Lancelot: 'A masterpiece’ said Conn Iggulden - Softcover

Kristian, Giles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552174009 ISBN 13: 9780552174008

Publisher: Corgi, 2019

Synopsis

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Conn Iggulden has called it 'a masterpiece' while The Times has hailed it 'a gorgeous, rich retelling of the Arthurian tale' . . .
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Rome is burning.

In Britain, Uther Pendragon is dying.

Enemies stalk his land.

Into this uncertain world a boy is cast - an outsider, plagued by memories of those he's lost.

Under the watchful eye of Merlin, the boy begins his journey to manhood. He meets another outcast, Guinevere - wild, proud and beautiful. And he is dazzled by Arthur - a warrior who carries the hopes of the people like a flaming torch in the dark.

But these are treacherous times, and the fate of Britain rests on a sword's edge. This young man becomes a lord of war: loved, hated, admired and feared. He is a man forsaken but not forgotten.

He is Lancelot.
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Set in a 5th century Britain besieged by invading bands of Saxons and Franks, Irish and Picts, Giles Kristian's epic new novel tells - in Lancelot's own words - the story of the most revered yet reviled of all Arthur's knights, the warrior who fought at his lord's side - yet stole his wife. This is the story of one of the great figures of British myth and legend - a story ready to be re-imagined for our times.

About this title

Review:

"It is a masterpiece in the true sense of the word." (CONN IGGULDEN, author of The Falcon of Sparta)

"Some of us grew up with T H White’s Once and Future King as our touchstone for authenticity in the Arthurian myths; others found that Rosemary Sutcliff, Bernard Cornwell or Mary Stewart filled that role. Giles Kristian pulls together the best of the best and infuses it with his own utterly transformative understanding of myth, magic – and the many faces of love . . . There are so many modern retellings of the Arthurian myth, but this one stands head and shoulders above the rest, in the company of true greatness." (MANDA SCOTT, author of Boudica)

"Without doubt this is Giles Kristian’s finest novel to date. Glorious. Tragic. Lyrical. Totally gripping. I loved it." (BEN KANE, author of Clash of Empires)

"This most fascinating character from Arthurian legend has been plucked from the 14th-century romances and positioned firmly back in the early medieval environment he belongs in. Giles is an extraordinary writer, able to capture sounds, smells, sensations in a sentence. No other writer thinks and feels his way back to the medieval past the way he does . . . Lancelot is an exceptional book and does what only great historical fiction can do: transport you back through time to feast, fight and feel alongside fascinating characters from the past. No one does this better than Giles Kristian." (DR JANINA RAMIREZ)

"A gorgeous, rich retelling of the Arthurian tale." (Antonia Senior THE TIMES)

"I loved the post Roman chaos of Giles’ vision, just as I imagine it would have been but with the life of that vision breathed into it to render it in stark and bloody tones. But what I enjoyed most was the sheer glorious brutality of the age, delivered by a writer with the heart of a warrior and the soul of a poet. It’s really, really good." (ANTHONY RICHES, author of The Centurions series)

"His Lancelot is no airy tale of magic and romance, but a muscular telling of warriors and survival, beautifully rendered in a prose that is both visceral and lyrical. This is historical fiction at its very best." (ELIZABETH FREMANTLE, author of The Girl in the Glass Tower)

"Intense and powerful . . . written with deep expression and enormous feeling. It is a marvellous historical adventure." (Sunday Express)

"Kristian is a writer with rare power to grab you at the opening of the story and to keep the pace going. Lancelot is a powerful reworking of the King Arthur myths. The pages turn by themselves." (JUSTIN HILL, author of Viking Fire)

"My impression as I was reading Lancelot was of a flare being held up in the gloom of this peculiarly dark passage of history. Every detail illuminated, every motive believable, every heart laid bare. A bright intensity but passing away, guttering, about to go out. And, by the time his tale comes to its conclusion, that seems to be his point. A gentle lament at the onrushing of a dark and inexorable tide which comes to extinguish a bright and golden age of Britain forever. Lancelot is a gem of a book. If there were six stars, it could have them all. Or, to use the words of Spinal Tap, “This one goes to eleven.” Loved it." (THEODORE BRUN, author of The Wanderer Chronicles)

About the Author:

Family history (he is half Norwegian) and a passion for the fiction of Bernard Cornwell inspired GILES KRISTIAN to write. Set in the Viking world, his bestselling trilogies ‘Raven’ and ‘The Rise of Sigurd’ have been acclaimed by his peers, reviewers and readers alike. The novels The Bleeding Land and Brothers’ Fury tell the story of a family torn apart by the English Civil War and he co-wrote Wilbur Smith’s No.1 bestseller, Golden Lion. In his new novel, Lancelot, Giles plunges into the rich and swirling waters of our greatest island 'history': the Arthurian legend. Giles Kristian lives in Leicestershire.

About this edition

• Publisher: Corgi
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0552174009
• ISBN 13: 9780552174008
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 672