The story, a treatment of the Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot is given the treatment possible by this author. Sadly, it is a far cry from the mainstream of current Arthuriana. also, it is not a very engaging tale. There is little exploration of Arthur's character, except constant statements that he is a Great Man, but there are no examples of it, only bald statements. This does not engage me as a reader of fiction. As usual with Whyte, he has constructed a picture of continental Europe which is without any archaeological or textual evidence. While it is true we have nothing but scanty archaeological evidence, and very few details from the written evidence, the writings of Gildas, the Nennius collection, and the vague passages in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles, there is some peripheral evidence from the "History of the Franks" by Gregory of Tours, and a letter to a Riothamus by Sidonius Apollinaris Whyte ignores Gregory, and seems to have taken only a string of titles from the perhaps rhetorical letter from the bishop of Clermont. Having read all the "Arthuriana published by this author, I dismiss it as very poor work indeed. As fantasy, I wish I had spent the same amount of time with Robert E. Howard, or Poul Anderson or Tolkien or Guy Gavriel Kaye.. ( )

The ninth and final book in the Camulod Chronicles. I liked it more than the previous one - we spent some of the time in Camulod! People talked to each other about things besides war! Lots of recognisable stuff from the legends came to pass! And as a medical minded person I got a kick out of this scene where a knight falls down a cliff and breaks his leg, and they have to treat it and get him home again with tools they improvise from what they can find in the woods. But overall, the ending of this series was much weaker than the beginning. It’s a shame, I loved the beginning, I wanted it to stay good.
It says in the blurb that Jack Whyte had always considered the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle to be the heart of the Arthurian story, so I was disappointed by how little this version impacted me, and how little these three interacted on page. Arthur and Gwinnifer had a political marriage, and they liked and respected each other but were never really in love. Clothar and Gwinnifer liked each other too, and we’re told they eventually fell in love and got married after Arthur’s death, but everything was strictly platonic before then. And Arthur and Clothar were supposedly the very best of friends, but that just didn’t ring true for me. It’s frustrating, because I know Whyte can do better! Publius Varrus and Caius Britannicus from the first and second books in the Chronicles had a special friendship that I was very invested in. If Varrus had told Caius “You and my wife are the two people I love most in the world, I need you both to be safe”, I would have accepted it without question and felt feelings about it; but when Arthur said that to Clothar I was just like “… Is that true, though? Really? I’m gonna want some more evidence than just you saying it”.
Overall, I found this ending unsatisfying. The thing about the Arthurian story is that it’s a tragedy, and this version took away a lot of the power in that. There was nothing between Clothar and Gwinnifer, Mordred always knew he was the product of incest but he didn’t care and neither did anyone else, he was openly acknowledged as Arthur’s son and heir, Clothar left Camulod before it fell because Arthur ordered him to get out and take the queen with him, and Arthur lost his final war not due to betrayal or anyone’s fatal flaws but simply due to the overwhelming might of the enemy. It was nice, but somehow felt hollow to me. ( )

Some spoilers ahead:

While the title refers to Arthur, make no mistake: This is Clothar’s story. Clothar is the Frankish name the author has given to Lancelot to better fit in with his historical setting. He was introduced in the previous book, The Lance Thrower, where he earned the nickname of Lance, based on his weapon of choice. Clothar spends most of his time in either the north of Britain or in Gaul, rather than in Camulod, so he has little time to spend with his king. While this saddens him, it also saddens me because I want more Arthur.

I enjoy how bits from the legends are worked into this story, from the way that Clothar saves King Pelles’ life, to how he fights a succession of five enemy knights. Whyte also subverts the generally accepted legend, in that there is never an affair between Clothar and Gwinnifer, and how Mordred is not the downfall of the King. (That comes from a wound that he receives in battle about 2/3 of the way through the book, but that never properly heals, such that it continues to weaken him through his remaining years.)

This being the final installment in the Camulod Chronicles, it brings the Arthurian tale to a close, but almost too abruptly for my taste. In Clothar’s final meeting with the king, he is instructed to take the Queen back to Gaul with him, for her safety, since a battle is coming soon and the King has doubts that he will survive. As such, Clothar isn’t there at the end. He just relays hearsay and rumor, noting that he may never know the truth of what happened on that battlefield. A) I find this unsatisfactory, the diving into rumor in a series that has done so well at presenting the whole story as factually and historically and in-depth as possibly can be. Why the sudden change at the end? B) It is made clear that Clothar is extraordinarily good at infiltrating the enemy force and speedily bringing about the end of a war or siege. He does in the North against Connlyn in just over a week, what Arthur’s army had been trying to accomplish over the past two years. Therefore, with Arthur knowing this strength of his friend, why would he not use this asset in the upcoming battle. Send Gwinnifer away with another knight, but keep Clothar at hand to assist in the final fray.

But that’s not how it plays out. On the whole, I did enjoy the book and the entire series. It has the tendency to get bogged down in the minutia of the military, though. On one such occasion, Arthur tells Clothar that all his sources are clergymen, so he does not know the military particulars of the battle which sent Atilla the Hun heading back East. And then there’s a page and a half describing this battle down to the details of which flank routed which. I learned about Atilla in school, of course, but this is far more than I ever learned in any classroom about this particular battle.

I recommend this book to any who’ve read the previous in the series, obviously, but also to those who are interested in seeing Arthur and Camulod in the most realistic setting possible. If you have an interest in military history as well, then this series is definitely something you will enjoy. ( )

Best best.....This writer takes you to the time of King Aurther, and shows how they are human and lived. Eating off tranchers and not many veggies in those times. ( )

I really loved this entire series (all 9 of them) Each and every one was a really exciting fast paced story that would stand alone, but read in sequence add up to a wonderful story about Arthur and his knights.
The story starts a long time before Arthur is born, when Excalibur is forged and Camulod (Camelot) is born. How his ancestors created it and how Arthur himself came to be High King of all Britain, with Merlyn his mentor.
It is a fictional account of course feasible enough, if Arthur ever really existed!
I am so sorry to have finished this series, but have the set sitting on my shelf ready to go again, which I am positive will happen! ( )