Book Review - The Kingmaking

The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick - (2009)  - It takes a certain amount of courage to take on one of the most familiar legends in the English language.  Most of us have seen several versions of the story of King Arthur, Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table.  It's a pretty well established story.  So credit Hollick for taking it on and trying for a different feel.

This is the story of son of Uthr Pendragon who will grow to become the legendary Arthur Pendragon.  Arthur believes he has a claim on the English throne.  The path toward that kingship is filled with danger, politics and death.  He will make decisions that he will regret and nearly lose the great love of his life Gwenhwyfar.  This book is the first in a trilogy called Pendragon's Banner.

This version is much more realistic than the Disney version some of us grew up with or the stylized version of Excalibur and it bears no resemblance to the musical "Camelot".  In fact I should note that this is not a book for children or the squeamish.  There are several passages that some will find disturbing of rape and violent death.  At the same time given the realistic slant that the author is reaching for they are perfectly appropriate here.  This was a violent age and a casually violent one at that.

Hollick does a nice job telling the story.   She fills in gaps in the sparse actual history and makes reasonable reaches to tie the legend into the history of that time and place.  Because she leans toward more historically correct names and spellings the reader may bog down at times, especially with the more Welsh names.  She conveniently offers a pronunciation guide at the beginning that I found helped a lot.

The author is a former library assistant who fell in love with stories of Arthur and the Dark Ages.  She written several historical fiction novels that have been very well received.  "The Kingmaking" shows you why.

I found the book fascinating and look forward to snagging the next two in the series.

Rating - **** Recommended