From Publishers Weekly
Fearing for the life of his nephew, eight-year-old Arthur Pendragon, after an assassination attempt in their beloved Camulod, Caius Merlyn Brittanicus uproots the boy and sails with an intimate group of friends and warriors to Ravenglass, seeking sanctuary from King Derek. Though Ravenglass is supposed to be a peaceful port, danger continues to threaten and it is only through the quick thinking of the sharp-tongued, knife-wielding sorceress Shelagh that catastrophe and slaughter are averted. Derek, who now realizes the value of the allegiances Merlyn's party bring to his land, offers the Camulodians the use of an abandoned Roman fort that is easily defensible. The bulk of the novel involves the growth of Arthur from boyhood to adolescence at the fort. There he is taught the arts of being a soldier and a ruler, and magnificent training swords are forged in Excalibur's pattern from the metals of the Skystone. While danger still lurks around every corner, this is a peaceful time for Britain, so this installment of the saga (The Saxon Shore, etc.) focuses primarily on the military skills Arthur masters, as well as on the building and refurbishing of an old Roman fort. Whyte has again written a historical fiction filled with vibrant detail. Young Arthur is less absorbing a character than many of the others presented (being seemingly too saintly and prescient for his or any other world), but readers will revel in the impressively researched facts and in how Whyte makes the period come alive. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
In the fifth installment of the Camulod Chronicles, Caius Merlyn Britannicus has fled Camulod after a failed assassination attempt on young Arthur. Arriving in the neutral port of Ravenglass, Merlyn discovers that the king is Derek, the man who killed Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, and raped Ygraine, his mother. He wisely suppresses his emotions and bargains for the use of an abandoned Roman fort located in the hills above the town. To ensure the group's safety, and to keep Arthur's presence secret, Merlyn and his young charge publicly board a ship leaving the harbor, then trek back overland to the fort, where "Cay" and his apprentice are welcome. Over the next few years, Arthur begins to grow into the man who will become the legend and one day wield the sword smelted out of skystone just for him: Excalibur. Until then, Cay must keep him alive and hidden from his enemies. Not as bloody as some of its predecessors in this series, Whyte's latest continues to bring the myth convincingly to life. Melanie Duncan


From Kirkus Reviews
Scots-born Whyte continues the saga of King Arthur over two mid- centuries of the first millennium. The Skystone (1996) focused on the discovery of the miraculous bright ore from which Excalibur will be forged (The Singing Sword, not reviewed). The third and fourth volumes limned the twilight of the Roman occupation of Britain and the rise of the Camulod colony under Merlyn Britannicus and Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father. Merlyn raised the orphaned Arthur, who was still a child (!) at the end of the fourth volume (The Saxon Shore, 1998). In the present installment's rich but slumbering realism, a failed assassination of the boy Arthur prompts Merlyn to take the future king to a distant, abandoned Roman fort at the river's bend, where he'll be safeor at least safer. While Merlyn toughens him up for his coming assumption of the mystic sword and symbol of the chivalric honor that will unite Britain, young Pendragon trains ceaselessly with a wooden practice sword and is bent wholly on one day making a commanding presence at the head of his troops. But Merlyn fears the worst when Arthur returns to face a host of newly risen enemies. Whyte has a grand time bolting his story togetherthough at this rate, grinding as slowly as the mills of the gods, he may have to FedEx his final volumes from the beyond. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"From the building blocks of history and the mortar of reality, Jack Whyte has built Arthur's world, and showed is the bone beneath the flesh of legend."--Diana Gabaldon

"A series that promises to provide historic plausibility to the legend of King Arthur...the best of its type in the near quarter of a century since Mary Stewart's version of these legends burst upon the publishing scene."--The Cattanooga Times

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Merlyn Britannicus, leader of the Colony known as Camulod, is faced with the task of educating his young charge, Arthur, future King of the Britons. Fearing for the life of his nephew when an assassination attempt goes awry, Merlyn takes Arthur and his boyhood companions Gwin, Ghilleadh, and Bedwyr on a journey that will take them to the ruins of a long-abandoned Roman fort—far from Camulod and the only place where Merlyn feels they will be safe. It is there that Merlyn will enlist the help of this close-knit group of friends to help Arthur learn the skills of a warrior and the tough lessons of justice, honor, and the responsibilities of leadership. Arthur is just a boy...but the day is not far off when he will have to claim his sword that is his birthright: Excalibur.

FROM THE CRITICS

Chattanooga Times

A series that promises to provide historic plausibility to the legend of King Arthur...the best of its type in the near quarter of a century since Mary Stewart's version of these legends burst upon the publishing scene.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING