Synopsis:

A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a spot on the Round Table, only to find he’s too late. The king died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, leaving no heir, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table survive.

They aren’t the heroes of legend, like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Tables, from the edges of the stories, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill. Together this ragtag fellowship will set out to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance.

But Arthur’s death has revealed Britain’s fault lines. God has abandoned it, and the fairies and monsters and old gods are returning, led by Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay. Kingdoms are turning on each other, warlords are laying siege to Camelot, and rival factions are forming around the disgraced Lancelot and the fallen Queen Guinevere. It is up to Collum and his companions to reclaim Excalibur, solve the mysteries of this ruined world and make it whole again. But before they can restore Camelot they’ll have to learn the truth of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell and lay to rest the ghosts of his troubled family and of Britain’s dark past.

Rating:

Review:

I listened to this one on audiobook and I was highly anticipating it. I love Camelot and King Arthur, so I was really excited to see this kind of a book. One that had a Camelot in distress and in need of a new hero. It’s a very long book too, the audiobook is about 24 hours or so, the hardcover is 673 pages. I wanted a good adventure! And I didn’t get it.

The first three hours of this audiobook were great! We follow Callum’s journey to Camelot, his discovery that Arthur is gone and so are most of his knights. The only knights left are the ones who weren’t very good anyway. That was all great, I loved it. And we get a little bit of the history of Arthur in there too. I was completely invested.

Then it started to get a little dull. We were going on a quest to find out if any of the other knights are still alive and find Excalibur. But, most of what actually happens is drinking, joking around and moping about how badly everything sucks. It was the longest journey to nowhere ever. It reminded me of Tolkien, and if you know my opinion on Tolkien….well….it’s not a compliment. By the time we introduced Morgan le Fay I was so bored that nothing could bring me back. I listened to roughly 10 hours of this book and then called it a day. I just couldn’t stand the thought of spending another 14 hours on it. I have many better ways to use my time.