Journal #4 1st Quarter

The novel The Archer's Tale, by Bernard Cornwell is so far a great book. I would recommend this book to any of my friends. It tells the tale of a young hero and it has all the action and drama needed. The author sets up the first book perfectly to continue on in the series. I enjoyed the way the author used imagery is his descriptions. I could see the story in my head as I read through the book. Even some of the gory scenes were descriptive. Another thing I liked about this book is the way Cornwell started it. He had the main character start from complete destruction and built him up through his goal of revenge on the mercenaries and his goal to retrieve the lance. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to finish the book, but I got pretty far into it. I want to read the rest of the series because this author appeals to my taste. I never really liked reading before, but now I realize that I have not been reading the right books for my taste. 

Journal #3 1st Quarter

In the novel The Archer's Tale, by Bernard Cornwell, the main character Thomas seems to have two main enemies. One of them is Harlequin, who kills his father and steals the relic from Hookton. The other is Sir Simon Jekyll, who is in the English army with Thomas. Sir Simon Jekyll is a mean and ill tempered soldier. During an attack on La Roche-Derrien, a French city, Jekyll is wounded by a woman with a crossbow guarding the city. The army conducts a second attack and they eventually capture the city. Jekyll attempts to rape the woman who shot him, Jeanette, for revenge. He is caught by the Earl and is excommunicated. This action leads up to Jekyll and his men almost beating Thomas to death because he had released a captured army leader that Jekyll recently lost too. Jekyll wants to kill Thomas throughout the novel and it is hard to tell who is a more threatening enemy to Thomas. In my opinion it is Harlequin because he has the ancient relic, he killed his father, and he is also a powerful warrior. Jekyll is also a big threat too, but he does not posses what Thomas is looking for.

Journal #2 1st Quarter

In the novel The Archer's Tale, by Bernard Cornwell, the main character Thomas is a perfect example of a hero. Thomas shows courage, strength, and humility throughout the novel. After Thomas' village is raided by French mercenaries, he is left with nothing but his bow and arrows. Thomas has his humble beginnings, and he certainly is set up to become a hero. Thomas' first act of bravery is grabbing his bow to retaliate against the mercenaries after they raided the village. He kills four mercenaries and forces them to run away. His persistence to retrieve the ancient lance form Harlequin and to get revenge on the mercenaries is his main goal. Thomas' archery skills do not make him a hero, but the qualities of his personality and his actions do. In the book Thomas even admits not being the best archer among the army he is in. I think the goal that Thomas is pursuing makes him a hero.

Journal #1 1st Quarter

 In the novel The Archer's Tale, by Bernard Cornwell, the prologue gave me an idea of what was going to happen next. In the prologue, the author is talking about the main character Thomas. Thomas is from the small town of Hookton where he lives with his father. Thomas is secretly training to become a better archer behind his dad's back.  His father does not want him to become an archer, but clearly it is his passion to become one. Little did Thomas know that he would have to use his archery skills to kill French mercenaries that raid Hookton. Everyone in the village is killed or taken captive and Thomas grabs his bow and get on a vantage point to kill some of the mercenaries. Thomas kills four mercenaries and forces them to flee Hookton. Thomas' father is found nearly dead in the Church. Unfortunately he dies and one of the mercenaries, who goes by the name of Harlequin, stole a sacred lance that resided in the Church and killed his father. Chapter 1 then fast forwards to seven years later, where Thomas is serving in the English Army, and he is trying to find the stolen artifact and get revenge. After reading the prologue I was expecting Thomas to be on his own. He had lost everything and I thought he would be out on his own pursuing his quest to get the relic back. I was not expecting Thomas to be serving in the army, but I like how the author built up to chapter one.