Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: A great read for any fan of Arthurian legend!! The book intertwines the history of Roman occupied Britain with the legend of Excalibur and Arthur seamlessly. It's an engaging tale that I got easily wrapped up in. You learn so much about the characters through the wonderful writing. I didn't want to put it down until I got to the end, and then I just picked up the next book in the series and kept on reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Big Disapointment
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: BAD!
Review: My father bought me this book when it was published back in 96 and it delighted me at the time. Ever since it has burgeoned into an entirely credible explanation of the Aurthur myth. Indeed, the mutation of the Roman town of Camulodunum to Camulod, to Camelot is, despite it fictional setting, one of the potentially better explanations for the historical fact that I have ever heard ventured.
Historical plausibility aside, Jack Whyte's Skystone is one of the finest Arthurian historical series available. His attention to historical detail weaves superbly in with the legend and romance of Arthurian chivalry espoused by Thomas Malory to produce a story that is as thrilling as it is magical.
The Skystone is the story of two Romans - the grizzled Publius Varrus and his ex-commander - Caiu Britannicus who remain in Britain in the 4th century A.D. as the Roman legions withdraw with Stilicho towards the heart of the troubled empire. Against this ucertain and turbulent backdrop these two erstwwhile bastions of nobility found a colony called Camulod to safekeep the Ramon-British peoples from the threatening presence on the Gaulish and Nordic mainlands. Varrus tells his story as a detailed reminiscence, culminating in the foundation of Camulod and the discovery of the skystone - a meteorite - from which he crafts both a dagger and a sword - to become the famous Exaclibur in later installments. Throughout we see a people struggling for survival, with great organisational skills, heart and courage as they attempt to reconcile the ordered Roman way of life with the newly reimposed celtic lifestyle. A firm rock in a sea of change, into which a sword is placed that symbolises hope for the future generations.
Jack Whyte has lent a wholly plausible historical air to the Arthur legends to the degree that it could become a history as it offers more reason over established historical scholarship. Fictional it may be, but entirely credible it remains. This is one interpretation that should be read.
Rating:
Summary: The Book
Review: The book The Skystone tells a fabulous story about the becoming of Arthur. The main character, Publius Varrus, tells his life as a soldier during the fall of Rome. The book has a great history of the strongest country, near its death. Jack Whyte made this book fascinating by adding realistic war scenes. The book made me think I was with the characters getting taught to fight. While reading this thrilling book, I never wanted to set it down. People that like novels about old war times will really enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Miscast as Fantasy
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: a great story
Review: The skystone is far better than I had anticipated it to be. Bored, and with little else to read I picked it up and devoured it in a matter of days. The format didn't initally appeal to me at all; it's written in first person, with the main character, Publius Varrus, looking back on some of the events of his life after a short introductary paragraph or two. This gives it the feel almost of a memoir. Yet it is a memoir packed with interesting people and events, and written incredibly well by Whyte. While the story is a work of fiction, and many of the main characters are fictional, there are some who are not (Seneca, for example) and Whyte does an extraordinary job of intertwining historical events into the setting of the book: Britian (for the most part), near the decline of the roman empire. Having studied this time period in school, I found many of the events and characters to be historically accurate, which only increased the experience of reading it. What sets this apart from any other Authurian novel (or in this case, a series) is the immense scope of the writing. Whyte starts the series with a character (publius) that we are told is Aurthur's great-grandfather. In doing so, we are able to see how the legend came to be, from it's very roots; no other series comes to mind that has ever attempted this before, and as mentioned above it's a very rewarding experience. Why not five stars then? Any reader who has read my reviews in the past knows that I give 5 stars sparingly, only to the absolute best of the genre. But in any case, this book comes Highly Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: the best book I have ever read
Review: This is as good as it gets.
Great historical context, great character development.
An absolute must-read
Rating:
Summary: Excellent fun historical version of Arthur
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Bad writing, polemical
Review: What a disappointment! I requested this book for Christmas, but after about 125 pages I pitched it. In addition to bad writing, it became clear the author had a political agenda in writing it. Not that injecting personal points of view is inappropriate; T.H. White does it brilliantly in his Once and Future King and Book of Merlin. It's just that the worldview Jack Whyte advocates is adolescent, ignorant and simplistic. I won't know how Whyte will treat the complex mythopoeic stories of Merlin and Arthur; I hope with a lot more depth and nuance than he began his series.
Rating:
Summary: Bad writing, polemical
Review: What a disappointment! I requested this book for Christmas, but after about 125 pages I pitched it. In addition to bad writing, it became clear the author had a political agenda in writing it. Not that injecting personal points of view is inappropriate; T.H. White does it brilliantly in his Once and Future King and Book of Merlin. It's just that the worldview Jack Whyte advocates is adolescent, ignorant and simplistic. I won't know how Whyte will treat the complex mythopoeic stories of Merlin and Arthur; I hope with a lot more depth and nuance than he began his series.
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