This was awesome. The last couple of books and the beginning of this one seemed a little slow, but read on; you'll be glad you did! ( )

As I age, I have become less interested in Jack Whyte's Arthuriana. His research into the fifth century world is not up to scholarly standards, and his grasp of fifth century technologies is weak. Seeing an image of the knightly warrior, he leaps from the fifth century for legend to the thirteenth for technology, and expects his audience to accept that. Well, I don't. The reviewers of his earlier books call them "Historical", and while the period is dimly lit, one should be able to get through it without major injury. His archery is very weak, as he claims a quarter mile range for a longbow, his insistence on the morning star flail as a horseman's weapon, and his introduction of the stirrup into western Europe three and a half centuries before there is any evidence for it, transform his works into the realm of fantasy rather than historical fiction. Now, in the area of "Those things too true to be real"? His love stories are weak, and the female characters have little motivation or conflicts in the feminine ream. His battle scenes are very conventional, and too complex to be engaging. But, he does like to describe complex ritual, and lay out guest lists for parties. These are not interesting except, perhaps for caterers. ( )

This was awesome. The last couple of books and the beginning of this one seemed a little slow, but read on; you'll be glad you did! ( )

Di gran lunga il libro più triste della serie... e con triste non intendo brutto. La parte finale in particolare è un susseguirsi di emozioni e di eventi, la maggior parte dei quali ben poco piacevoli.
Un libro intenso e gravato dalla consapevolezza di quello che il lettore già sa, conoscendo la leggenda arturiana, ovvero che certe cose per certi personaggi sicuramente finiranno male. ( )

SPOILERS AHEAD.
This is the sixth book in the Camulod Chronicles. The story takes up back to Camulod where war is brewing on two fronts. Ambrose takes one force (and Arthur) in one direction, while Merlyn takes another force in the opposite direction. Ambrose learns that things are still well with Vortigern and the following Autumn, Merlyn goes to accompany Bishop Germanus to Verulamium as in on of the previous books, for the Pelagian heresy had been completely rooted out. Things go awry and Merlyn returns home in a hurry and on the journey loses his wife and many of his men. He blames Peter Ironhair for all this and undergoes his metamorphosis, into that sorcerer we know him best as. This is out of revenge, which he does not attain in full, for Ironhair is killed by another's hand. He is also gravely injured on this quest, and the leprosy he feared seems to be real, although his old friend Lucanus had assured him this was not so.
I have complained before about how in the previous books so much seems to go so well for the people of Camulod and Merlyn in particular, with a few large exceptions. It seems Whyte was saving all his bad mojo for this book, where Merlyn loses not only his wife, but his brother, and for a time, his sanity. He goes down a dark path and even by the end of the book, he does not truly come back into the light. Perhaps he never will.
The draw for me in Arthurian Legend is Arthur himself. Not Lancelot or Guenivere or even Merlyn. In this series we have seen precious little of Arthur. And that's fine: This isn't his story. It's that of Camulod, told by those who knew it best, Publius Varrus and Merlyn. So, when this book reached it's end with Arthur being proclaimed High King and pulling the sword from the stone three times, my heart filled with the happy. This was familiar territory and a hint that the next selections in the series may have a bit more of my favorite character, I hope.
On the whole, I enjoyed this book and recommend the series to any who enjoy Arthurian Legend. This series puts it in an almost plausible historical setting, subtracting the magic and miracles from the legend. One can imagine that if Arthur and Merlyn really lived, that this may have been how it could have happened. (Saying that, of course, reminds me of the ending of Clue where there are three different ways the story could have ended.) ( )