“All gone now. All of it of no more substance than a memory which may just have been a dream. Hadn’t they been fools to think they could cling to the past? How many men had died for it fighting the Saxon tide? How many women made widows or taken as slaves? How many children left to play in the ashes?”

Saxons rule Britain and Arthur’s reign has long gone but the people hope for his return, they hope the prophecies are true. Yet Beran does not believe in prophecies and hope, he is too old for such foolish notions. Being part of a mercenary band means a life of killing and stealing, which he’s pretty good at. When he’s ordered to kill a young boy fleeing in the night, Beran knows this is a step too far, even for him. When he realises the boy is not just a Prince but the son of King Constantine and the grandson of high King Ambrosius, he knows this boy could hold the key to saving Britain. He therefore betrays Narbor and takes Prince Erbin into his protection and promises to deliver him to Camelot. Hunted by Queen Morgana, Saxons and Nabor means the journey is by no means easy, but maybe hope is alive after all. 

Arthur by Giles Kristian is the conclusion to The Arthurian Tales trilogy and delves readers into one last journey through war-torn Britain and the myths of old. Kristian once again breathes new life into these well loved retellings. 

There’s a beautiful undercurrent of loss and longing for times gone by, when the mighty kings once stood tall against the Saxons, when Britain was more bountiful, for the days before the defeat. Kristian has always had a fantastic way of painting England’s landscape, its nature and its beauty in such vivid ways and Arthur is no different. Yet he also achieves a contrast by chronicling two very different storylines; throughout we are given segments of Arthur’s childhood where he grew up in the shadow of his father Uther Pendragon, the great King who slayed the Saxons and ruled with an iron fist. Then the main narrative focuses on Beran traversing through an England devoid of Arthur, devoid of any real opposition to the Saxons who have laid waste to all of England’s former glory. When we are with Arthur we see his strenuous relationship with his father, we see him as a naïve boy falling in love, we see him training and rising to be the formidable warrior he was destined to be and we see his dealing with staple figures of Arthurian mythology such as Gawain, Merlin, Guinevere and of course, Morgaine. Now here’s a character I wanted more from because Morgaine is such an influential and interesting character with a great backstory that’s only briefly touched upon here. I felt Kristian would have done a great job at exploring all her complexities in further depth. I can see why this isn’t done in this book though as this is not her story, this is essentially the rise and fall of Arthur but I can only hope that one day, if Kristian decides to return to these figures, he could feature her more significantly.

As I have mentioned when we meet Beran we see England in a rather desperate state and this has bred rather desperate people. Beran is a mercenary with a past that he does not wish to think of, that causes him much pain. He’s a character who is gruff, which is no surprise given he works for Nabor ap Nabor and his men who lead a violent life and who have few morals, he knows them well and he knows they will stop at nothing to hunt him down. Yet Beran has led a life of war and though he had now reached old age and feels every ache of it, he will still fight. When he takes the young boy, Prince Erbin, under his protection that sense of purpose seems to bring something out in him. Prince Erbin is both what you would expect from a young boy and what you would not. He’s boisterous, inquisitive and pushy and as expected of a Prince well spoken but he’s also got a sense of honour, bravery and integrity. Along the way we also meet side characters such as Tristan and Isolde, two runaway lovers, The Little King and Palamedes who knew Beran more than anyone and had fought with him. I liked the way each of these characters brought something different to the narrative, Prince Erbin gave a sense of innocence and hope, Tristan and Isolde were our star crossed lovers and in their escape brought much tension, and Palamedes brought much needed friendship to Beran. 

“Beran cursed under his breath as he walked back through the dark, the stars above indifferent to all who gazed upon them. The gods of Britain gone now, their power as faint as the scent in the air after rain.

The hopes of a people crumbled to ashes and dust, like bones in the fading embers of the funerary fire.

He knew he would get no sleep now.”

For a portion of the book I did feel like I wasn’t really emotionally attached to our characters, particularly Beran who I felt I didn’t fully know. My experience with both Lancelot and Camelot was that Kristian is a writer who can really get under the skin of a character so that you deeply care for them to the point where I cried for them, but in Arthur I struggled to feel the same way. That’s not to say that Beran and the others aren’t likeable because they are; underneath his bad-tempered demeanour Beran has an endearing, loyal quality to him, he’s a man of his word and I liked that, but there was also so much we didn’t know about him. Towards the end, you see why, it makes sense and I appreciated his character a whole deal more. The last hundred pages or so of this novel were utterly gripping and here is where I felt the emotions I was missing before. What can I say? I’m a reader who needs to feel a little pain every now and then!

By the end of this tale Kristian does an incredible job of pulling all three books of this trilogy together and bringing a sense of closure but also leaving the door open for more. By the end Arthur left me with a sorrowful ache but also satisfied with our character’s well deserved outcome.

“He had given Britain his best years. More, he had given his soul. Or rather, he had lost it. Either way, he had nothing left to give. Not any more.”

ARC provided by Chloë at Transworld and Penguin Random House UK in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the copy!

Arthur is out now! You can order your copy HERE