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Historical Arthur

chuck
Bibliophile
Posts: 1073
Joined: August 2008
Location: Ciinaminson NJ

Artos

Post by chuck » Tue August 24th, 2010, 4:15 am

[quote=""annis""]Hi Chuck - glad you're enjoying Here Lies Arthur. I think it a delectably subversive piece of work, and so well written - when I come across bits like -- "my words took flight upon the music and wheeled about like swifts under the roof-beams", I just go "aahhh"![/quote]

I like the fresh POV, the characters live and breathe....Gwyna and Myrddin are special and I like the dark side of Arthur and his companions.....100 pages in.....Enjoying Myrddin's reenactments/ tales especially the Lady of Lake/ the Green Knight are so plausible to perpetuating the glorious myths of Arthur .... And the Dux Britannia is enjoying the game.......Horn has captured the reality of the Dark Ages....It's going to be a quick read....Curious how the Gender issue will work its way out....Thanks again for the mention...
Last edited by chuck on Tue August 24th, 2010, 4:21 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Anna Elliott
Compulsive Reader
Posts: 579
Joined: March 2009

Post by Anna Elliott » Tue August 24th, 2010, 2:05 pm

[quote=""chuck""]I like the fresh POV, the characters live and breathe....Gwyna and Myrddin are special and I like the dark side of Arthur and his companions.....100 pages in.....Enjoying Myrddin's reenactments/ tales especially the Lady of Lake/ the Green Knight are so plausible to perpetuating the glorious myths of Arthur .... And the Dux Britannia is enjoying the game.......Horn has captured the reality of the Dark Ages....It's going to be a quick read....Curious how the Gender issue will work its way out....Thanks again for the mention...[/quote]

Whole heartedly agree, I read it last year and loved it. Isn't it amazing how even though there are SO many King Arthur retellings, it can somehow always be made fresh and new yet again?

Author of the Twilight of Avalon trilogy
new book: Dark Moon of Avalon, coming Sept 14 from Simon &Schuster (Touchstone)

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http://www.annaelliottbooks.com

chuck
Bibliophile
Posts: 1073
Joined: August 2008
Location: Ciinaminson NJ

Post by chuck » Tue August 24th, 2010, 4:16 pm

"That once was a spot/for one brief shining moment/that was known as Camelot"...Ye Gads! I'm a hopeless Arthurian Romantic...I still believe Arthur and his Companions lie sleeping somewhere.....

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Ashley
Scribbler
Posts: 35
Joined: August 2010
Location: Houston

Post by Ashley » Wed August 25th, 2010, 1:47 am

Hey, Cat just gave me that book for my birthday! Glad to hear it's good - I'm really looking forward to it.

I love the Mike Ashley book too as I use it for background info frequently. I have to admit though (and this is probably not the place to do so) but I really don't like researching at all...I love the history and I love reading about the info, but it's usually when someone has recommended something to me versus me going out and finding the information. Yes, terrible, I know. I love the creating side of writing versus the reading, I guess. To each their own. ;)
~Ashley

King Arthur Fan Fiction, maintainer

My writing can be found on my Live Journal, HERE.

flicka
Scribbler
Posts: 10
Joined: July 2019
Currently reading: Testament
Interest in HF: I've been obsessed by history all my life and in particular with the Dark Ages and whatever reality there might be pertaining to King Arthur. I also like the Roman occupation period.
Favourite HF book: Wolf Hall
Preferred HF: Dark Ages
Medieval
Roman
Location: Newbury in Berkshire

Re: Historical Arthur

Post by flicka » Sat July 13th, 2019, 9:57 am

Hi, I just read factual books about King Arthur nowadays as I'm writing one of my own and I worry about inadvertently picking up snippets from other people's writing. But as a girl I read Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset - I seem to remember he was a lantern jawed part Saxon? I can't remember why, as the details of the book have vanished, but this description didn't endear itself to me. I also read two of Mary Stewart's books. I liked the first one better than the second but couldn't read the third - too many fancy stone castles. I think if you stick to the stories from the past, you could end up with a medieval sounding storyline but all that was fabricated in the age of chivalry. So I'd be much more inclined to go for a rough and ready post-Roman warlord/king with the decaying remains of Roman civilisation all around him. I deliberately haven't read any of the more modern versions, and my own version is a very gritty and realistic view of what life was like then, and how Arthur might have been, but seen through Guinevere's eyes.
Flicka

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