Arthur, by Stephen Lawhead
In this, the third book of the Pendragon Cycle, we finally see some of the reign of Arthur. The book begins with Arthur pulling the sword out of the stone—a familiar story. But he is not immediately proclaimed High King: the other kings have lived too long with their own ambition to allow a young upstart on the throne of Britain. But Merlin manages to wring from them one concession: that they name Arthur Dux Britanniarum, the Duke of Britain, and make him leader of a warband. From this small beginning Arthur must win his kingdom and keep it safe—not only from the invading barbarians, but from the petty kings who would rather make war on each other than live in peace.
Sadly, Arthur was not all I hoped it would be. In a way, the book skips around a lot. Lawhead introduces three different POV’s in the telling of the story, which is not always satisfactory. The first point of view is from Pelleas, the devoted servant of Merlin. I was so used to seeing things from Merlin’s eyes, that I often would forget that Pelleas was telling the tale, not Merlin. The second POV is Bedwyr. I liked his view, because he would say the funniest things that kept the story interesting. The third was an entirely new character named Aneirin. His story starts with him as a young boy becoming Merlin’s assistant. His view is my least favorite, because I did not care for him at all. He was not one of the characters that I had grown to love—he seemed like such a random last minute addition and I couldn’t get into him.
The main issue with the different POV’s is that there are gaps of time between each character’s story. For large chunks of Arthur’s reign, I know of nothing that happened. The first fifteen years of his life are a blank to me, and myriad times in between when the narrators were not around him. I wanted to know more about Arthur, and yet I only got to see sundry glimpses of him as a child and during his reign. It seems to end all too soon, for like all Arthurian tales it ends in sorrow and hope. For there is a prophecy that Arthur will one day return, but he cannot return unless he has gone away. By the end of the book, we know the end of the tale, but it is the middle we are lacking, and that is what I wish to read.
Arthur is not without its good parts. There are many battle scenes, and Lawhead makes each and every one of them exciting and unique. Bedwyr is an enjoyable narrator, and he is often close to Arthur and the main pulse of what is going on. His description of the barbarian feast is absolutely priceless. Interesting events happen, and Lawhead is certainly being as good a writer as ever. Certain parts of the story could not have been told the way they were without the different narrators, but I wish it wasn’t necessary. So far, I think this is the weakest book in the Pendragon cycle.
If I could ask Lawhead one question about Arthur, it would be: What really happened to Arthur and the island of Avallon, and where did they go?
Sadly, Arthur was not all I hoped it would be. In a way, the book skips around a lot. Lawhead introduces three different POV’s in the telling of the story, which is not always satisfactory. The first point of view is from Pelleas, the devoted servant of Merlin. I was so used to seeing things from Merlin’s eyes, that I often would forget that Pelleas was telling the tale, not Merlin. The second POV is Bedwyr. I liked his view, because he would say the funniest things that kept the story interesting. The third was an entirely new character named Aneirin. His story starts with him as a young boy becoming Merlin’s assistant. His view is my least favorite, because I did not care for him at all. He was not one of the characters that I had grown to love—he seemed like such a random last minute addition and I couldn’t get into him.
The main issue with the different POV’s is that there are gaps of time between each character’s story. For large chunks of Arthur’s reign, I know of nothing that happened. The first fifteen years of his life are a blank to me, and myriad times in between when the narrators were not around him. I wanted to know more about Arthur, and yet I only got to see sundry glimpses of him as a child and during his reign. It seems to end all too soon, for like all Arthurian tales it ends in sorrow and hope. For there is a prophecy that Arthur will one day return, but he cannot return unless he has gone away. By the end of the book, we know the end of the tale, but it is the middle we are lacking, and that is what I wish to read.
Arthur is not without its good parts. There are many battle scenes, and Lawhead makes each and every one of them exciting and unique. Bedwyr is an enjoyable narrator, and he is often close to Arthur and the main pulse of what is going on. His description of the barbarian feast is absolutely priceless. Interesting events happen, and Lawhead is certainly being as good a writer as ever. Certain parts of the story could not have been told the way they were without the different narrators, but I wish it wasn’t necessary. So far, I think this is the weakest book in the Pendragon cycle.
If I could ask Lawhead one question about Arthur, it would be: What really happened to Arthur and the island of Avallon, and where did they go?
posted by Tai Schutz | Monday, October 23, 2006
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