Greetings Mr. Cornwell I just finished reading the Warlord Trilogy and was deeply impressed. Along with the Mary Stewart trilogy about Merlin it rates as the finest in Arthurian retellings. Rather than continue explaining what I loved, I want to focus on the one thing that bothered me and I hope you can give me satisfying answers on this. The final chapters feels very rushed for me. By having the story of Arthur from Derfel’s POV you make a great move, but by ending it with Arthur’s wounding at Camlann, you leave a great deal unsaid about the rest of Derfel’s life, which takes a further 40 years. 1) I understand that you want to keep Arthur’s final fate unknown, but realistically, since Derfel says he never came back we may assume he died. But what about the fate of the others on the boat such as Derfels’daughter, Gwydre and Galahad? Did he ever encounter them again? 2) Who is King of Dumnonia at the time Derfel is writing his story and Brochvael rules Powys? Meurig still? 3) Where did Derfel go and live with Ceinwyn, and how much time did they spend together before she passed away? I have more questions but I would be pleased if the above could be answered. I’m being presumptuous here but I feel inclined to say that in order for the ending to have been as good as the rest of the series, an epilogue of sorts would have been fitting. It seems to be ending in something of a hurry now, when earlier Derfel really took the time to set things down.
Armand Deguelle