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Arthur the King: A Romance ("The Dark Ages" trilogy)
by Allan Massie
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (2003-09-11)
ISBN: 0297816780
EAN: 9780297816782
Dewy Decimal #: 398
Hardcover: 304 pages
SKU: H5279
Condition: As New
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
In this epic novel, Allan Massie cleverly uses the key points of the Arthurian legend - Arthur himself, his wife Guinevere, his lover Morgan le Fay, Merlin, the sword Excalibur, and the Knights of the Round Table - but readers would need to be exceptionally well versed in Arthurian lore to tell where Massie has added his own inventive twists to the tale. From the moment when callow young Arthur succeeds in drawing the sword Excalibur from the stone, thus becoming King, the story unfolds. We see how, with the aid of Merlin and the knights, Arthur welded England into a single nation, and became involved in the wars of a wider Europe, until at his death England fragmented once again. We may think we know the story of Arthur and of Camelot, but in Massie's hands it comes across as newly minted.
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Customer Reviews
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a Well Told Tale
Rating  (4)
Date: 2006-08-01
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
The Arthurian legends have taken on many guises and formats over the years and Allan Massie's attempt is as good as most. It does stray in many ways from the original tale but as the whole Arthurian saga is more myth than actual proven fact this does not really matter.
I think that in this particular book Allan Massie writes to shock the reader and for those of a delicate or sheltered upbringing the book will certainly achieve that.
I found the book an interesting read, not the best telling of the Arthurian legend, but certainly not the worst. What does bug me though with many of the books about Arthur is that the book cover illustrators find it necessary to depict the men in suits of armour, a form of protection that is medieval. If Arthur existed at all, he lived many centuries before then and would not know a suit of armour if one dropped on his foot.
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