thomas, gets sidetracked with romance by falling in love with a beautiful woman (who always seem to turn up for Thomas . . . oh, well -- it pays not to overthink such things). This woman was falsely accused of being a heretic and has been tortured at the hands of an evil priest, much like Thomas. For his chivalry, Thomas is excommunicated. Cast out, he nevertheless pursues his twin goals of revenge and salvation.

Cornwell vividly describes the world of the Hundred Years War. Not only does Thomas have to contend with dastardly kin and mighty men-at-arms, the Black Death is screaming across the land, with horrifying results. Cornwell describes it all with his usual straightforward yet captivating style.

"Heretic" is not a great departure from the earlier two novels in the series. Sharp-eyed readers will have spotted clues in earlier books regarding the Grail and its location, but the mystery is still captivating, and the conclusion is unexpected.

While not exactly a "feel good" book, the Grail Quest series is a fun read, and a rollicking ride across the battlefields of Britain and France. Check it out!

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Out with a whimper, indeed, April 29, 2005

By 

David C. Read (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Heretic (CORNWELL, BERNARD) (Hardcover)

First, the positive: this book vividly portrays the superstition and gross spiritual darkness of people living in the 14th Century, and it does so better than anything I've ever read or seen. We see an innocent young girl condemned to be burned at the stake, after having been tortured by a sadistic Dominican monk. Our hero, Thomas of Hookton, rescues her from that fate, but soon his command is falling apart because the men are terrified to have a condemned heretic among them, thinking it is bad luck. Thomas cleverly calms their fears by touching a crucifix to the girl's forehead and showing that she is not burned or struck dead. Nevertheless, later on, after the girl has killed her Dominican torturer, and Thomas is excommunicated for harboring her and keeping the church from burning her, the problem arises again, with a vengeance. That much of the book (about the first half) was gripping reading. After that, the novel just kind of fell apart and lost all its direction.

Now the negative: There are major continuity problems between the second and third books of this "trilogy." Jeanette, "the blackbird," who was Thomas' love interest in the first two books, simply disappears and is never heard from or even mentioned in the third book. That was a major disappointment, because she was an interesting character who had been developed over the first two novels, and it seemed that she and Thomas were destined to be together. In the second book, "Vagabond," Sir Guillaume D'Evecque lost his estates but, in the battle of LeRoche-Derrien depicted at the end of "Vagabond", D'Evecque had captured his own landlord, the wealthy Count of Coutances, and was in a position to extract a large ransom and get his estates returned to him. His exact words were that Coutances' "wife and daughters will have to whore themselves to raise his ransom!" But at the beginning of "Heretic" there is no mention of this at all, and Guillaume is depicted as landless and only able to retain two men-at-arms. But by far the worst offense in this regard was Robbie Douglas, who turns out to have half a dozen severe character defects in "Heretic" that weren't even hinted at in "Vagabond." For example, he suddenly has a gambling problem, and loses his own ransom money not once but twice! His character is all over the map, doing crazy things that don't make any sense and have no consistent motivation. It is as if Cornwell hired someone else to write the final book of the trilogy, and that person read the cliff-notes of the first two books, and not the books themselves.

Another problem with this book, and a major reason why it is much weaker than the first two, is that there is no real history here after the first 26 pages. In the first two books, Cornwell skillfully wove his story around major engagements of the 100 years war, and very accurately depicted those engagments. This is just pure novel, with no redeeming history lesson about actual battles (although, as described above, it is probably an excellent depiction of the gross spiritual darkness prevailing at that time).

By the end of this volume, I found myself having a great deal of sympathy for the arch-villain, Guy Vexille, Thomas' cousin, and the man who killed both his father and his pregnant first wife. He's the only character in this mess who knows exactly what he is doing (trying to find the grail), is doing it for noble reasons (he genuinely believes it will make the world a better place), and is single-minded in his pursuit of his noble goal. Everyone else just wants to kill, plunder and rape, including Thomas, who just wants to sleep with pretty girls and kill people with his bow. Yet Thomas is the hero and Vexille the villain of this trilogy! Wow. What a disappointing end to this trilogy. Out with a whimper, indeed.