The Saxon Shore: The Camulod Chronicles (Arthurian Novel)

Rating:
Summary: I've read them all, and I love them!
Review: I only review books that I like. It seems to me childish and petty to attack an author's work simply because you don't like it. I usually don't bother to finish books I don't like, let alone waste time reviewing them. Why would anyone continue to read a book that bores them?

I have bought and read all six of Jack Whyte's Camulod Chronicles: The Skystone; The Singing Sword; Eagle's Brood; The Saxon Shore; Fort at River's Bend and The Sorcerer. It is a great series, and I enjoyed each one of them.

It is to be expected that Whyte departs from the (rather sketchy) history Aavailable of the period, in a fiction series. And yet he has done his research, obviously, which is important to me in historical novels.

There have been several very good books written about the pre-Arthurian period in England, many of which I've read. Jack Whyte's worked ranks right at the top, with me. I am familiar with what history is available, having read much of the period, and his research effort is obvious.

He begins with a couple of Roman legionaires as his protagonists, before the Legions pulled out of England: Publius Varrus and Caius Brittanicus. The series then follows their lives and their family's lives through a series of gripping adventures, as they strive to maintain order and peace on the colony they have created in the South of England.

Publius Varrus, a blacksmith, creates a great and beautiful sword from a meteorite before he dies, which he names Excalibur, King Arthur's famous blade. Of course, eventually the series chronicles the lives of Merlyn (Merlin) and Arthur.

I was caught up in the story, and I strongly recommend it. It is entertaining and a delightful way to learn a bit of history. Buy them, you won't be sorry.

Joseph Pierre,
author of THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity

Rating:
Summary: Even worse than Whyte's previous efforts
Review: If you liked Whyte's previous sophomoric efforts, you'll love this. In addition to being the same dumb, hackneyed story lines and stock characters we are used to from the previous books, this one has the additional feeling of being pure filler: in no real way does the story get advanced. Arthur begins as a baby, and ends as a small boy. There are adventures, but nothing important happens. As usual, in Whyte's books, the bad guys are left alive so they can sneak up and do new evil, and as usual the bad guys are pure plot devices and in no way characters. With all the (totally ahistorical) democratic rhetoric, Merlin's brother shows up out of nowhere and they immediately hand him half the power in Camelot. Anyone who would read this, I guess, has already read the previous lame offerings in this series and doesn't object to laughably boring plots which rely heavily on coincidence, caricatures who never grow or change, and historical detail that sounds like it comes from a museum brochure rather than any real scholarship. So go for it. But please, if you want something exciting that will also make you think, look at the really good Arthurian efforts out there--Gillian Brandshaw, A.A. Attanasio, or Barbara Taylor Bradford to name just a very few...

Rating:
Summary: Superb writing
Review: To get the full power of the Camaloud Cronicles, you must start from the beginning (The Skystone) and read them all in sequence. Wonderfull tale!