The Saxon Shore (1995)

This is the fourth book in the "Camulod Chronicles" series. The first book, The Skystone I rated five stars, the second book, The Singing Sword four and a half, the third, The Eagles' Brood four stars. Notice a trend? Yeah, and this one gets three and a half stars. That first book earned the five stars because I was so impressed with Whyte's attempts to completely ground the legends of Merlin and King Arthur in a realist, historical way. For instance, in the first book, the sword of Excalibur is special both because the metal came from a meteor and because of techniques used in forging the sword. I've read other books that ground the legend more or less historically from Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave to Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon and Gillian Bradshaw's Hawk of May, all of which give more than a nod to the legend's probable historical kernel in sub-Roman Dark Ages Britain. But all three are fantasy, not historical fiction.

The last book and this one, which center on Merlin, do have elements of the supernatural, at least in term of prophetic dreams and use of "the Sight." I admit I found that disappointing, even though I love fantasy. But the realistic aspect of these books was a lot of what made this series special, so any step into the supernatural for me diminished that, especially since of all the authors mentioned above, I felt Whyte has the weakest prose style. You can't mistake this for literature certainly. This story doesn't have the strength in the writing and characterizations of a T.H. White or Mary Stewart.

One other thing bothered me in terms of the world created in the book. At one point Merlin acts to nip "factions" in the bud, absolutely forbidding them and freedom of association among the people involved. For "faction" think "political party." You can't have a republic or a democracy or anything but an autocracy without them, and I'm not sure if it's that Merlin doesn't understand that, or Jack Whyte doesn't, but it bugged me.

Another thing that I felt was off in this latest installment was pacing. Let's just say the pace defines leisurely. The three previous books each took in decades. While in the case of The Saxon Shore, over 600 pages of the 716 pages take place in the course of less than a year--during Arthur's infancy. The first time I tackled this book was years ago--and I didn't finish. I pushed past the point I lost interest this time, and I do intend to finish with my last book in the series I own, The Sorcerer, but no this didn't much impress me as much as the earlier books. ( )

This is the fourth book in The Camulod Chronicles. As with the others, it is very detailed in its recreation of Britain in the decades following Rome's withdrawal. As Arthur is a young boy in this story, the names of certain characters are starting to become more familiar, while my brain searches for the characters I know from other versions of the Arthurian Legend.

I'm not sure the reason why, but I took far longer to read this than I had any of the previous installments. I had the renew the book more times than I can recall, and it was a struggle somehow. This may not be a comment on the book itself, so much as on me. I dunno. Anyway, I shall be eager to read the next book in line. ( )

I think I read the previous books in the series too quickly, and I started to get bored. I can't really remember what's happening anymore, but will finish it eventually.Started the book January 14, 2008.---------------------------------------August 3, 2009Started reading the book again. James is reading the series as well, so I had better finish this book so I'm done when he gets to it.

This is the fourth book in the Camulod series and even though I really enjoyed all the books so far, this fourth one has been the best. The series follows many generations of a several families as it tell the story of how Camulod was created. King Arthur does not even show up until the end of the third book when he is born. In this fourth book, Arthur is still a young babe and you begin to see the importance that is being placed on him to grow into a king that will unite many groups of people under the rule of Britain. The story and the series is full of rich loveable characters and the plots are full of interesting detail. This series would be enjoyed by anyone who appreciates historical fiction and is an absolute must read for those that enjoy Arthurian legend. ( )

Great historic Merlin could have series ( )