Customer Reviews

Artorius Rex

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This may not be the best arthurian novel, but it does have the merit of chosing a narrator often unheard, i.e Kay (here Caius Geladius). The perspective is historical, no fantasy, wizardry or fairy here, even when Merlin joins the show. The whole novel revolves around the difficulties met by young Artorius, educated in Constantinople, to revive some level of civilisation and military skill in a Britain deserted by the Romans for almost 100 years. It includes the expected trials of uniting the Briton kings, training a cavalry, and coping with the usual love-triangle, all under attack from Saxons, but the plot and main characters are sufficiently renewed to come out as entertaining. Kay's comments are particularly moving, both cynical and fond when looking back on the days of Arthur.

I'm a lifelong fan of historical fiction of the Arthurian period, and there are a great many worthy contributions to this field. Anything by Rosemary Sutcliff, Catherine Christian, Bernard Cornwell or Parke Godwin is well worth your while. For a complete list, see Trivium Publishing's extensive list of available books on this subject.

But Gloag's is most certainly not among the recommended ones. Written from the point of view of a cynical and world-weary official of the Empire, Britain is a barbarian outpost he will be relieved to see abandoned. Arthur's character is so piously and self-righteously Christian monk, that he is as irritating as Marion Zimmer Bradley's depiction of Guinevere, if that is possible. Guinevere's character here, rather than Celtic, is Saxon, and her character is that of a crude, scheming woman of loose morals and little intelligence: truly a vicious caricature of any woman, let alone the Arthurian queen of legend. The misogyny in this novel is none too subtle, and ruins what could have been an interesting take on this endlessly fascinating theme. Gloag should have stuck to writing about furniture, not the Matter of Britain. This is one of the very few Arthurian novels I threw away.