Bulletin Board

Dear Bernard,

 

I would like to thank you for the fascinating journey you offered me during the 12 volumes I devoured in the last 7 years since I read the first pages of the “Last Kingdom” epic.

I have to confess that I went on this trip after watching the first episodes of the television series while I was living in London, where I worked for 6 years, until 2020.

I'm 100% Romanian, I'm not young anymore, and my education during school (more than 50 years ago!) was rather based on French culture until the High School years when, during my first lessons of English, I discovered my passion for British culture.

At the same time, starting on the 70s, everything that belonged to British culture, it began to be (again!) promoted a lot which also fueled my passion for British culture and history.

I've read a lot of novels written by British authors, and the number of British films and TV series I've watched is really huge! (you must know that in Romania, films are subtitled in Romanian on a tape at the bottom of the screen, keeping the original language of the movie, which can give you the chance to better understand the original spirit of the movie).

So, finding myself in London, I bought the first volume of Last Kingdom, which I found in English obviously. I told myself that this will help me improving my English as much as possible. But ... I slowly realized that this could distort the spirit of exceptional story that I already adored. So I waited until I could order the volumes from Romania, one by one printed in my native language. I can't miss this opportunity to tell you that I have always thanked to the Romanian translators, who did an extraordinary job, managing to make me live many times what you have felt when you originally wrote!

I have finished reading the last volume translated into Romanian (which is the 12th, Sword of Kings!) and printed few years ago, and I still am waiting for the next volume to appear in Romanian! In the meantime, I have of course watched the last TV series (Seven Kings must die), but .... I have always been convinced that during filming it is extremely difficult to preserve all the real  feelings of the author of the novel!

Well, for more than 2 years, I've been looking at the 13th volume (War Lord) but ... it is still printed to us in English version only (!!), because (curiously) it has not yet been translated into Romanian! Yes, I understand the English and I can read and speak it quite well, but .... I don't want to distort the beauty of the book by reading it for the first time in the original language (I have managed to read 3 volumes in English, but obviously, only after the first lecture was in Romanian!)

Anyway, I am sure that the Romanian version will also appear soon, it is probably due to taxes or price misunderstandings between publishing houses, etc.

 

So that, because I can't wait until then,

 

For everything I felt throughout your exceptional story, I bow down with all respect and thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I wish you from all my heart, good health and strength to write for many years to come!

 

With all my love and respect,

 

Constantin Radu DEMENE

Dear Mr. Cornwell,

 

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to express my disappointment regarding the recent change of narrators in the audiobook version of "The Last Kingdom" series. While I understand that narrators may change for various reasons, I was surprised and disappointed by the significant differences between the new narrator, Matt Bates, and the previous one, Jonathan Keeble.

 

With Jonathan Keeble, I felt deeply connected to the characters and their journey. His narration style, accent, and character interpretations brought the story to life in a way that resonated profoundly with me. However, Matt Bates' portrayal, although skilled, feels a million miles away from what I had grown accustomed to. The change in accent and the different characteristics he brings to the narration have made it challenging for me to stay immersed in the story.

 

I have greatly enjoyed your writing and have been an avid follower of "The Last Kingdom" series. The shift in narration has impacted my experience significantly, and I wanted to share this feedback with you. I hope this perspective might be taken into consideration for future decisions regarding the audiobook narrations.

 

Thank you for your time and for the incredible stories you continue to create.

 

Best regards,

 

Andy

Hi Bernard,

how are you? My name is Érick, I am currently 24 years old and I live in Santa Catarina, Brazil. I would like to say that you are my favorite author and I still hope to get your autograph someday and maybe have a chat about your works. Furthermore, I would like to share an experience I had in 2015 that marked me deeply and I remember it clearly to this day.

 

Since I was very young, I have always been passionate about history, especially modern and medieval wars, and in 2015 I saw that the series The Last Kingdom was going to be released, and I learned that it was based on your books. With that, I decided to learn more about you and your works and I ended up discovering that you published the Arthur trilogy. After hearing many praises about this work, I decided to buy the three books, and during my school holidays in 2015, I went to the beach house where we had no internet and not many things to do. Because of that, I took the opportunity to start reading the Arthur trilogy.

 

As the days went by, I found myself falling in love with the whole story and its characters to the point of waking up early in the morning and reading until bedtime, completely in love with the universe you described. After a few weeks, I finished the entire trilogy. I remember very well that as I got closer to the end, more and more beloved characters died, and I cried with tears filling my eyes. After weeks of following that group of characters that I loved so much, I couldn't help but cry at their losses and suffering. After finishing the saga, I was completely devastated and felt like I had lost a family member because of how attached I was to everything created by the saga. For two weeks, when I took a shower, I cried to the point of sobbing and felt a tightness in my heart because of everything that happened to the characters and the sad fates they had at the end of their lives.

From 2015 until today, out of all the media we have to consume stories, like movies, series, and books, no story has impacted and marked me as much as that of Arthur and his warriors. I will always cherish these characters and their stories, and I thank you for being able to teleport me to an incredible time simply. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Bernard.

From your most sincere fan,

Érick.

hello, i just had to write to thank you, i am an avid reader but have been going through what i can only describe as a very long dry spell, not been able to find the book that gets me wanting to turn the pages again, i went to my shelf and picked up 1356, a book i read a years ago, thanks! it is a breathe of fresh air to read it again, and i am looking forward now to re reading the grail series of books which have been sat on the shelf for a long long while, thank you,  I'm also looking forward now to re reading all your books that i have on the shelf, thanks again.

 

sincerely

chris jones

I first come to like your work by accident in reading Sharpe's Tiger.  I like history and in the reading of Richard Sharpe in his travails of the British Army, I feel like I was able to experience the sights, sounds, and various scenes depicted in the books.

I have recently read The Gallows Thief.  I hope that you are entertaining thoughts about further adventures of Rider Sandman giving us another view of early England and it's pompous politicians and flagrant misgivings of the bourgeois.  I like the strength and purpose of his character.  I hope that you do not think that I don't like your other works, I do.  I love the retelling of Arthur.  I enjoyed the Saxon Series.  Sharpe was my favorite until I read Rider.  I loved the sea going battles as well.  Thank you for your view into history.

 

Sincerely,

Mac McClanahan

I want to thank you for bringing me back to reading. The way you write and detail every aspect of the story, whether in battles or walks through valleys, it is so beautiful. It reawakens my childhood imagination and with your ability to tie it in so closely with true history has made you my favorite author. I have no questions, I just wanted to thank you for your work. Much appreciated!

 

-Quinn Laird

I have just read the winter king, the best book that I have read, I have read a few  sharp books  but I just think the winter king was the best for me, please don't stop writing.

Doris John

Dear Bernard

I love your books and have bought everything (except the Sharpe and Starbuck series) you have published since I first fell on "The Winter King". I have finally got down to reading "Fools and Mortals", which I also love. I intended to whinge about the inappropriate use of commas in this book (the copy editor's and proofreader's jobs – and I'm a proofreader, for Penguin and YUP) but I'm sure you've got more important things to do. Please keep these wonderful, well researched books coming.

Chris Shaw

I have read many of your Sharpes stories and have always enjoyed them albeit years ago. I enjoyed them but honestly can not remember the theme of any of them other than they fascinated me.  Recently, I read Sharpe's Assasin and can say that it was one of the most well-written stories that I have ever read. I am now reading 1356 and find this story thoroughly complete in the scope of your research, historical knowledge, and exquisite writing ability. Thank you for your ability to write a book with with 600 pages and not delve into boredom as many authors do.

Cheers,

Alan

I have just finished book 8 of the Last Kingdom series and I'd like to thank you Bernard for including an interesting section involving Hywel Dda. There is so little historical fiction written about Welsh key historical figures, despite the existence of such rich material. It was lovely to see it in print, and done in such a way to portray Welsh people as intelligent members of a civilised society. Thank you. That was so refreshing.

Janet John