The third book in the warlord trilogy, Excalibur follows Arthur to the end of his tale. Derfel, the narrator, is finishing the story for Queen Igraine of Powys, his patron, and reminiscing about a life lived and how the smallest things can change a life forever.

In Excalibur, we find Arthur at peace with the world. He has helped to install Mordred as king, and while his reign is anything but just, Arthur has kept his oath to see him placed on the throne. During this time of hesitant peace --- Saxons are gathering and people are expecting another battle --- Merlin believes it is time to bring the gods back to the land. Everyone is gathered, Pagan and Christian alike, to watch Merlin summon gods of the old world. He fails and the blame falls on Arthur who would not allow his son, Gwydre, to be sacrificed for the gods. Soon after, the Saxons invade.

The invasion is the largest yet and the Saxons have come not just to intimidate but to conquer. Past wars have been rather quick but this time Arthur guesses wrong about where the enemy will make its stand. He gets cut off from his forces and the Saxons mount an impressive siege, trapping Derfel and his men who were to meet with Arthur. Arthur does arrive with reinforcements and the ensuing battle is long and harsh. He prevails, driving the Saxons out once more. Mordred is left a king without powers but a king nonetheless. And against his wishes, Derfel is named to rule Dumnonia and Arthur, newly reunited with Guinevere, retreats to Siluria to live the quiet life he has always wanted. They all become content and this is when their enemies rise.

Arthur and Derfel wanted peace and quiet, time with their wives, children, and grandchildren. When news comes of Mordred's approaching death after being wounded in battle far from home, they begin planning for Gwydre to become ruler of Dumnonia. Mordred, unfortunately, is far from death and returns with a warband intent on killing rivals and anyone who caused him pain in the past. He plans to take the power and rightful kingship he feels he was denied.

While reading, there were times when I needed to remind myself this wasn't Derfel's story but Arthur's. Their lives, fortunes, and wars are so intertwined that you can almost see them as one story. Derfel, in his telling, reminds you that it is Arthur and intentionally leaves out information he isn't comfortable speculating on which sometimes can be annoying. For instance, Queen Igraine wants to know how Arthur and Guinevere were reunited and what happened. He tells her only what he knows --- that they spoke together after the battle of Mynydd Baddon where the Saxons were defeated. You want to know more too but he doesn't add that information, telling only the story he knows. This is one of the reasons why I liked this series so much, the character of Derfel. He was honest, true, credible, and so very likable even if he didn't tell you all you wanted to know. You trusted him to be true to the story and it made it all work in the end.

The ending is true to Arthurian standards and while I won't disclose it here, it does feel satisfactory if a bit stunted but then again, that is how war and stories sometimes end. ( )

The last of Cornwell's Arthur trilogy, Excalibur features epic battles, the death of nearly all protagonists (save the narrator of the story, our now-pious monk Derfel), and..well, magic. In the first two books, Cornwell was careful to maintain plausible denialability when it comes to Druidical magic, exemplified in the person of Merlin. In Excalibur, however, he gives in to temptation -- there are more than a few situations where Druidical magic (and the subsequent nullification through other magic) is just too cause-and-effect to be explainable in mundane terms (no matter how badly Arthur wants to not believe). The story ends with a wounded Arthur, fresh off his single-combat victory with his former charge, King Mordred, sailing off through the "mists of Avalon" never to be seen again.

The series is a fine composition using characters from the Arthurian legend combined with historical events and places at the time (~500 CE). Cornwell certainly did his research, although most historians on the subject consider Arthur's existence to be speculative at best. Bernard Cornwell is the finest historical novelist of our time, and this series is another tribute to his skill and story-telling. And unlike the Sharpe stories, it's over, done, ended....there won't be 20 more books to come. Now when is that next Saxon Chronicles book going to come out? ( )

"The Matter of Britain" - that is, the story of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot - exerts a powerful fascination on both writers and readers. I was about to say that everyone knows what happened, but then I recalled Randall Jarrell's narrator in "Pictures from an Institution" saying "There is no book that all my students have read" and Dr Rosenbaum sadly replying "It is in such phrases that one realises the decline of the West". But at least we can say that many readers are familiar with the basic elements of the Arthurian legend, so the attraction for them can't be in finding out what happens. It has to be in how well the author describes why it happened, in the interactions of character and events which plausibly bring about the well-known consequences.
Cornwell is strong on fighting, tactics, descriptions of people and places in an England for which there is little extant history. We know more about the Romans and the Greeks than about Dark Age Britain, and his version is well-written and persuasive. ( )

The final book in Cornwell's Arthurian trilogy strays far from the original stories, but manages to plumb new depths of tragedy there. All in all, it's a fine ending to a well-written and creative set of novels. ( )

A fitting conclusion to this wonderful trilogy. Cornwell brings together all the characters and plot threads in a satisfying way, and even manages a few plot twists in a story whose ending everyone knows. I recommend the entire trilogy. ( )