Shadow of the King

3.5 stars

Arthur is planning to go fighting to Gaul for Rome yet all isn’t well in his kingdom. His uncle Aurelianus Ambrosius wishes to bring back old Roman ways and his son Cedric is starting to become a real problem.
Discovering treachery in Gaul, Arthur comes to realize he’s very close to defeat for the very first time on his career.

This is the final book of the trilogy and I’ve loved watching Arthur’s and Gwenhwyfar’s relationship through. It wasn’t easy marriage but I loved seeing how they managed to make it work despite everything.
Arthur is still a bastard at times but we see more humane and emotional side of him in this book. And I noticed there was no mentions of his women towards the end. I’d like to think he spent less time womanizing but I’m most likely just dreaming. He might be asshole most of the time but I still liked this realistic version of him.

It was great seeing Bedwyr and Ider again. Poor Bedwyr nearly got what he wanted…

The book started little slow and the parts during Arthur staying away from Britain dragged little bit but when he returned the book got lot better. Surprisingly I think the middle book was the best and for me didn’t have any dragging parts. ( )

Veni, vidi, vici. I came, I saw, I conquered. Helen Hollick's Pendragon's Banner series is one of, if not the best, Arthurian re-tellings that I have read so far. She takes a well-known story and makes it fresh and exciting.

Shadow of the King is the third book in the Pendragon's Banner series following The Kingmaking and Pendragon's Banner.

Picking up where Pendragon's Banner left off, Arthur has brought peace to Britain but has been talked into going to Gaul to protect interests that are not his own. While there, word reaches him that Gwenhwyfar has become sick and he believes her to be dead. He falls into a deep depression and wonders why he ever let himself be talked into leaving his home. He throws himself into the battle wishing to die and all but succeeds. Morgaine, a healer once known as the Lady of the Lake and, unbeknownst to Arthur, the mother of one of his sons, offers to stay behind and bury him while the others try to outrun the approaching enemy. What Morgaine knows that the others don't is that Arthur is still alive. She nurses him back to health and, knowing he has nothing left to return to, he stays in Gaul living unhappily without his wife or kingdom.

Gwenhwyfar, who survived her illness, now lives a life almost a mirror image to Arthur's sad existence. When others convince her that she must re-marry to protect what is left of Arthur's kingdom and herself, she stalls and has trouble getting over the feeling that Arthur isn't dead. When a man tracks her down to tell her that Arthur lives, she leaves everything to find him. Unfortunately, when Gwenhwyfar finds him, he's not the Arthur she knew and he tells her that he won't be returning. Heartbroken, she decides she needs to live even if he will not and leaves. When circumstances convince Arthur he needs his life back, he finds Gwenhwyfar and they both begin to recover from the emotional wounds of their separation. They return home to find one more fight that needs to be fought. When his son by his ex-wife Winifred makes a move to take over his kingdom, Arthur overcomes his fear and leads his men to defeat, but not destroy, his son leaving the door open for a final battle that everyone knows will bring about an end to a world they all know.

I was truly sad to see this series end. While Arthur is tempered in book three, he's still that brooding man I fell for in the previous two books. Gwenhwyfar becomes the strong one and a great ruler in her own right. Hollick takes the tale of Arthur and moves it to epic proportions of a different nature. Yes, some of the same faces appear in this story as in others but it has a new feel to it and one I couldn't get enough of.

If you like historical fiction and especially Arthurian legend, Hollick's trilogy is not to be missed. ( )

From My Blog...

Shadow of the King is the third book in Helen Hollick's Pendragon Series, which opens with King Arthur, his wife Gwenhwyfar and their daughter Archfedd living at Caer Caden. Arthur is now 33 and has been King of Greater and Lesser Britain for 11 years and while Winifred's second husband, Leofric, has passed away, she continues to remain a threat to Arthur even though they have been legally divorced for 13 years. Their son Cerdic has run off to his step-father's lands hoping to one day claim his rightful lands held by Arthur but Cerdic is not alone when it comes to plotting and scheming for the throne and the lands owned by King Arthur. Helen Hollick does a superb job in this third novel, picking off where her second in the trilogy, Pendragon, left off. Political battles replace the more physical battles of her previous novels. King Arthur is summoned to help the Romans and what he believes will be a swift trip for him and his Artoriani turns out to be not at all what it first appeared. To say much more would give away the surprises that lie in store for Arthur, Caer Caden, as well as the reader. Suffice it to say, Hollick once again has written a novel that not only engages the reader, but keep the reader busy thinking with all of the politics, scheming, and plot twists. Shadow of the King is an excellent book in its own right and a brilliant finish for the trilogy. The Shadow of the King is a wonderful rendition of Hollick's view of the final battle for Camelot. ( )