It opens with the battle of Neville's Cross in Northern England, which is peripheral to the main plot of Thomas of Hockton's search for the grail which is supposedly under the control of his family and has been hidden by his dead father. It ends with the battle of La Roche-Derrien in Brittany between the forces of Charles of Blois and the English occupiers.

In between Thomas struggles with his doubts that the Grail even exists and travels around England and Northwestern France while working off his guilt at not being able to save his two early travel companions from being murdered.

As usual, Cornwell's battle descriptions are as good as any in historical fiction. His description of this Middle Ages' environment is also excellent. I was particularly impressed with his analysis of the power and influence of the Catholic Church in those days.

The story does tend to drag, though, through the middle of the book. Nevertheless, I will continue with the third book in the series, "The Heretic". I also recommend this offering. It's just not as compelling as some of his other books.



Tenzin (USA: FL) (2009/10/02):
I enjoyed this series- Bernard Cornwell is one of my favorite authors when it comes to historical fiction. This series is not as good as his Arthurian series, but it is still some good story telling in a historical setting. If you like historical fiction, you'll enjoy this book- this is the sequel to the first book, The Archer's Tale.