Customer Reviews

The Lance Thrower (The Camulod Chronicles, Book 8)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have long been a HUGE fan of Whyte's Camoloud Chronicles, having read the entire series three times, but the latest edition, The Lance Thrower, was like a flat tire. The opening introduction as Clothar returns to Camoulod to bury Merlin and destroy the chests was a rocket of a start, then the book just bogs down in mire and wanders from one place to the other, seemingly without point. The magic just seems to have dissipated. The book did not pick up again until the end, when Clothar lands in England for the first time in order to deliver messages to Merlin and Author.

This book is like an oreo cookie, crispy on the outsides but gooey and without much substance in the middle.

I very much hope that Mr. Whyte is working on a future installment of his chronicles, I would hate for it to end on such a poor note.

As has already been mentioned, this is obviously not the last book in the series. It is, what I call, a "bridge book." It's main purpose is to introduce characters (a lot of major ones, by the way: Percival, Bors, Tristan, Gwinnifer, and, of course, Lancelot) and give some sense of their back story. Whyte does his best to mask this backstory as "dialogue" but that is probably the best way to do it without having the series go on for about another 8 books! I think that the real value of this book will be evident when we read future books in this series more than as a "stand-alone" novel. As with all the other books in the series, it really helps to have read all of them and not try to just read the one with the best reviews.

I give this book 4 stars because it wasn't nearly as interesting as some of Jack Whyte's other books but it was more interesting than most author's could have done given the fact that he had to stay reasonably within the bounds of a well known story.

How very disappointing!

The orginal books in this series, the Skystone, the Singing Sword etc. were great - well researched, well conceived and well written. But the story was mostly about young Merlyn and the founding of Camulod (Camelot) and it finished with a cliff-hanger, young Arthur riding into his first big battle.

So, predictably, mr Whyte was re-commissioned (I am sure they had to twist his arm) to write an additional three novels and complete his historically correct version of the Arthurian legend.

I am very sorry to say that either (a) Jack Whyte has lost his touch or (b) these new books have to be ghost-written by someone else. Uther was disappointing; this latest one is a disaster.

For starters, this novel almost never intersects or overlaps with the previous books. Lancelot only gets to Brittain at the very end of the book, wastes the entire time traveling around and meets Arthur (badly) on the last page. We learn nothing new, except that Arthur has apparenty soundly defeated the invaders somehow and that seemingly he has already formed a group of close companions - and that only incidentally, in the span of those last two pages or so.

The entire book is background - irrelevant background for the most part, including the book's characters having exhaustingly detailed conversations about trivial matters, like the exact route between point A and point B, as if that would mean anything to the reader, or repeatedly requesting clarifications from each other on some obvious order or other. Evidently, mr Whyte thinks that the Franks were rather slow-witted.

Mind you, all this background could have been interesting had we actually learned something about the Franks, as we learned so much about Roman culture as well as the Celts, in the first few books of the series. But we don't. These Franks appear indistinguishable from our earlier peoples and Lancelot's life is hardly different than, say, Merlyn's - so why waste a book on them??

For example, a good part of the early story is spent with young Lancelot trying to survive being caught directly on the path of a huge army of invading Burgudians, threatening most of the Southern Frankish kingdoms - 'Great historical stuff' you say. No it isn't. A few pages later, the story's focus shifts entirely (to the dynastic fratricides of the Geneva clans) the invasion is forgottent and only chapters later are afforded even a passing mention of some events that took place 'after the invasion' - leaving us to speculate on its outcome.

The most frustrating aspect of the book, however, is the author's increasing infatuation with biblical culture (for lack of a better term). Do not let the title fool you: this is not a book about Arthur, Lancelot, Brittain, the Franks, the Celts, or even the dark times of the end of the Roman Empire. Rather, this is a tedius treatese on the moral superiority of early Christianity over pagan cultures.

The real hero is not Lancelot or Merlyn or Arthur or any other Arthurian character, but rather Bishop Germanus (a secondary character of the earlier series) who gets more stage time than everyone. Even when he is not directly the focus of the story, or pulling Lancelot's or Merlyn's strings, then the other characters are usually wasting our time discussing his saintliness, convincing each other that he just performed another miracle, or relating to someone how they first met him.

We learn nothing of political developments in Brittain - only that the Church is endangered and that Merlyn must convince Arthur to build a big cathedral.

On every possible occasion, the characters are competing in piety and lecturing each other on 'the one True God', the evil Burgundians are predictably pagan (which apparently is what makes them such mad dogs), as are the Saxons (who apparently take perverted pleasure in brutalising priests) and in the most bizare twist of them all, Clothar (Lancelot) is Jewish (!!), presumably so that he becomes the most 'biblical' of all characters, hence inherently superiour - or something like that; who knows what was going through Jack Whyte's head - and who cares?

What any of this could possibly contribute to an (albeit historically correct) alternate version of the Arthurian legend is beyond me.

If you are new to this series, read the first three books (they are trully excellent) and STOP there.

If you are a fan, don't bother - this is not even usefull for continuity's sake.

Since the book opens with the burial of Merlyn, and the blurb and the first chapter advertise that Lancelot will bring about the downfall of Arthur, I began reading what I expected to be the conclusion of this series.

It's a disappointment. The structure of this novel is all wrong. Over a hundred pages of family history masked as dialogue with small business, an entire backstory for Clothar's ancestral kingdom (far away) is dumped on you. Readers of the series will find it a pale imitation of Whyte's Camulod rewritten in Gaul, minus the optimism and the excitement of seeing each puzzle piece click into place. Then comes the hint that none of it will matter to Clothar who is destined for Britain someday. At last (mere days into the non-story, but hundreds of pages later) Clothar is sent to school with Germanus, who does nothing notable. All of this might be effective as a series of short stories, but as a novel it's false.

Years of school pass in a twinkling between paragraphs, another of the series' annoying time warps. There should at least be a chapter break there, failing an actual ending of one act and beginning of another with a dramatic event.

While walking one day, Clothar has "an almost philosophical thought", but admits he was distracted from it by arriving on time. This must be the central message of Part I, that novels need not have any theme at all, at least not any that the characters can enunciate.

Without the strength of a plot going somewhere, all the series' flaws glare. Dense paragraphs, pointless and artless descriptions of landscape, equipment fetishism, stream-of-consciousness deliberations, occasional history lessons that don't bear directly on the story, mixed with tell-me-don't-show-me moral advice. The historical notes were at least central to the plot of previous novels.

Whyte's insistence on realism in the re-telling of the legend has degenerated into pure naturalism: pointless detail and very little structure.

By the middle of the book, Clothar has more muscles but no values, only a dutiful teacher-worship and a fond memory of his mother. Perhaps this is to make Arthur and Merlyn look wise later. The continued messages about great tasks to do and the greater glory of God are just pasted in because there aren't any great tasks or glory going on here.

If I were Whyte's editor, I would demand an outline showing why each chunk of text develops the character and advances the plot. Most of them don't.

I gave up and read the ending. Hooray. Clothar reaches Arthur and company. Apparently there will be another book. Mr. Whyte, you have one last chance to get it right.

I am a huge fan of Jack Whyte's Camulod series and have read all up to this point. While I like this story, and how it eventually tied into the larger story, I was a bit disappointed that we did not learn more about Arthur and his reign. That being said, I still enjoyed reading this book and look forward to reading all the books that follow

CLOTHAR THE FRANK, the 6th novel in Jack Whyte's extended series THE CAMULOD CHRONICLES, steps back from Dark Ages England and moves across the channel into post-Roman Gaul to provide an imaginative, extraordinarily detailed, historical back story to the birth, education and development of Lancelot.

Many reviewers complained bitterly that this novel was long-winded and completely failed to advance the story of the King Arthur legend. In a sense, I agree totally. But I'd also suggest to these readers that, if they relaxed and simply accepted the book on its stand-alone merits, they would realize that this, far from being a weakness, is, in fact, its strength and virtue. This is a side bar to the Arthurian legend, something intended to fill in the blanks as it were. The dust flap tell it quite simply ... "Clothar's story is the story of Lancelot - his past, his loves, his loyalty and his role as King Arthur's friend and betrayer".

CLOTHAR THE FRANK is the exciting story of a wealthy family's life in Gaul. Clothar, raised and educated by a saintly Catholic bishop, learns that he is the son of a local king. An exceptionally well-rounded education allows him to step into the role of soldier, leader and a warrior and to accept his role in a bloody internecine civil war. We learn of the reasons behind Clothar's voyage to a dark ages England, besieged by the savage Saxons and Danes after the departure of the Roman legions, where Arthur has yet to be crowned as the High King. As with any good historical fiction novel, CLOTHAR THE FRANK provides plenty of realistic period atmosphere and colour.

I couldn't help but smile at the final scene in which Clothar actually meets the newly crowned King Arthur for the first time. I'm pretty sure that Jack Whyte had dreamed about Robin Hood and Little John the night before he penned the details of this particular chapter. See if you don't agree! A highly recommended addition to any historical fiction lover's library.

Paul Weiss

"The first move by an enemy ride to disengage and ride away caught my eye, and i drove him out of the saddle with a hard shot that skewered his cuirass between his shoulder blades."

The Lance Thrower by Jack Whyte is the 6th book in the Camulod Chronicles. It's a historical fiction about Clothar's early life, training, his part in his cousin Gunthar's war to take over his uncle Ban's kingdom and how he became King Arthur's knight. By itself it is an interesting read but it had too many pointless details and it digresses from the series. I would have preferred it to be more intertwined with the series but it was still an interesting book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys action and adventure but doesn't mind pointless details.

The continuance of Jack Whyte's "Camulod Chronicles" which combines great historical detail with fictional and nonfictional characters. A truly epic saga of the fifth century set in what is now modern Switzerland and France. A great portrayal of the desperate struggles against anarchy as Europe's kingdoms emerge in the turmoil of the declining Roman Empire.

This series would make a great series of movies.

Very exciting and thrilling. Very well painted portrait of many historical and "mythical" people. Jack's description and behavior of His Excellency Bishop Germanus was exactly what I have long thought it to be. In all of his books Jack manages to transport us back to a legendary time and place and stand among the great heroes of our past. Jack Whyte, like Geoffrey Ashe, writes what most scholars are afraid to say.

This is the same book as "Clothar the Frank" the Canadian title. Anyone who reads Jack's books knows that his series has two titles, one for Canada and one for the US, but that the books are the same.

Having devoured all Whyte's other books in the Camulod Chronicles series I looked forward to this with relish. I bought it ages ago and still have only got half way throught it. The magic has completely gone. Let's hope his latest book is back up to his earlier standards.