A retelling of the story of Merlyn and Arthur. Merlyn takes Arthur and his boyhood companions to the ruins of a long abandoned Roman fort, where Arthur is trained in the skills of a warrior and the tough lessons of justice, honour and the responsibilities of leadership, for the day when he will claim his birthright, Excalibur.

Reviews

Fearing for the life of his nephew, eight-year-old Arthur Pendragon, after an assassination attempt in their beloved Camulod, Caius Merlyn Brittanicus uproots the boy and sails with an intimate group of friends and warriors to Ravenglass, seeking sanctuary from King Derek. Though Ravenglass is supposed to be a peaceful port, danger continues to threaten and it is only through the quick thinking of the sharp-tongued, knife-wielding sorceress Shelagh that catastrophe and slaughter are averted. Derek, who now realizes the value of the allegiances Merlyn's party bring to his land, offers the Camulodians the use of an abandoned Roman fort that is easily defensible. The bulk of the novel involves the growth of Arthur from boyhood to adolescence at the fort. There he is taught the arts of being a soldier and a ruler, and magnificent training swords are forged in Excalibur's pattern from the metals of the Skystone. While danger still lurks around every corner, this is a peaceful time for Britain, so this installment of the saga (The Saxon Shore, etc.) focuses primarily on the military skills Arthur masters, as well as on the building and refurbishing of an old Roman fort. Whyte has again written a historical fiction filled with vibrant detail. Young Arthur is less absorbing a character than many of the others presented (being seemingly too saintly and prescient for his or any other world), but readers will revel in the impressively researched facts and in how Whyte makes the period come alive. (Apr.)

"From the building blocks of history and the mortar of reality, Jack Whyte has built Arthur's world, and showed is the bone beneath the flesh of legend."--Diana Gabaldon

"A series that promises to provide historic plausibility to the legend of King Arthur...the best of its type in the near quarter of a century since Mary Stewart's version of these legends burst upon the publishing scene."--T"he Cattanooga Times"