Recent Reads {Pendragon Cycle Book Three - Arthur}

I actually finished Arthur well over a week ago, but I have not been keeping up very well with my blogs.  This is the third book in Stephen Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle and as the title suggests, it focuses on the life of Arthur - his rise to the position of Dux Brittanica and eventually to High King.  This book is, oddly, the darkest in mood of the three I have read so far.  Despite Arthur's victories in battle and his great successes, there is a sense of foreboding throughout most of the book.  Of course, the character Merlin speaks of his own sense of a fateful day coming; and as a reader I am familiar with the Arthurian legend and know that his glorious Kingdom of Summer eventually comes to an ignoble end.  It doesn't happen in this book, but there are some near misses; and anyone who has any knowledge of the Arthurian stories has a pretty good idea that it won't necessarily end as neatly and "happily ever after" as we might like.  The story is told in three narratives - first, that of Pelleas, Merlin's steward. Lawhead's Pelleas character bears little resemblance to the one described in the article!  The second narrator is Bedwyr (or Sir Bedivere, as we're more likely to know him) and I have to admit that I didn't figure out that Bedwyr was the Welsh version of Bedivere until I looked him up!  The third narrator is the poet Aneirin - a historical figure that, as far as I know, is not usually associated with Arthur.  The character comes into the story as a young boy apprenticed to Merlin.  Towards the end of his story, he tells how Arthur was seriously wounded in a battle, and the effort to save his life.  Merlin takes the ailing king secretly to Avallon - which in this story is a mysterious island where the Atlantean king Avallach and his daughter Charis (mother of Merlin) and their people are living.  Queen Gwenhwyvar and some loyal knights attempt to keep the kingdom intact while Arthur recovers.  But Merlin and Arthur do not return when expected, and when Aneirin leads Gwenhwyvar and the knights to Avallon, it has disappeared.  We are left with this mystery, and a very odd and mournful epilogue which is signed as being written by Gildas.  I read it assuming it was the final lines of Aneirin's story, only to discover it signed by Gildas in the last sentence.  Gildas was a Christian monk, and one story does credit him with an involvement in the Arthurian tales, but I found it an unsettling end to the book.    Good thing there is a sequel!! 

 

I don't know how soon I will be reading the next book, Pendragon.  It will depend on how quickly I get through the (at least) 4 other books on the "reading, and to-read" pile on my night table.