The Eagle brings us at last to the heart of the tale, the creation of fabled Camelot and the love story that enshrined its glory. Whyte takes us into the minds and lives of Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot, three astonishing but fallible people who were bound together by honor, loyalty, and love. Three created the glory that was Britain's shining dream...and, some say, caused its downfall.The Gaulish nobleman Clothar - known in our time as Lancelot - is drawn to the young High King's court by tales of honor and nobility, where he meets a man whose love of law matches his own. More, he finds in Arthur a life-long friend whose dream of uniting the people of Britain in peace Clothar embraces. And Clothar meets Arthur's queen, a wondrous beauty whose passion and ideals match her husband's. Together they work to bring Arthur's dream to life.But dark forces rise in opposition to Arthur's plans for creating this noble island nation and it is hard to tell friend from foe in the swirling chaos that ensues. Many tales have been told of the dream that shined and died. This one will astonish even the most jaded.

Reviews

As a deep friendship grows between Arthur and the Frankish warrior Clothar (otherwise known as Lancelot), so does the need for a visible symbol of a Britain united under a high king. Thus King Arthur creates his knights from his best warriors, and the legend of Camulod is born. Told through the voice of Clothar, the final volume in Whyte's multivolume reworking of the Arthurian legend casts a different light on Arthur's marriage to Gwinnifer and to his relationship to his son Mordred. Exacting period detail and inventive uses of traditional parts of the Arthurian legend make this story, along with its predecessors, a welcome addition to the many retellings of a classic tale. A good choice for most libraries, with particular appeal to fans of historical fantasy and the Arthur cycle. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

"As Whyte waves off the fog of fantasy and legend surrounding the Arthurian story, he renders characters and events real and plausible."--"Booklist"
"A wonderful, rip-roaring journey down the road to Camelot and King Arthur, the way it really might have been."--Robert Jordan

"A top-notch Arthurian tale forged to a sharp edge in the fires of historical realism, Whyte focuses even more strongly on a sense of place, carefully setting his characters into their historical landscape, making this series more realistic and believable than nearly any other Arthurian epic."--"Publishers Weekly" (starred review) on" The Singing Sword"

"It's one of the most interesting historical novels that I've ever read and I've read plenty."--Marion Zimmer Bradley on "The Skystone"

The ninth and final installment in Whyte's Camulod (Camelot) series offers an imaginative if rambling account of the end of the Arthurian era. Narrated by Clothar of Benwick (Lancelot), King Arthur's best friend and loyal companion, the novel is grounded in the author's "interpretation of Lancelot" as "an archetypal hero." Faced with fractious local rulers and Saxon invaders, Arthur hopes to unite Britain to fend off the invasion. But two regional kingsAthe treacherous Symmachus and the ambitious ConnlynAunite to frustrate, and ultimately destroy, Arthur's dream. The basic plot, however, is overburdened with a stew of subplots and backstories: Clothar's affair with a betrothed woman adds heft but not substance, and the detailed recounting of the paternity of Arthur's son, Mordred, the fruit of an unwitting incestuous affair with his half-sister, is distracting. The author also sends Clothar off on a seven-year detour to Gaul where he trains a cavalry force and saves his cousin's kingdom from the Huns. Clothar returns to Britain to find that events have taken a dangerous turn and a final showdown looms with Camulod's enemies. Fans of Whyte's exhaustive retelling of the Camelot legend will welcome this final chapter. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.