Headline Review 2009: 978-0-7553-4869-5

 I’ve been really looking forward to reading this book: the first novel in Hume’s Arthurian trilogy was one of the standout books of 2009 for me. It was gripping, historically accurate and told a great story convincingly. I was also taken with the range of characters: callow Artor (Hume’s Arthur), in whom you could see the seeds of greatness; Caius (Kay), whose casual cruelty is held in check by his allegiance to his half-brother; to the calculated, yet humane plotting of Myrddion (Merlin). And there were other characters whom are not part of the Arthurian canon but who were portrayed so vividly and warmly that they leapt from the page. I was especially fond of Targo, the Roman Centurion who raises horses for Artor’s stepfather and teaches Artor all he knows about combat and tactics. And there was Gallia, Artor’s first and truest love, who dies tragically.

So I opened this book with anticipation. Very quickly I was back in the Dark Ages, battling with Artor as he tries desperately to keep Britain together. Hume makes the decision to skip several years to show us an Artor on the verge of his dream of a united Britain. He is a harder man too: you can sense that these years have been tough on him but rewarding as well, as is evidenced by his idealism still being intact. But, just as he seems about to achieve his goal, the Saxons begin to encroach further into his lands than they have before, demanding land and conquest. Artor is also considering taking a wife, though more to secure the throne than for any romantic reasons. However, he finds that dealing with a spoiled princess may be even harder than repelling the Saxons…

And this is where you might find this book becoming a little too much for you: Wenhaver (Hume’s Guinevere) is not an attractive character; there is also no Lancelot in Hume’s vision of Camelot; Nimue and Merlin’s story is slightly different to established legend, as is Perceval’s; and Morgana, like Cassandra in David Gemmell’s retelling of the Trojan War, is a much different character from the one of “established” legend.

But what is the established legend? Marion Zimmer Bradley’s version, as recounted in The Mists of Avalon? T. H. White’s version? Lord Tennyson’s? Sir Thomas Malory’s? Chretien de Troye’s? Geoffrey of Monmouth’s? All of these, as well as countless others, have added to the myth and built up what we know as the “story” so far. Hume has done reams of research for this series and as it progresses you realize just how much of what we consider to be part of Arthuriana was tacked on over the course of centuries to become what we consider to be the accepted story today.

Hume’s Artor is a man concerned with leaving his kingdom better than he found it, a man well aware of what History can do to your reputation. This is Camelot as it could have happened, with very little myth and hardly any magic, save for that of a good story well told.

There are flaws, of course. Hume commits the oh-so-common sin of not trusting her story enough to let the readers work it out for themselves, which is frustrating, especially when there is so much on offer for readers who have an interest in this sort of historical fiction. Also — and I hope it gets fixed in future editions — Chapters 12 and 13 have the same title.

Despite these small failings, I enjoyed this as a worthy successor to the first book. I can’t wait for the final volume.

 Find out more about M. K. Hume at http://www.mkhume.com.au.

 You can read The Specusphere’s interview with M. K. Hume at http://www.specusphere.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=709&Itemid=31 .