Surprisingly different

New surprise at every twist, but glad I don’t have to meet King Arthur-not on a dark night anyway!

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2 people found this helpful

Great characters, thought provoking plot

What a find! The characters are engaging, fallible, heroes who are brilliantly brought to life by the narrator as well as by Merlin.

The story is uplifting but also agonisingly sad. Thought provoking.

Please write more books.

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2 people found this helpful

Good, but not without its flaws

The idea of Arthurian Knights coming back to aid Britain in her time of need is an idea that got me intrigued. The way it works is that, any time Britain is in danger, the knights come back to life and drag themselves from beneath the great trees that have become their tombstones. World Wars, terrorist crises etc ... out pops a knight (fully clad in medieval armour, complete with sword, shield and helmet).

So far, so good.

The reason for the knights return this time seems to be climate change-related which, despite how un-action filled it sounds, is actually done really well. My main issue with the book is that the characters seem to have 'suspend disbelief' as their default setting. A good 90% of the characters that encounter the knights/magic/dragons etc ... do so with a 'oh, that makes sense' mentality. When, in actual fact, it really doesn't. I'm sorry but, if I had experienced no magical occurrences in my day to day life and then, all of a sudden, someone claims to be millennia old and immortal to boot, I'd reply with something a little different to 'well, it's about time then. Here, why don't you take my horse?'. The whole dumbstruck acceptance of most of the characters in this world just made my own disbelief near-impossible to suspend.

I enjoyed the fractures within the knightly brotherhood and thought that brought an edge of realism to it (I mean, after a thousand years, it's nearly impossible not to fall out with even the best of friends), but neither that, nor the good pacing and enjoyable (for the most part) plot line was enough to drag this back up above the three star mark in my mind.

Without giving too much away, if you have your heart set on a faithful re-telling, then you will come away disappointed. This is most certainly not a retelling, nor does it claim to be. It's a re-imagining. The different twist on the characters is done fairly well, not necessarily to my tastes but it was done well enough that I enjoyed it and applaud the author for what he was going for. 

Despite my average scoring of this, I think I'd go in for a 2nd novel based purely on the fact that the aspects that made this one score low would already be present in future works, so I could go into it without the 'but he's a magical being, why does that seem normal to you????' mindset.

Also, it has a wonderfully written squirrel character. Points for that.

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Good writing - a bit preachy

The author’s style and voice is unique and entertaining.

Mostly likeable characters, however, I can’t sympathise with terrorists, environmental or otherwise. Kay and Lancelot are the most entertaining chapters

I read fantasy for escapism so this one isn’t for me, but the writing is incredible for a debut novel and the voice actor was brilliant.

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Environment Fantasy

Excellent story mixing mythology with modern times and modern problems a great yarn with Fantastic characters performance was not great to start but the narrator found his voice as the book progressed

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Hilarious yet thought provoking

A masterful blend of Arthurian mythos and climate activism. As you might expect with a mixture of such disparate elements, the tone shifts from the whimsical to the deeply serious, you find yourself laughing at parts and facing existential dread the next. This never feels jarring though, the humour is very well integrated and serves to reflect that laughter and hope can be found even in the darkest of circumstances. The narrator also does a great job of bringing all the various characters to life, utilising a dizzying array of accents. All in all, if you like humour, knights or caring about the planet I would definitely recommend.

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2 people found this helpful

Dystopian mythological bliss

Great story set in a climate change ravaged Britain, where magic, dragons, and King Arthur's knights can still be found. It makes you smile and think.
The narrator was great with all the accents and voices.

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Great Story Telling

Absolutely, wonderful story, made perfect by the narration.
Our narrator breathes life into the varied characters in a memorable way.
I shall need to force myself not to listen to it all again - too soon.

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A superb first novel

Some audiobooks drag, the characters become difficult to keep track of and interest wanes. This was a book I binge listened and enjoyed immensely. Great plot lines and a real thread to it if you know what I mean. The narration helped, quite excellent. If I had one niggle it was the ending, which seemed abreviated, if ultimately conclusive. My firm hope is that it means there's a sequel in the pipeline. A really great book, thank you

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Loved it

Such a funny but dark imagining of dystopian Arthurian Britain. Going off to eat some carbon neutral venison now.

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