This is book three of The Pendragon Cycle.
This book was not at all what I expected it to be. I assumed that this book would be about Arthur's childhood, his upbringing, and his tutelage under Merlin. Instead, this book opens with a teenage Arthur pulling the sword from the stone and ends with his mysterious death.
This book is a summary of Arthur's entire reign. It is a bloody book that focuses on the first seven years following the sword in the stone. Most of the book is simply a tale of battle upon battle, of political posturing and intrigue, and the establishment of Arthur's rule. There are only a few flashbacks to Arthur's childhood. Many parts of the book skip huge chunks of time with statements such as, "The war ended and then twenty years later..."
This book is narrated by three different authors: Pelleas, Bedwyr, and Aneirin. This approach provides interesting perspectives and insights into the story, yet it also removes the reader from some of the more intimate perspectives of the story's main characters.
In a way, this could have been the last book of the series because it provided a CliffsNotes summary of all of the improtant events from beginning to end. The final third of the book (Aneirin's story) and the Epilogue spoil the suspense of the remaining two books because you are told how the story ultimately ends. You are told what happens to the main characters. You are told who lives and who dies. But you never really know what happened to Arthur and that ending in itself adds a very unique mystery that is both haunting and beautiful, if not a little frustrating for its lack of closure.
This book was not at all what I expected it to be. I assumed that this book would be about Arthur's childhood, his upbringing, and his tutelage under Merlin. Instead, this book opens with a teenage Arthur pulling the sword from the stone and ends with his mysterious death.
This book is a summary of Arthur's entire reign. It is a bloody book that focuses on the first seven years following the sword in the stone. Most of the book is simply a tale of battle upon battle, of political posturing and intrigue, and the establishment of Arthur's rule. There are only a few flashbacks to Arthur's childhood. Many parts of the book skip huge chunks of time with statements such as, "The war ended and then twenty years later..."
This book is narrated by three different authors: Pelleas, Bedwyr, and Aneirin. This approach provides interesting perspectives and insights into the story, yet it also removes the reader from some of the more intimate perspectives of the story's main characters.
In a way, this could have been the last book of the series because it provided a CliffsNotes summary of all of the improtant events from beginning to end. The final third of the book (Aneirin's story) and the Epilogue spoil the suspense of the remaining two books because you are told how the story ultimately ends. You are told what happens to the main characters. You are told who lives and who dies. But you never really know what happened to Arthur and that ending in itself adds a very unique mystery that is both haunting and beautiful, if not a little frustrating for its lack of closure.
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