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Vagabond - The Grail Quest Continues

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Vagabond is the second book in the Thomas of Hookton saga (now called the "Grail Quest Series") by Bernard Cornwell. It confirms what I said in reviewing The Archer's Tale: that Thomas is an engaging picaresque hero and a worthy successor to Richard Sharpe, central character of Cornwell's earlier series on the Napoleonic Wars.

Thomas is an English archer through whose eyes we witness numerous battles early in the Hundred Years' War. He is also the illegimate son of the Hookton priest who was, strangely enough, a member of the French nobility and the keeper of a mysterious relic. We left Thomas in The Archer's Tale, shortly after the battle of Crecy, still seeking his cousin Guy de Vexille, Count of Astarac, who years earlier had murdered his father and destroyed the village of Hookton.

In Vagabond, Thomas has returned to Britain on a mission for Edward III to discover the whereabouts of his father's relic and to determine whether it is truly the Holy Grail of legend. The book begins in 1347 at the battle of Neville's Cross, a triumph of English bowmen over a superior force of Scots who invaded Britain on behalf of their French allies. It ends back in Brittany after the siege of La Roche-Derrien. In the course of the story Thomas runs afoul of a vicious English knight nicknamed Scarecrow, the Inquistion ( which is also on the Grail's trail), not to mention his cousin and several enemy armies. Along the way his wife-to-be and several friends are killed. Thomas, like Sharpe, seems to lead a charmed life, but those around him are not so lucky.

Vagabond is first-rate historical fiction, chock-a-block full of gory medieval warfare set in vividly-described English and Breton landscapes. Everyone rightly praises Cornwell's mastery of historical minutia, but I think his strongest storytelling gift is his ability to make his readers see, and feel, and smell a scene. At the book's end Thomas has learned more about his heritage and vanquished many enemies, but the quest for the Grail and his father's muderer will be continued.

If we were taught history the way Bernard Cornwell writes it, we'd all be historians. "Vagabond", the middle of Cornwell's superb "Grail Quest" series, is as raucous, brutal and riveting as the best contemporary thrillers, yet manages to stay close to the historical record, slashing and burning life and meaning into the early days of what would later be called "The Hundred Year's War". I was mesmerized by the prequel, "The Archers Tale", finding it the most illuminating and insightful primer of Medieval England found between pages. But after reading "Vagabond", I'm convinced that only a time machine could deliver a more vivid description of love, war, politics, and religion in those turbulent, treacherous times.

Back from "Archer" is Thomas of Hookton, the English archer whose black-yew bow makes widows of enemies while he is half-heartedly seeking the Holy Grail, part of his family's history that Thomas would prefer didn't exist. Instead, he continues on a more personal quest, hunting down his murderous cousin Guy Vexille who torched Thomas' village and murdered his father while seeking the Grail for himself.

In "Vagabond", it is 1347 and Cornwell resumes his tale in northern England. King Edward III, still in France holding down his conquests in Normandy and Brittany, has apparently left his northern flank exposed, inviting the Scots, with some prodding from their French allies, to stream into a vulnerable England. Cornwell's description of the very real Battle of Neville's Cross between the Scots and an outmanned English army is a literary classic, from the strategy and tactics to the stink and gore of war fought helmet-to-helmet and shield-to-shield in violence and carnage simply unimaginable in today's gentler times. But aside from documenting the mechanics and horrors of war in the 14th century, Cornwell, as usual, spins his fiction in a fascinating backdrop of the culture and lore of the period. The power of the Church, as well as the hypocrisy, is never quite as disturbing as when told by Cornwell, burnished in this episode by the righteousness terror of the Inquisition. Indeed, the medieval punching bag Thomas finds little respite this time around, having his suffering delivered by the hand of a sadistic priest.

In short, if you love an action-packed page-turner, but prefer some education and even a bit of history infused with your time spent reading, I couldn't recommend a better author than Bernard Cornwell, and a better saga than "The Grail Series". This one just may be the best of the bunch, but then, I'm looking forward to giving sequel "The Heretic" a chance to better it.

Last year, Bernard Cornwell introduced Thomas of Hookton, a young English archer. He filled the pages with great adventure, gory battle scenes, distressed damsels, armored knights, wayward bishops and beleaguered castles. Now, Thomas returns to England after a victory in the famed battle at Crecy, France. He bears a letter from the bishop and King Edward III that is meant to gain him an audience with an old priest who, it's been rumored, has knowledge of the Holy Grail --- the object of Thomas's quest. Of course, he must fight his way there. After the surprising outcome of the battle at Durham, Thomas forms an odd alliance with Scotsman Robbie Douglas. The two set out on their crusade, a crusade of revenge for several recent deaths, coupled with the hunt for the holy treasure. Their journey takes them back to Hookton first, where Thomas recovers a book written by Father Ralph, his father, who was killed by cousin Guy Vexille (in the opening of THE ARCHER'S TALE). The tome, an apparent clue in the puzzle of the Grail's whereabouts, baffles Thomas --- and later, others --- with its cryptic passages. With book in hand, he and Robbie make the perilous crossing to France over stormy seas, dodging pirates and French war ships, forced into the fray upon landing. They hook up with some of Thomas's old friends and fight some new battles. The quest continues --- and probably will again in Cornwell's third installment in the Grail Series, which is sure to be as eagerly awaited once readers have feasted on VAGABOND.

Cornwell recreates, with brutal realism, the battles stretching across 1346 and 1347. He vividly imagines the gruesome skirmishes, flaying his readers open with horrific details. The most feared battlefield weapon, the longbow, comes into bright focus through Cornwell's words. I gained a new respect for archers. While I am no fan of war stories (due mostly to a squeamish temperament), the tale of young Thomas is utterly captivating. Despite the repugnance of the cruelest scenes, I reminded myself that the violence and savagery are an integral part of the story. In truth, it would be hard to call it a war if there was no pain, carnage or death.

Before the fighting, the men are whipped into a frenzy with exhortations of "Kill them! Kill them all! The lord will reward you for every Englishman (or Scotsman, or Frenchman) slaughtered!" The hatred is fierce and very personal. Without knowing the enemy's face, swordsmen slash with heated vehemence at their opposition, butchering men and animals, all in the name of righteousness. It struck me as a medieval jihad and hammered home the point that man has been fighting holy wars for centuries. Despite the ugliness of the subject, VAGABOND reads fast and leaves one immensely satisfied with the story.

It is indeed a pleasure learning to love history through Bernard Cornwell's work. He takes an otherwise dry subject (to me, at least), works his storytelling magic and turns it into high entertainment. I greedily look forward to being among his audience when he releases the next in the series.

--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers

Bernard Cornwell has always had a talent for writing great novels and will always be known for the Sharpe serires, but this Grail Quest series is probably his best. This book is the best for any fan of historical fiction, or history in general. It is one of those rare books that I could hardly put down and found myself constantly thinking about it when I was not reading it.

To be honest, I was worried when the book first started as Thomas had seemingly become somewhat holier since the first book ended, but that simply turned out to be a mistaken interpretation on my part, as Thomas is quickly up to his neck in the same chivarly and devilry as in The Archer's Tale.

As with his other books, Cornwell has blended the fictional events and the historical events so well as to make it almost impossible to tell when the history ends and the fiction begins. Thankfully, Cornwell is one of the few honest historical fiction writers to actually offer historical notes with his books to tell what's what.

In "Vagabond", Thomas of Hookton is the expert longbowman hero that we follow on his quest of the Holy Grail. Actually, as in the first book, "The Archer's Tale", Thomas is not all that interested in the Grail; he'd just rather be an archer; however, he keeps getting sucked into its pursuit by others who hound him about it. These others are generally cruel and hateful characters whose interest in the Grail is to obtain political or religious power, or monetary fortune. They are a threat to Thomas and have all done evil to him and his friends,thereby becoming enemies upon whom Thomas must seek revenge. Thomas is a hero to admire, not because he is particularly charismatic, but because he is humble, honorable, clever, and skilled. He is caught in dangerous times and situations, and carries out his duties for England and his friends as best he can.

This sequel was not as exciting as the first book, but the battle scenes in both books are fascinating, vivid, and gory. Author Cornwell bases these on actual historical battles. This book opens with the Battle of Neville's Cross in which the confident Scots, invading England while England is busy battling in France, nevertheless are slaughtered. The amazing battle of La Roche Derrien in France is the ending scene, in which all but one of Thomas' enemies is vanquished, but the Grail is still undiscovered. This lets us know that another sequel will follow. I have learned a lot about this era of the famous longbow archers and of the 1000 year war between England and France, and Thomas' personal adventures in this period make me eager to continue reading whatever sequels are coming.

Excellent novel if you love history. The three books, The Archer's Tale, The Vagabond and The Heretic is the continuing story of the main character who searches for the Goly Grail in the mid 14th century. The novels give a good depiction of events that led up to the 100 year war between England and France. The detail is spectacular and
about 95% is factual. If you enjoy reading about lifestyles during that period you will really enjoy thsae three book. The author, Bernard Cornwell has done painstkaing research to make these novels so accurate

Like all of his series' this is an excellent one. It's really great, lots of action, adventure and a little romance.

You like battle scenes, do you? VAGABOND is the second in the The Grail Quest series by Bernard Cornwell and while some reviewers might find this book less 'original' than the first that may have something to do with the fact that it is an on-going pulse-pounding saga. What is new is the continuation of a bold, original tale with, once again, typical Cornwell characters that are anything but typical. His bad guys are exceptionally bad, his good guys are usually bad at trying to be good, and an occasional good good guy and gal (lady, wench, whore,or hag) who bring the past into better historical view.
Few of us actually read history for the joy of it but how many times has Cornwell drawn us into it with page turners that make it breathe? I'm smarter now in spite of myself.
Yeah, his battles scenes are gory but you know what? So are real battles? How better to describe the horrors of warfare than to make it as real as it is! It's all adrenaline pumping fun and games until the first piece of metal slices into you then you go on survival, whatever it takes mode. He doesn't glossy it up or make it pretty and there's value in that a well.
VAGABOND is action-packed historical fiction. I'd give it five stars but hey, I don't want fame to go to his head. I just want him to keep writing his books.

Bernard Cornwell has continued "The Grail Quest" trilogy with book 2 of the series, "Vagabond". This book continues the story of Thomas of Hookton, master archer in the English army, son of a "crazy" priest, and apparently, heir to the family burden, grail-keeper.
Book 1, "The Archer's Tale" in the U.S. (Harlequin in the U.K.), begins the story and the first battles of the hundred-years-war, but if you don't read the first book, you can still read "Vagabond" and be kept up to speed. This is both a positive and a negative. The positive is that, due to the fact that there is so much happening in the first book, Cornwell must recap alot of the information as backstory in the second book; the negative is that, having just finished the first book, I was a little bored with the redundancy of the backstory because I wanted to move on with the current storyline. The book was good nonetheless and I was never too put off by the inclusion of the backstory. I STILL DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THAT THE FIRST BOOK BE READ BEFORE THIS ONE. The "Archer's Tale" ("Harlequin") was wonderful and, obviously, all of the first book cannot be included in the second.
This is well written historical fiction, accurate concerning the battles, the cities and the major players (i.e. kings, lords, dukes, etc.), that were all part of the beginnings of the hundred-years-war. Cornwell is meticulous in his descriptions of the battles and the reasons for why each commander did what he did during the battle, providing interesting insight in to the nature of man and the causes of the war.
Cornwell also delivers the information with surprising candor and does not present the story from the side of the French, the English, the Scottish, or the many other countries who had men fighting in the war.
Most surprising and liberating about this book, as with the first, is Cornwell's blunt portrayal of Catholicism, The Inquisition, priests, and the greed of the church during this time. Cornwell again leaves nothing to the imagination and removes any shroud of solemnity or respect that is often offered the medieval church, but truly not deserved.
This book continues the story of Thomas of Hookton, his travels from France to England, back to France, his capture and torture by The Inquisition, his return to his love from the first novel and, ultimately, the acceptance of the burden that was presented to him in the first book; he is responsible for recovering the grail, the cup of Christ, and restoring his family, which was wiped out by the French aristocracy and the Catholic church as heretical, to their proper place in the world. His family, the Vexilles, were lords and members of the Cathar religion that was wiped out by the early Inquisition due to their growing numbers and their defiance to the Catholic church. They were, according to Thomas of Hookton's father, the chosen ones of God, responsible for protecting the grail and using it's power to bring peace to the world. Thomas was given the burden of recovering the grail after his father was murdered in the first book.
Historically accurate, vividly descriptive, with well-developed characters both from the first book and some newly added, and intriguing from beginning to end, I am again desperate to get to the next book and discover the fate of Thomas of Hookton.

Cornwell picks up the saga of Thomas of Hookton and his Grail quest in this second volume of his treatment of the Hundred Years War. From the Battle of Neville's Cross at the beginning to the French siege of La Roche-Derrien at the end, fans of Cornwell's battle scene descriptions will enjoy a feast of arrows and gore. In between there are plenty of new and old villains, the return of Jeanette, and enough ups and downs to keep the pages turning. If you have read the first volume, "The Archer's Tale," you can't stop now--read "Vagabond," and you won't be disappointed.