Customer Reviews

Arturo el Rey (Excalibur Regained Series) (Spanish Edition)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In San Antonio, Texas in 2011, Marine Cpl. Art Reys witnesses the end of any organized government or help from anywhere as a deadly virus pluges Earth into global chaos.
People hide from armed bands, scavenging to survive and finding shelter wherever they can. Armed gangs kill to get food, weapons, and gas for their motorcycles.
Art and his friends protect the helpless wherever they can and make enemies as well as friends as others join them for protection.
Art's heart aches and he has puzzling deja vu flashs of his past life as King Arthur.
As mankind hides like animals or becomes slaves to survive, Shanna Cranston and her father make their way to a compound protected by a high rock face to settle.
When Art and his friends find a group of people hiding in an abandoned library near New Braumfels, Art is reunited with John Nilson, his seventh grade teacher ad mentor. Nilson was Merlin in a past life and it becomes obvious as they work to help others, that Art is King Arthur brought back to restore order.
Art meets Shana on a visit to Cranston's Compound and they fall in love, but Art leaves to continue his quest for security on his own as many are flockilng to him for protection. As Art's influence and reputation quickly spreads, he is declared 'King of Texas' and he is able to offer a secure place to Shanna.
Can Art continue building his safe and democratic kindgdon? Can he hold fast to his code of ethics? Can he win Shanna Cranston to be his Queen?
Joan Upton Hall's well drawn characters and realistic scenes give us page turnng entetainment; Arturo el Rey and Shanna give us hope for peace as they capture our hearts.

Arturo el Rey is a superbly conceived tale in which a futuristic plot of biochemical warfare kicks into reverse, colliding with the Arthurian Age. Penned by Joan Upton Hall, the story begins in Texas in 2011. The opening pages crackle with tension, as readers are ushered into a world where a deadly virus has reduced what is left of mankind to killing each other to survive.

While violent gangs struggle for control, Arturo Reyes and his band of outcasts try to defend and unite the innocent. Art's inner struggles include haunting visions of his death as well as a puzzling sense he has a purpose--and perhaps some connection to King Arthur.

Joan Hall has a masterful grip on the ins and outs of her complex plot and whips the action along at a brisk pace. This is what keeps you turning the pages of Arturo el Rey faster and faster--it is such a great story. But Joan Upton Hall is also a wonderful student of human nature and her characters are compellingly drawn.

The flipping of a genre is a fantastic way to create something fresh and interesting in a book or movie. Arturo el Rey features classic elements of the horror, thriller, fantasy and romance genres--giving the author the chance to raise the level of drama in a myriad of different ways. Tense and gripping, Arturo el Rey is an extraordinary tale that keeps both the brain and pulse racing.

Joan Upton Hall's Arturo El Rey is a first book that makes me look forward to more books from this author.
It is a futuristic suspense novel that explores the Arthurian legend in the light of a future that needs legendary leaders for impossible times.
For those who like to get first editions of authors who are going to have a significant future in their field I recommend getting this book. With a limited printing these are going to be real collectors items in the future.

A friend sent me this book and I wasn't sure what to expect from it. Civilization as we know it has come to an end due to a biological attack killing of the majority of the population. The remaining survivors struggle along trying to find their way. Arturo emerges from the dust 3 years afterward as a motorcycle gang leader who realizes he is the reincarnation of King Arthur and gathers the populace together to rebuild. This story had the potential to go very wrong very quickly.

But it works. It works really well on a number of levels. It's real and gritty at times, funny and light at other moments. The whole book moves like light speed. The author's view of Central Texas in the new future is interesting and insightful for a native of the area and will be fun for others as well. If you've spent a weekend as a tourist on the San Antonio Riverwalk or down in New Braunsfels tubing the river, then the changes the author takes us through will capture your imagination without question.

My only gripe and the only reason I am giving four stars instead of five stars is because the romance between Art and Shanna seems juvenile to me. It's very fast and has an over done sort of "teen angst I love you so much if I don't see you this second I'll just die" feel to it. Personally that single aspect aggravated me like a tiny burr under a horse's saddle pad on an all day ride. Eventually you have to stop and pull it out or have a foot stamping, snorting, back arching, dust raising fit.

It's nice to see that Arthur is back once again, setting things straight, saving his world. This is always a good story and Joan Upton Hall is an excellent writer with a vivid imagination who pulls it off with aplomb! Thank heaven for reincarnation!!

This is a must read book, as will be the next and the next. Don't miss any of them.

Not only is this the BEST book I have read this year, but it is a book I will read again and again! This book is actually several books rolled into one! You have your horror story, you have your thriller, you have your fantasy and most importantly you have your love story.

Arturo El Rey is the story of Arturo Reyes, a marine. Who up until now, the biggest problem he has had is a childhood bully named Eddie Reeves. However, in the not so distant future of 2010 our world has been nuked, and terrorists have released a plague that has wiped out an enormous chunk of the population. We first meet Arturo and his ragtag band of misfits trying to defend a hospital, and still marines in 2011. In another part of the area we meet Shanna Cranston and her father Richard, who holds a Phd. in agriculture. He starts his own group to lead them to a station he had started years ago as an agricultural experiment. Flash forward a few years and San Antonio is now a jungle, but Arturo and his band of buddies is still together and trying to make a better life for themselves, but Arturo is having nightmares that include visions of King Arthur and of his death.

Arturo and his band stay in Texas and soon cross paths with his childhood enemy,Eddie Reeves, who believes his ruined life is all the fault of Arturo, and will stop at nothing to not only take the woman that Arturo now has, Gloria, but ruin Arturo's life in the process. What ensues is a guy that just won't give up, or die for that matter.

Arturo decides to head for the compound and soon meets and falls in love with young Shannon, after saving her from one of his followers. After having been there awhile, Arturo leaves and decides to start his own colony, with the help of an old teacher, Nilson, from his neighborhood, who has been surviving in a library. However, the visions still haunt him, and when he is nearly killed by Eddie Reeves, the visions return and show him that he may well be the true reincarnated King Arthur, and Nilson, his Merlin. When he survives he believes he can feel Excalibur in his hand. People begin to call him Arturo El Rey, Arthur the King, and laws are set in place and New Camelot sees life taking a turn for the better. But somewhere out there an old enemy, despite having lost an ear and a hand, is seething and waiting til the day he can take it all away from him. Is he King Arthur? Is the lovely Shanna his Lady Quinevere? Is history destined to repeat itself? BUY THIS BOOK, you will be glad you did! It will definately be one of your favorites for years to come.

This is a promising first time outing for this writer.
This telling of the Arthurian legend is placed in the near future.
Joan Upton Hall pocesses the rare talent, and skill, to draw her reader into her world and make them want to stay awhile.
I look forward to her future fiction books and recommend this one to people who like to get in on the beginning of a new author's career. If you are one who likes to have the first edition of the first book, then here is your opportunity to get one that I believe will be sought after in the future.