A wonderful retelling of King Arthur, with all the narrative freedom that the lack of information of the Dark Ages can give you. In this case it brings the story without actual magic, but with the bottomless superstition of those times, and because they believed in magic, it feels that it exists. Even though the rituals and spells are completely ridiculous. There's complex politics and a deep sense of honor between the most powerful characters. The personalities are all well fleshed out, and nobody is lost in the epic of it all, even the smallest ones. The story is told by an old Derfel telling the story to his Queen Igraine.

Some quotes that I liked:

"There was something about the hopelessness of our plight that eroded normal behaviour and so we crammed as much living as we could into those hours before our expected deaths."

"I learned that the joy and the fear are the exact same things, the one merely transformed into the other by action."

"I do understand that you can look into someone's eyes,' I heard myself saying, 'and suddenly know that life will be impossible without them. Know that their voice can make your heart miss a beat and that their company is all your happiness can ever desire and that their absence will leave your soul alone, bereft and lost." ( )

very slow... not as interesting as I had hoped... also reading Stonehenge (same author) am enjoying it more. ( )

Yet another spin on the King Arthur legend but one refreshingly devoid of enchantments as Cornwell downplays the magic in favour of a grittier sense of reality in which Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin, and Arthur himself get their idealized reputations tarnished while the early Christian church gets a few well deserved black eyes. Yet it's still a stirring, romantic campfire tale despite all the blood and guts and if this first book is any indication it also promises to be a sweeping quasi-historical epic. I also appreciated the maps and dramatis personae at the front of the book, I just wish it had also come with a pronunciation key because some of those Celtic names look like a dozen consonants in search of a vowel. ( )

I like these better so far than the Uhtred books. ( )

Excellent! ( )