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Arthur the King: A romance ("The Dark Ages" trilogy)
 
 

Arthur the King: A romance ("The Dark Ages" trilogy) (Hardcover)

by Allan Massie (Author) "The winter sea was grey and the grass was grey and the stone of the little chapel on the hill was grey ..." (more)
2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (11 Sep 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0297816780
  • ISBN-13: 978-0297816782
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.4 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 952,192 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #32 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > M > Massie, Allan

Product Description

THE OBSERVER

"The Arthurian legends... always bear a fresh telling, especially from such a well-versed historical novelist as Massie... a cracking story."


Review

"If you have only a dim recollection of the Arthur legends, this is an opportunity to rediscover their variety. And Massie entertainingly adds his own, deliberately anachronistic, original ingredients." (SALLEY VICKERS, THE TIMES )

"The Arthurian legends... always bear a fresh telling, especially from such a well-versed historical novelist as Massie... a cracking story." (THE OBSERVER )

"I hope Massie doesn't stop at a mere trilogy. With entertainment as high-wrought and glittering as this, even a dodecalogy would be too short." (DAILY TELEGRAPH )

"a lively and colourful yarn." (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

"A timely examination of the power and pitfalls of myth in political life." (SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY )

"This novel simply adds to my admiration for this absurdly underrated author." (GLASGOW HERALD )

"Well-handled" (TLS )

"It is in the mists of sinister suggestion that Massie's skill truly glitters... you are held by the throat from beginning to end." (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
The winter sea was grey and the grass was grey and the stone of the little chapel on the hill was grey. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:    (0)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Decent attempt at an oft-told tale, 13 Aug 2004
By A Customer
It won't change your life, but it's entertaining enough. Don't buy it if you're looking for a traditional rendering of the Arthurian legend or if you have any particular aversion to homosexual rape or incest. I felt that, at times, Massie tries too hard to be original in telling the tale (anyone remember there being vampires...?) Otherwise it's pretty good.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Well Told tale, 1 Aug 2006
By J. Chippindale (England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
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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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Stop/start storyline to a tepid and poorly written novel..., 12 Mar 2007
By L. A. Powell (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I was expecting good things from this take on the Arthurian legend, and until about half way through the book I was pleasantly surprised on the new direction Mr. Massie was taking. Tales of Arthur's boyhood and shocking takes on Merlin/child cruelty/incest made this quite a refreshing change. Yet this was not enough to stop the immediate nose dive which ruined the book in Arthur's later life. The frequent pauses in the action and detail absolutely destroy the pace of this book, and thus force the reader to have to muster all their strength in order to plough on through the pointless scenarios of the narrator addressing his "prince". Completely unnecessary drivel used in my opinion only to make the book appear different from every other medieval re-telling we hear. And upon Arthur's reaching of middle age we meet a weak and frail man we are most certainly not familiar with, by which I mean Arthur and his flawed character development. The plot just seems to plod along without hope of re-kindling the romance we had with the book which was the rather decent first half. All this leading up to what can only be described as a complete train wreck of an ending. Don't waste your time.
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2.0 out of 5 stars Arthur the Cad
This telling of the Arthurian story is sometimes splendid and sublime, but at other times patchy, clunking and cursory. Read more
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