• Harlequin

  • The Grail Quest, Book 1
  • By: Bernard Cornwell
  • Narrated by: Andrew Cullum
  • Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,660 ratings)

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Harlequin  By  cover art

Harlequin

By: Bernard Cornwell
Narrated by: Andrew Cullum
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Publisher's summary

The first book in Bernard Cornwell's best-selling Grail Quest series, in a bright and bold repackage.

The year is 1342. The English, led by Edward III, are laying waste to the French countryside. The army may be led by the King, but it is the archers, the common men, who are England's secret weapon. The French know them as Harlequins.

Thomas of Hookton is one of these archers. But he is also on a personal mission: To avenge his father's death and retrieve a stolen relic. Thomas begins a quest that will lead him through fields smeared with the smoke of fires set by the rampaging English, until at last the two armies face each other on a hillside near the village of Crécy.

©2008 Bernard Cornwell (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about Harlequin

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A Masterful Tale Told by a Truly Gifted Narrator

Where does The Archer's Tale rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I love Bernard Cornwell and have read this story a few times before, although it has been some years. I needed a book for a road trip and was delighted to find this title in unabridged form for the first time. It is magnificent. Cornwell is unequaled in medieval historical fiction, and this narrator pays it the honor it deserves with an amazing performance. I rate this as one of the top five audio books I've ever listened to.

What other book might you compare The Archer's Tale to and why?

Agincourt and 1356 by Bernard Cornwell. One of the greatest pleasures as a book lover is listening to a great book performed by an able narrator who can convey nuance and feeling, and through whom the listener can differentiate characters simply from the unique, consistent voices affected by the performer. All of these books are of this sort.

I would also compare to The Martian by Andy Weir or Daemon by Daniel Suarez. Each is a great story, great adventure, great narrator.

Which character – as performed by Andrew Cullum – was your favorite?

Too many to say. All are good, but a few that stand out because they are such fun characters are Will Skeet, Sam, Jake, Father Hobb, Jeanette, the Earl and, of course, Thomas of Hookton.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The Grail. A Quest. And a War.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

NOT Agincourt

I finished ‘Agincourt’ yesterday and immediately purchased this audiobook. I was SO disappointed. I believe the story may have been a good one, but after 14 hours of listening to Charles Keating, I couldn’t stand more than an hour of this narrator. Such long pauses between phrases-he can’t read a sentence without stopping ! Not only does he speak in excited phrases-as if he is retelling a story and can’t contain his excitement, you can hear his intake of breath before every sentence. EVERY. SENTENCE. Once I heard if I could NOT un hear it. It became so distracting I had to stop. I don’t understand all of the stellar reviews about this performance-this narrator is one of the most annoying I’ve heard yet. Agincourt and Keating is a perfect marriage of a wonderful book read by an amazing narrator. Perhaps this wouldn’t have been so disappointing if the first weren’t so fresh in my mind.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Simply outstanding

Occasionally I come across a book that is so good that I have a hard time deciding if I want to continue reading it or put it down to extend the pleasure of reading it for another day. Bernard Cornwell's Agincourt was such a book and so is this.

The Archer's Tale tells the story of Thomas of Hookton, an Englishman who is driven from his small town by its destruction by a group of men looking for some hidden religious relics. He ends up as an archer in the Army of King Edward and most of the story tells the tale of the army's fight in what is now France trying to recover the English King's lands during what we know as the Hundred Years War. Thomas loves his life as an archer and must wrestle with his love of the army and his vow to recover The Lance of Saint George which was stolen from Hooton during the raid that drove him from the village.

Mr Cornwell is a master at character and story development and I found all of the main characters, both good and evil, to be interesting and believable and his description of life during the 1300s fascinating. The story leads to the battle of Crecy and the description of the battle, one of the most famous battles in history, is outstanding, even if a bit bloody. This is volume 1 in a set of four books of The Grail Quest. I planned to buy this book almost immediately after finished Agincourt but found when I selected The Grail Quest on the Audible website that only the first two volumes were actually available and I was unwilling to become involved in what I suspected would be a very interesting story without being able to complete the entire sequence. However the last two volumes, Heretic and 1356, although listed as not being available are, in fact, available although the volumes are not listed as part of the series and must be searched for individually. When I found them I immediately bought volumes 2 and 3.

My only complaint about this book relates to the narrator. Mr Collum has an unfortunate habit of pausing for a long time between a statement and the description of who made that statement. For example, "Where are you going when you leave here?" followed by a long pause and then "asked the monk". It can be quite annoying and would normally have caused me to drop a star from the book, but Mr Cornwell's writing is so flawless and his books so interesting that I could not bear to do so, even given the annoying narration.

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10 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great novel as expected!

Only after reading a new book in this series I discovered that it was part of one. So here I am at the beginning of this saga. I found this book to be an excellent listen and have the next one ready to listen to. I always enjoy Bernard Cornwell's historical fiction- his writing style let's me see the characters in my mind as though I knew them personally.
'The Harlequin' did not disappoint, kept me interested enough to forgo going in the house on several occasions!!

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic book!

5th book i've read/listened by Mr Cornwell. This is superb!! Cant wait to get to the rest of the series.

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Well written, great characters. fascinating

It was an entertaining story, full of memorable and captivating characters. The narration is superb, making the story so vivid that is hard to stop listening. If you like history you will love this book. Is very well written.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Robin Hood has nothing on Bernard Cornwell

Bernard Cornwell has done it again. With arrows flying, shield walls forming, and swords swinging the blood of battle flows throughout this book.

I really enjoyed Cornwell's storyline for the Holy Lance and the Holy Grail. Several authors have tried to use these holy relics to form their own storylines, but none compare to Cornwell.

To top off a great storyline, Andrew Cullum did a superb job of narrating! I would give this book overall 6 stars if I could.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Well researched

Cornwell does his research like the best. You get a great story and know a little more history. Highly recommend all 4 books in this series!

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2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Long and dull

I started out enjoying this book. The narrator was quite good and there was interesting detail and a credible plot. I found as I got further into the book that there was les and less plot, minimal character development, and very long, tedious descriptions of battle preparation and battle scenarios. I found myself longing for the book to end, and really had to force myself to finish it.
I didn't hate the book, just got really tired of it. I won't be continuing the series.
If you want a series about battles and military strategy I would recommend the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian. They are outstanding.

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1 person found this helpful

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very good narration . fantastic story that was bro

made my workday fantastic. I have read this book before and was so happy to find an audio version

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