Customer Reviews

The Skystone (The Camulod Chronicles, Book 1) (Bk. 1)

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

When I first saw this book my initial reaction was "Not another take on the King Arthur myth!" Now that I've read it, I must say, this isn't just another take on the myth. This is the Arthur Myth in a whole new light.

Jack Whyte presents Caius Brittanicus and Publius Varrus, the Roman forbearers of King Arthur and founders of Camulod. the novel starts off with the penetration of Hadrians wall by the Barbarian Hordes and takes us up to the end of the 4th Century. In it you will meet Picus Brittanicus, father of Merlin, and learn how Excalibur came to be. The characters are totally believeable and real. Each one has his/her faults as well as his/her strong points.

What I loved about this book is the fact that Whyte took his time and painstakingly recreated the Roman World. His description of the battles, the Roman Army, Roman life... It was all fantastic. This is more of a historical fiction than a fantasy novel, so if you are looking for wizards and warlocks, you will be disappointed.

I must say that some parts of this novel, and certainly in the ones that follow, contain "adult" themes. You might want to consider this before allowing young adults to read it.

Finally, the true measure of the first novel in a series is it's ability to get you excited about the next installment. As soon as I finished book one I immediately picked up book2, so it's a hit!

I recommend this book for the rich and colorful depiction of Britain during the 5th century, as well as for providing an intelligent version of Arthurian beginnings.

Full Review:

Having read just about every version of the Arthurian legend, I picked up Jack Whyte's book: The Skystone, hoping to find something more definitive and less magical. What I discovered, was an extremely well written and historically fascinating look at 5th century life in Roman occupied Britain.

Whyte did his homework, and it shows in so many ways. Not only does he evince a formidable knowledge and understanding of Rome's military men, but also of the impact the Empire had on the entire known world.

His explanation for the sword Excalibur's beginnings makes sense, and includes magic-if only for the way it appeared to primitive eyes. Whyte, like another author, Colleen McCullough, takes no shortcuts, nor opts for facile answers to the legend of Arthur, and the birth of Camelot.

Instead, he patiently builds, step by step, a plausible yet highly entertaining historical setting.

General Caius Brittanicus is a brilliant and highly decorated Roman man, who was born in Britain. A man of deep insight and wisdom, he forsees the collapse of the Roman Empire. When not on campaign for Rome, he lives with his wife, children and widowed sister Luceia.

Publius Varro is General Brittanicus' Primus Pilus, or senior aide. Their fortunes are inextricably entwined, and how the two of them grow deep in love and respect for one another, is the main thrust of the first book.

Varro, has a blade fashioned from what his grandfather described as a skystone. This sword has a sheen, and luster ordinary iron doesn't possess, and is much stronger than even bronze. Yet Publius has no idea where to find more of this strange metal. When he finally does find it, the answer fulfills many empty spaces left by less gifted writers.

The battle scenes are interesting, even to those of us who might ordinarily find them boring, mainly due to Whyte's deft handling of Roman military tactics. The enmities that develop through the events in this book, prove to have far reaching and unforeseen consequences.

The Skystone comes with a glossary, a pronunciation guide and maps of Britain, which prove helpful throughout the series.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book for its interesting and deep characters, all drawn with a loving hand, that understands human nature in all its dimensions so well. I recommend starting with The Skystone and reading the entire series. You'll be delighted and totally enmeshed in Jack Whyte's version of Arthurian times.

Upon the completion of Jack Whyte's "The Skystone" I was amazed by the originality of the story. Many authors take the Arthurian story and just tell it again in their own words. This is not the case for jack Whyte's epic. In fact, Whyte here starts his own Arthurian story as he starts from before King Arthur's time, in a time where the Romans are about to lose their control of Britian. Whyte's story is compelling and complicated and weaves like a luch epic.

The novel, which is the first in the epic series the Camulod Chronicles, by the way, is told in the first person through the eyes of Publius Varrus. Varrus is a Roman soldier and "The Skystone" tells his story during an important historical time for Britain. The book opens up with a raid against the British, and Varuus befriends military general Brittanicus. With a group of soldiers they are on the run and get into many brawls. Varrus then takes his own path and goes to his hometown to take over his family business of metal working. Varrus is then on the move again and eventually falls in love with a woman. From the beginning to the end "The Skystone" entertains.

The greatest aspect of this whole novel is the realism of the events. Similar things did take place back during the ages when Rome was in control of much of Europe and this historical novel, or historical fantasy if you will, holds up to the first part of it's name in being historical. The reader will learn much on the Roman army and how it functioned and much about Britian during this fascinating time in history.

The major thing that I didn't like about the book were the characters. I found most of the characters to be one dimensional, and while likeable, I couldn't care for any of them. Even though we are put into Publius Varrus' shoes, as the book is told in first person, there is still not any substance in which to develop any "bonding" with the character, and the other characters as well, for that matter. This is the reason that I detracted one star from this otherwise great novel.

This book is an Arthurian novel but doesn't even introduce anybody like Arthur or Merlin. This is the tale of Varrus, who is a grandfather of Arthur, and this is the beginning of how he and his men make the Britain that is the medieval setting of King Arthur's court. One interesting thing that Whyte touches upon is the Lady of the Lake. Whyte's view of this figure of Arthurian fiction is a very interesting one.

Despite its flaws "The Skystone" is a master of the historical novel. Jack Whyte weaves an interesting tale full of politics, intrigue, and a bit of adventure to keep you happily turning pages. This is a must for any fan of Arthurian fiction.

Happy Reading!

As a prospective Master's student in English literature, and a medievalist, I read "The Skystone" and found it an interesting alternative to the fantasy re-writings of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. It starts on a special note, with the times prior to the coming of Arthur, which reminds you of the apocalypse that Arthur seems to initiate as a saviour-like figure in Celtic and post-Roman history. I found the angle from which it is narrated--the world-weary voice of Publius Varrus as he recounts and re-writes the past--a particularly interesting attempt to start off, where the book becomes another of the treatises that writers use to make a defence against amnesia and to affirm the selective process through which memory moves. The book is lacking in the neo-paganism of Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The Mists of Avalon", and the fusion of quantum science, Norse mythology and a comparative approach towards religions that marks A.A Attanasio's fiction on Arthur, starting with "The Dragon and the Unicorn". But it makes up for it through its emotional depth of character, especially in Publius Varrus's ability to accommodate various experiences and ambivalent emotions in his narrations. One does ask if the issues of historical truth and representation hamper our appreciation of the novel itself, but we are aware of the risks that writers are taking upon themselves in revising history, and so, that issue may be peripheral.

This is a very different take on the matter of Britain. So different, in fact, that it starts with Arthur's putative great-grandfather and unless you know in advance that the Arthurian Legends are the subject of Whyte's books (which of course you do) you could easily miss it entirely.

The style is not at all mythic. We're talking about practical people with practical concerns here, and this was one of the things I found fascinating. The book deals with the end of the Roman occupation of Britain, a period about which not too much fiction is written, and it handles it very well. Magic, however, it ain't.

The one thing that bothered me a bit was how the Romans (and Publius Varrus in particular) were portrayed as responsible for so many of the developments in Celtic culture, from the Celtic Cross to the Longbow. I got to thinking, "Oh, that too, huh?"

There's some great details about metallurgy and military life and politics, which almost lead me to label this a "guy" book but not quite. Also, the female characters are not as well-rounded as I would like.

All in all, though, a good book for anyone interested in Arthurian Legend from a wide persepctive.

This book is incredible! I'm not usually a fan of violence or explicit sex, but who could resist such a great story teller and incredible characters.With Publious' convictions for killing, Luceeia's fight for women's rights and Cauis' almost insane, yet victorious ideas I could not resist this book. Day in and day out I felt compelled to read another page, another chapter. The battle sequences soars your imagination to another time and place. His take on the Lady of the Lake and where the metal for Excalibur came from are nice touches.

Every once in a while Whyte takes a momment to remind you of how advanced we really are. For example, Publious is excited that they have found wine skins that don't leak or instead of using soap they sit in steam baths and use heavy perfumes.

In all The Skystone is a real page turner. Everyone I passed the book along to loved it. The great thing is the story gets even better with The Singing Sword.

I picked this up looking for a good summer read, and hoping to catch on to a new series. The premise looked promising,as well, and I will read anything with Romans in it.

Well, while the premise is great, I felt I was reading 500 pages of story setup, with characters who sounded more like 20th century intellectuals than the people of the place and times.

Story segments that could have been suspenseful where revealed over way to many Dinner conversations. My Dinner with Britanicus in Londinium would have been a better title.

Still, the setup is fascinating enough that I will give the series another chance and get the sequel. Maybe the setup will be worth it. For now, I am just happy I borrowed this one, rather than bought it.

I picked up and started reading Whyte's 4th book in this series, "The Saxon Shore", before realizing it was a series. Naturally, I've now had to start at the beginning with "Skystone", and admit I did so with some trepidation, fearing that this book may not be as good. My fears were needless. "Skystone" does not dissapoint.

I won't get into character development, depth, blah-blah-blah in my review, because I don't care about that. I love to read and I want to be entertained. I enjoy historical fiction because it is interesting to see other people's prospectives and theories on the occurances of historical events. When I read fiction, I know right off the bat there will be a certain amount of artistic license taken by the author. Go to it! Entertain me!

Some of the reviews of this book on this forum really beat up Jack Whyte for not being precisely historically accurate. Excuse me, but doesn't fiction mean something invented by the imagination? Where in the rule book does it say an author's historical details must be 100% correct to write a book classified as "historical fiction?" The book wasn't intended to be a textbook. If I wanted accurate historical detail of the Romans and the Britons in the 4th and 5th century, I would read non-fiction. I prefer an interesting and entertaining story with some basis in history. If I am troubled by inaccurate details, I will write my own story, and let Jack Whyte write his.

Thank you, Jack Whyte, for exploring in such depth and sharing your ideas and theories on the most fantastic of legends, Camelot!

The novels in this series are not the escapist fantasies that many associate with the Arthurian legends. They are, in fact, historical fiction at its best. Whyte has gone to great lengths to not only ensure historical accuracy, but to weave the stories into historic events. The first six novels in the series (that is all I have read, though it appears that there are two or three more) give a wonderfully plausible explaination for the genesis of the Arthurian legend. But the beauty of the books is in Whyte's prose. A Scottish poet, he uses the language beautifully and creates characters so vivid and multidimensional that we forget the 1600 between their time and ours.

These books will not insult your intelligence, and they prove that one does not need to suspend the laws of physics or distort the facts of history to find magic in the Arthurian legend.

This is the best book in this series, I believe. It goes into detail about the impending fall of the Roman Empire, and how this affected Britons.

You see several characters from the Roman Army trying to deal with the situation, and live without the Empire to protect them and provide rule of law. It is especially interesting for Americans to read this, and see the parallels with the current American "empire", how people in the early 400s simply could not see a world without the Empire, and thought it would be around forever.

Contrast this will the modern world, many other empires (British, French, Spanish, etc) have come and gone, and so will the American one. How soon? How will we deal with it?

Another very interesting idea is the forshadowing of Excalibur, what the "stone" actually was, and why it was revered as such a powerful weapon. All of this by keeping in the realm of what is scientifically possible, rather than by magic.

As for the whole series:

One of the few books that deals with an Arthur that could be

historical, this series is the best on Arthur that I have ever read. Also, it not only takes a serious look at Arthur, but also at Merlyn, and Camelot, and Excalibur, and postulates historical versions of these.

He also does a good job of describing Camalud. How such a communist, utopian society might be able to survive for a hundred years or so, tackling the inevitable problems of self-sustaining bureaucracy, corruption, and basic human selfishness, that would eventually drag Camalud down, but in the short term, how they can be overcome by a cult of personality (if you're lucky enough to have benevolent dictators).

Note it is historical fiction, not history. So some modern theories that "Arthur" just meant "the Bear" and really was several people, are not supported here, because obviously that would be rather boring. :)

I just wish he would expand the series to cover the life of Arthur. The series ends when Arthur pulls the sword from the stone, I (as well as all his fans) am interested in more.