For the Global Reading Challenge "seventh continent", I chose to read books from the realm of Arthurian legend.
My first encounter with King Arthur was Mary Stewart's series which includes The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment, and The Wicked Day. It sparked an interest and I continued on to read several other versions including Stephen R. Lawhead's five-book "Pendragon Cycle" and my favorite, T.H. White's Once and Future King. Although familiar with Tennyson and Malory's versions, both sit on my bookshelf unread.
Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff was recommended to me by my friend Raven as her favorite version of the Arthurian legend. I will agree that it is an excellent telling of the story. It approaches the legend from more of a historical perspective - the battle to save Britain from the Saxon invasion - rather than the romance of Camelot. Although Sutcliff retains a few of the well-known themes from tradition, she states in her forward to the book that "Sword at Sunset is an attempt to re-create from fragments of known facts, from likelihoods and deductions and guesswork pure and simple, the kind of man this war leader may have been, and the story of his long struggle."
Sword at Sunset is certainly a different telling of Arthur's story, but one that makes it seem entirely believable. I highly recommend it!
5 comments:
Thanks for the review!
This is such a good idea for the 7th continent! I really enjoy seeing what ideas people come up with.
I'm a huge fan of The Once and Future King! I plan to reread it as part of my "Reading for Dad Project." That was a book we read together when I was young.
Have you ever read Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley? That is an Arthurian book but told from the point of view of the women.
Always love the Arturian legend in any form!
Looks interesting.
Jenners - I have that one as a possibility for my second. That or The Return of Merlin by Deepak Chopra.
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