Michael Skeens

The Winter King is a great opening novel to a series written by lauded author Bernard Cornwell. He also wrote the novels that were the basis for other television/streaming series; Sharps Rifles and Saxon Chronicles. However, Cornwell was not consulted on this project and it shows. The novel and its character building and post Roman Britain background are totally ignored. This series falls into the “attempt” to recreate Game of Thrones by people who either have never read a book, or believe they’re smarter than the author of numerous historical fiction novels, who has been inordinately successful for decades. The character of Merlin is an idea, a rumor, gossip and myth in the novel. Nimue is psychotic and cruel in the original literature. In this show, neither of them are true to form. They take on the Hollywood-esque roles of modern popular media and reject the genius of Cornwell’s character building. What a disappointment!