The Singing Sword by Jack Whyte

The Singing Sword (A Dream of Eagles: Book 2)
Jack Whyte
Penguin Canada, 1994
ISBN: 0-14-017049-9
Mass Market Paperback
606 pages
Historical Fiction

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The second book in the Camulod Chronicles, now renamed A Dream of Eagles, The Singing Sword begins with Publius Varrus and Caius Britannicus continuing the building of their dream: a completely independent Colony on the Southwest tip of Cambria (the island known as Britain). The year is approaching 400 A.D. Both men are high ranking soldiers retired from the Roman Army. Caius is actually a Roman Senator. The reason for the Colony is that Caius has foreseen the day when the Roman Protectorate will be removed from Britain to fight battles closer to home, leaving the island to be overrun by any number of invaders.

As the novel opens, the Colonists are vigilantly working on a hilltop fortress, have begun to build a Cavalry, something Rome, itself, does not have, and have established a council that Caius secretly intends to become Britains first senate. He has also helped to orchestrate the marriage of Publius’ eldest daughter to the son of King Ullic Pendragon of the Celts. Both men intend for the marriage to unite their two Kingdom’s, their two peoples, as true Briton’s. Caius’ son Picus, all on his own, asks for the hand of Enid, Ullic’s sister.

One can now see where author, Jack Whyte is heading with his story. Two inter-marriages between the Colony and the Celts produce male offspring. Born on the same day, at the same time, from two different mothers are Caius Merlyn Britannicus and Uther Pendragon. And to solve the problem of elitism in the Colony’s Council, Caius has developed the idea of all councillors sitting in equal positions and importance by seating them in a circle as a round council (The forerunner of the round table?). The only missing link Arthurian fans are now looking for is Excalibur. And, of course, Publius, after a hiatus of many years, finally melts down The Lady of the Lake (the skystone he found in the first novel and made into a sculpture) and begins to forge a special sword. It was designed to be a new kind of weapon men of their calvary could use to fight effectively from horseback and on the ground. What Publius ends up with is a long broadsword with a wide cross-guard and golden pommel for balance that sits almost weightlessly in a man’s hand. And when tested for purity by an ancient test even Publius did not know about, the sword, plunged upright into a wooden bench and set to moving like a pendulum, begins to sing a clear, ear-piercing note; Excalibur (meaning to come out of a mould) is a singing sword the likes of which has never been seen before.

So, Jack Whyte’s Singing Sword continues what The Skystone began: he has told part of the story of the decline of The Roman Empire and shown us a plausible and well described beginning of the Arthurian Legend. In fact, the fortress on the hill is also named in this book. It becomes Camulod, the first true home of the new Britons.

A fascinating read that draws the reader into a world in extreme flux, one known primarily by legend, and makes it as real and substantial as the nose on your face. I reiterate what I said in my review of The Skystone: Whyte has written an entertaining, moving and unique novel that begins what may well come to be accepted as the true story of that time-shrouded figure we all know as King Arthur.


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2010

A novel about Richard III in This Time

This Time
by Joan Szechtman
Basset Books LLC, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9824493-0-1
Trade Paperback
344 pages
Historical Fiction

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Richard III is yanked into the 21st century in his dying moments and a substitute body is left in his place, so as to keep then and now balanced at an atomic level, at a static level of energy. While this is an interesting concept, I don’t believe it’s ever explained how the scientists could make such exact measurements using the equipment available to them. However, I suspended my disbelief and gave the novel a chance.

And it turns out that This Time by Joan Szechtman is an enjoyable read. Billed as historical fiction, it also gives more than a nod to the science fiction genre and the romance genre. The book deals largely with Richard’s attempts to adapt to 500 years of technical and social changes. He must learn to use a computer and drive a car. His English is also terribly out of date. And Richard, ever the man of action, also intends to carve out a place in the business world where his skills can be applied in a useful way. Intuitive thinking and the ability to solve problems quickly and with confidence helps…

He converts the project director from an enemy who puts two bullets into him to the man who allows Richard to run a risky project of his own, as well as becoming a welcome member of the corporate structure of the company itself.

His romance with the inventor of the original technology used in the time machine, who knows Richard only as the evil, deformed man portrayed in one of Shakespeare’s plays, is also complicated by the fact that the woman is Jewish and Richard is a devout Catholic who is not at all comfortable with today’s atmosphere of religious toleration. Richard sets out to solve this set of problems just as he would plan a campaign.

Richard’s emotional wounds from the recent deaths of his wife and child, and his folly of taking his men into a battle he knows they cannot win, takes a heavy toll. Did he go into battle as a form of suicide? If he can be brought forward in time, what about his wife and son?

As Richard works through all the alien ideas and possibilities now open to him, one can see the shape of a king emerge—with one exception. Richard is comfortable dealing with all kinds of people, but is especially demonstrative of emotion when it comes to his new love and her children and of his doomed wife and the son he hopes to rescue from an early death. This did not feel real to me. Everything I’ve read of the historical times of Richard III leaves me with the suspicion that overt emotion of any kind would be seen as a weakness and thus avoided. Why would Richard make such an about face in our time? Yes, I believe he would want the same results he garners within the pages of This Time, but I think he would have been more aloof and would have kept his own council.

Anyway, these are just my opinions. This Time by Joan Szechtman is probably closer in content to the movie Kate and Leopold than Michael Crichton’s Timeline, but comparison between the three stories seems to indicate that This Time presents a more believable scenario than either of the mentioned stories. History Buffs and Romantics should find the book most enjoyable.


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2010

The Queen of Bedlam by Robert McCammon

The Queen of Bedlam
by Robert McCammon
Pocket Books, 2007
978-1-4165-7157-5
eBook, 655 pages
Historical Fiction/Mystery

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It’s 1702 and Matthew Corbett has been working as a personal secretary to Magistrate Nathaniel Powers of New York. When his employer suddenly announces he is retiring and sends the young man on an arranged job interview, Matthew realizes he has allowed himself to become complacent about his future. A growing town of approximately 5,000 people, the promise represented by New York is being considered by many: businessmen, financiers, politicians and criminals. Matthew now realizes he will have to do the same. So, when he’s offered a position with the Herrald Agency, perhaps the first private investigators to set up shop in the Colonies, Matthew recognizes it as a serious opportunity for which he is well suited.

(For those of you who don’t know, Matthew Corbett was introduced in 2002 in a two-volume suspense novel called Speaks The Nightbird. Working as a scrivener-apprentice to Isaac Woodward, a magistrate in Carolina, the two men came to the village of Fount Royal to investigate the charges against Rachel Howarth, who apparently was a witch who killed her husband, a man of the cloth. No one but Matthew believed the woman innocent, and he had to single-handedly solve the murder in order to save Rachel from burning at the stake.)

Now, as Matthew Corbett embarks on his new career, he has three more mysteries to solve…

1. Discover the identity of the fiend New York’s printer of the Earwig (A 2 page rag that passes for a newspaper) has dubbed The Masker. Matthew was intent on solving this particular puzzle even before becoming a detective. But he’s given extra incentive by the widow of one of the victims, who offers him 10 shillings to track down the killer. His new employer is also interested in how Matthew will perform with respect to such a dangerous case.

2. Prove that  Eben Ausley, the headmaster of the local orphanage, has been abusing boys for many years. Matthew spent his childhood at this institution and knows the man is a monster.

3. Complete an agency job which requires that he and his new mentor, Hudson Greathouse, discover the identity of a long-time mental patient known only as The Queen Of Bedlam.

Using the tools of his time, Matthew unwittingly chases after a criminal mastermind so foul one can almost sense the detective will fail. And as we follow our hero through a cast of interesting characters (Matthew’s new mentor, Hudson Greathouse, who is what we, today, would call a mercenary; Zed, the hulking, tongueless slave who works for the city’s strange coroner; even the new Governor, who dresses in women’s clothing in deference to his cousin the Queen), McCammon also paints us a vivid picture what it must have been like to be at the birth of a new century and her greatest city.

I’ve read all four books in the Matthew Corbett series, and I have to say The Queen of Bedlam is my favourite. Robert McCammon takes three seemingly unrelated crimes and turns them into a sinister operation of epic proportions (and makes it seem easy to do). Dropped into the middle of this nightmare is the refreshing hero, Matthew Corbett, who is such a perfectly drawn character he has become a good friend to me. Now, add in meticulous and often surprising descriptions of New York city in its infancy and you have an historical novel of suspense like none other.

The reader will have great fun as McCammon masterfully weaves the many threads of his mystery, creates a fictional world with great skill and still manages to keep some of the playfulness you can find in some of his earlier works. Perhaps the reader will also be excited about the recent release of the fourth Corbett novel, Mister Slaughter.


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2010

MURDER OF AN AMERICAN NAZI–A different kind of fiction

I’m reading a 1,000 page novel this week, so I’m going to recycle a review I did for an acquaintance of mine. If you are a reader of historical fiction, this book should be on your shelf!


MURDER OF AN AMERICAN NAZI
By Tim Fleming
Eloquent Books, 2008
240 pp., $29.95, Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-606-93401-2
Historical Fiction

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Timothy Fleming claims to have spent a lifetime researching the CIA’s impact on post-World War II America. His blog, Left of the Looking Glass seems to back up that statement. But it’s his book, MURDER OF AN AMERICAN NAZI, that makes me believe it’s true.

Reading like a documentary or a piece of non-fiction, Fleming’s historical novel reveals an America that we’ve all seen hints of but never want to believe could exist. Here is a story full of real world people, events and CIA operations anyone can discover on the net—if they have the right names, places and code names, all of which Fleming gives us. It’s a story about an American shadow government made up of greedy conglomerates, CIA enforcers and Nazi recruits.

Woven throughout the eerie tale is the life of one Marie Hannah Kanermann. Born in Dachau (a German concentration camp) as it is liberated by the Allies and raised in the U.S. by the friend of her dead mother, Marie grows up fighting the secret government with words and actions.

Both her story and that of America after World War II unfold through the words of a retired cop, Don Hayes, as he tells one of his friends about the murder that never was: the death of ex-Nazi and CIA operative Walter Dornberger.

Impeccably written, Timothy Fleming’s novel feels just too real to be fiction. Perhaps it’s the sparseness of dialogue. Maybe it’s the fact most of the people mentioned in the book really existed. Could be that I’ve seen one too many American wars started for falsely stated reasons. All I can tell you is that if you can wade through the complex strings of accusations laid out in the first half of the book, you won’t be able to put it down through the second half.

MURDER OF AN AMERICAN NAZI is a book meant to make you think. My opinion is it will also keep you from sleeping.

Hell of a job, Mr. Fleming.

Copyright © 2009 by Clayton Bye

Dragonfly in Amber by the bestselling author Diana Gabaldon

Dragonfly in Amber
By Diana Gabaldon
ISBN: 0-7704-2877-0
Seal Books, 2001
947 pages
Mass market paperback
Historical adventure

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20 years ago, Claire Randall came out of the Scottish wilderness,  having been missing for almost 3 years. Pregnant and offering an explanation no one believes, Claire returns to an uncomfortable relationship with her husband and to their home in the United States. Now, Frank has passed away and Claire has brought her adult daughter, Brianna, to the place where it all began. She wants Brianna to know who her real father was. But how can Claire make her believe?

I had a brief email discussion with Diana Gabaldon earlier this year when I wrote a review of Outlander, the first book in her amazing and ongoing series featuring the lives and the love of Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser: I insisted Outlander was an historical romance, while she claimed she writes historical fiction not romance. Stubborn as I am (my clan are the Skenes), I now see her point. Dragonfly in Amber is a detailed rendering of the politics and events leading up to and including the battle of Culloden in 1745. This was an actual battle that ended “Bonnie” Prince Charlie’s attempt to regain both the throne of England and of Scotland.

Outlander concluded with Claire and Jamie Fraser heading for France to try and stop Prince Charlie’s rebellion. You see, Claire knows the battle ends in disaster for the Scots in general and for Jamie in particular.

Dragonfly in Amber follows the two lovers as they insert themselves (with the help of Jamie’s familial connections) into the French social and political scene of the time. Despite extensive efforts to undermine the Prince’s efforts, Jamie and Claire are foiled at every turn until it becomes apparent there’s no way to stop the bloodbath they know is coming. The final chapters see Claire returned to modern Scotland and Jamie sent to his fated death.

However, as Claire and the son of a deceased friend do their best to convince Brianna of the truth of Claire’s incredible story, a surprise crops up. Their investigations suggest that maybe, just maybe, Jamie Fraser didn’t die when and where Claire believes he did. What will come next? You’ll have to pick up a copy of Voyager by Diana Gabaldon to find out.

Dragonfly in Amber reminds me of why I enjoy “period” novels—A Tale of Two Cities, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and The Janissary Tree come to mind. Yet, Gabaldon stands on her own. These books don’t just tell a story, they reveal to us a strong woman unafraid to fight for what she believes in and who loves in the same “give-it-everything-you-have” manner. Personally, the Claire Randall/Jamie Fraser combination has made my list of top fictional characters.

While Dragonfly in Amber requires some effort (it’s 947 pages long), and it, like all large works, will have sections that drag for you, the only criticism I have for this novel is that a map or maps of the areas visited would have been appreciated. It wasn’t until I researched the rebellion of 1745 that I managed to get a clear mental picture of where events were taking place.

There are seven books in the Outlander series, the latest An Echo in The Bone was released in hardcover September 22, 2009. My copy is sitting on one of my bookshelves. I can hear it calling…

Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2009

Partners by D. M. McGowan

Partners
by D. M. McGowan
Strategic Book Publishing
2008
ISBN: 978-1-934925-81-2
Trade Paperback
256 pages
Historical Fiction/Western

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1866 and 1867: dramatic years for Canada. All the politicking in the East will come to a head, and in July of 1867, Canada will become a federation. How does this affect Tom Brash and his partner Frank Clement? Well, a fellow who goes by the name of Colonel Coleman is determined to carve out an empire for himself in Southern Saskatchewan and Southern Alberta. The Mounties do not yet exist, the territory is still under the rule of The Hudson’s Bay Company (and there isn’t enough fur trade in that part of the country for them to invest in protecting it). The only thing standing between Coleman and his dreams are Brash, Clement and a rag-tag village of Blackfoot Indians.

Tom and Frank are headed for the gold fields, near Wild Horse Creek, New Caledonia (which will eventually become British Columbia). Along the way they must fight murderers, scoundrels like Coleman, a jealous Blackfoot warrior and the unknown and tricky customs of the Blackfeet themselves.

Once they make it to the gold fields and build up a stake, Tom and Frank and a few new acquaintances move on to the booming city of Barkerville. Determined to build something lasting, the men take advantage of the government’s plan to encourage settlers to move into the country, and they stake out some land. But the past has a way of catching up with you: Frank’s father, whom everyone believed was dead, shows up and breaks apart the Frank and Tom partnership. Then the Colonel, hell bent on revenge comes after the two, ending this saga in a good old-fashioned gunfight.

Partners is the second historical novel by D. M. McGowan that I’ve read. The first was set in the 1880’s and had less of a “Western” feel than does Partners. There were also fewer proofing errors in this book than in the first book (Homesteader).

One of the things I really enjoy about McGowan’s writing is the research he does and then puts into his books. For example, in Partners, he knowledgeably and comfortably writes about a vast array of weaponry, he moves his characters through real landscapes that had fluctuating borders (between Canada and the U.S.) and which history tells us was littered with criminals and whiskey pedlars. He even dealt with one of my grandfather’s pet peeves. Gramp’s used to say (when reading or watching a western) “Look at all that runnin’ their doing. Anybody runs a horse that way and it’s going to be dead.” Well, McGowan has his horses (when speed was necessary) run for only 15 minutes out of any hour. And then there’s my favourite part: Tom appears to solve the problem of Colonel Coleman with a clever trick, but I’m quite sure it was solved another way. Any Freemason reading the book will know what I mean. Others should do a little research.

As I said when I reviewed Homesteader, if you enjoy westerns or historical yarns, Partners will offer a unique and refreshing read. Visit the Canadian west: you might like it.


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2009

Mister Slaughter by Robert McCammon

This review contains spoilers.



Mister Slaughter
by Robert McCammon
Subterranean Press, Jan 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59606-276-4
Hardcover
440 pages
Historical Fiction/Crime/Thriller

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Matthew Corbett is back. The quick-witted hero of Speaks The Nightbird and The Queen of Bedlam is now a New York investigator of some renown. He’s also a man marked for death by the elusive, master criminal Professor Fell.

When Matthew Corbett and his mentor, Hudson Greathouse, are assigned by Governor Lord Cornbury to collect Tyranthus Slaughter from the colonial asylum known as Bedlam, they aren’t happy about it. But £5 to escort a killer back to New York is just too much money to turn down.

“Mister” Slaughter, as he prefers to be called, is a man of many faces and a serial killer who makes today’s celluloid villains pale in comparison. When Mister Slaughter offers Greathouse and Corbett a treasure in exchange for his freedom, the men should have bound his mouth and whipped the horses. But Greathouse has a noble thing he wishes to accomplish and no money to do it with. He convinces Corbett to take Mister Slaughter up on his offer. After all, they have no intention of letting the madman go free.

But the two investigators underestimate Mister Slaughter’s ability to plant seeds of evil far in advance and patiently wait for those seeds to grow and bear fruit. Not only do the two men get cheated out of their treasure, Mister Slaughter manages to arm himself, seriously injure Greathouse, incapacitate Corbett and escape.

Rescued from their dire circumstances by Indians, Greathouse finds treatment for his wounds, while Corbett manages to acquire the services of the village outcast as a tracker.

Soon the adversaries are pursuing each other through the wilderness. A portrayal of a deadly serious and horrific game, this part of the book is real entertainment. Particularly, the few settlers who make their homes in the area have the gruesome misfortune of meeting Mister Slaughter, and we, the readers, finally see the fiend revealed. There’s also a night-time battle between the killer, Corbett and his guide, which is especially thrilling.

As the chase moves ever closer to civilization, Corbett, who has a secret he feels makes him responsible for the killer’s escape, experiences a gradual breakdown of his mental and physical abilities. It would seem that Mister Slaughter is unstoppable.

Corbett is poised on the brink of defeat when the two come upon a small village, so he plays his one last card: a name he remembers. In doing so, the young investigator stumbles across a connection between Mister Slaughter and a local business woman. While this puts him back on the killer’s trail, it also brings Corbett into greater conflict with the chilling Professor Fell.

The final meeting of Corbett and Mister Slaughter involves so many disturbing and complicated story lines, one has no choice but to rip through the pages of this unique and gritty thriller in order to find out if the horror being suggested is actually true.

Mister Slaughter is Robert McCammon doing what he does best. His descriptive abilities take us back to a world that is a composite of 30 some years of development in New York City (1700-1730). His characters, always larger than life and ever so quirky, never cease to entertain. And his story is complicated enough that Matthew Corbett can proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.

I noticed another reviewer complaining about McCammon’s overuse of cliffhangers (based on wordplay) in Mister Slaughter. I say the same thing to this critic as I did to the one who criticized the author’s over-the-top approach to character development in The Wolf’s Hour. It’s good to see a writer having fun and playing with his audience. McCammon’s willingness to play and experiment in his writing happens to be one of the reasons I’m a fan. Good for you, sir. And I hope to see much more from you in the future.


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2009

Homesteader by D. M. McGowan

Homesteader: Finding Sharon
by D. M. McGowan
Strategic Book Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-60860-039-7
Soft Cover
224 pages
Historic Fiction/Western

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It’s the 1880’s in the Canadian west. The young federal government is trying to pay for its national railroad by ensuring adjacent lands are settled. This is done by making land cheap: pay a few dollars for a land claim, clear part of a quarter section for farming and you’ve got yourself a future. Unless… you’ve chosen to homestead in Saskatchewan or Alberta, where the big cattle companies have banded together to do everything they can to keep settlers out.

Hank James and Harry Gilmore have decided to stake claims in a beautiful valley just outside of Calgary. But Portis Martin, manager of the Norfolk Cattle Company, has a different idea. He’s been pushing settlers off open range bordering his ranch–and doing it unchallenged. He expects to accomplish the same thing with Hank and his friend.

Portis quickly finds out that Hank doesn’t push. The man has come to these parts to reconnect with Sharon, the woman he loves, and Hank expects to build something he can offer her. What follows is a distinctly Canadian battle of brawn versus brains.

I enjoyed Homesteader. The use of dialect is supportive, rather than distracting. Narrative is conversational and easy to read (although there are a few too many proofing errors). Best of all, the book appears to be historically accurate, and the story plausible. My own family, as recently as my grandfather, were Canadian homesteaders. I’ve seen and fired a number of the weapons described in the novel, have helped clear land and build log homes. I’ve even worked with cattle and harvested hay fields. D. M. McGowan has obviously lived a similar life and knows what the Canadian west is all about.

If you enjoy westerns or historical yarns, Homesteader will offer a unique and refreshing read. Visit the Canadian west: you might like it.

Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2009

The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin

This is a review I did the year The Janissary Tree was released. I’ve always felt the book didn’t get the recognition it deserved. Read my comments, then check out others by following the buy link. My hope is you’ll give this marvelous book a chance. –C.C.B

The Janissary Tree
By Jason Goodwin
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
May, 2006
ISBN: 978-0-374-17860-4
320 pages
Hardcover
Mystery

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Istanbul in the year of 1836. This mystical city, known in earlier times as Byzantium, Constantinople, even the second Rome, is brewing a revolution. You can taste it in the air. The Sultan, an aging man fond of drink and certain western ideologies, is about to issue an edict that will force the modern world upon his people. A valued collection of Napoleonic jewels has been stolen from the palace. In seemingly unrelated incidents, a young woman about to become a full member of the harem and an officer, one of four missing members of the New Guard, are found murdered. Someone has left a disturbing poem on the Janissary Tree—that infamous landmark the vanquished Old Guard once hung their enemies upon. And Russia, anticipating more turmoil, is preparing to advance on the city.

The valide, the Sultan’s mother, who has thrived in the violent world of Ottoman politics, suspects  a coup is underway. Her son’s seraskier, the head of the armed forces, is only concerned with putting on a good review the day of the edict, with showing people that the backbone of the empire is unbreakable. The Sultan? He’s keeping his opinions to himself but has sent for a man named Yashim Togalu.

Yashim is called the lala, the guardian. This is a title of respect given to men who have been charged with the responsibility of caring for families and households of rich and powerful people. These men are trusted with women and children because they are all—without exception—eunuchs, men who have been castrated at an early age.

We are told that an ordinary lala is something between a butler and a housekeeper, a nanny and the head of security. But Yashim is anything but ordinary. He’s unattached, a free lance. Yet he moves through streets and palace hallways with equal and anonymous ease. An accomplished linguist, a man who knows how to gather information with quiet efficiency, and someone who truly understands the power structure of the world he inhabits, this unusual eunuch is the perfect spy.

Immerse yourself in Jason Goodwin’s The Janissary Tree as he peels back the skin of the Ottoman onion to give us an exquisite taste of the complicated soup it was. Already an acclaimed historical author, Goodwin brings the 19th-century Turkish Empire alive in a most visceral way. When Yashim prepares stuffed mussels, I’m there. Descriptive visits to the Janissary Tree, the market district, the Soup Maker’s Guild and various other destinations make both the city and the Janissaries seem so real I begin to imagine these elite soldiers are waiting around every fascinating corner. And the people! Here is a book with a cast of characters so intriguing the last page is turned with sadness.

Jason Goodwin has written a great novel. In particular, Yashim the Eunuch helped me to experience a culture so intimately I was at once appalled, enticed and intrigued. He also managed to forever change my perception of the Turks.

I  want more.


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2009

The Skystone by Jack Whyte

The Skystone (A Dream of Eagles: Book 1)
by Jack Whyte
Penguin Canada, 1993
620 pages
ISBN: 0-14-017050-2
Mass Market Paperback
Historical Fiction

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Centurion Publius Varrus and his General, Caius Britannicus, are on the verge of retirement from the finest fighting unit in the Roman Legion. Publius returns to the trade of his father as a smithy, and then joins Caius to build a defendable and self-sufficient colony in the heart of Britain. Hadrian’s wall has been overrun and the Roman Empire is quickly sliding into ruin. Knowing Rome will eventually be forced to withdraw her legions from their island home, both men want to be prepared for the end of the world as they know it. Between the two of them they unknowingly set the stage for an independent Britain and one of the greatest legends of all time: Arthur and his sword Excalibur.

The Skystone is the first of the Camulod Chronicles, now known as A Dream of Eagles. Canadian author, Jack Whyte creates a cast of strong characters whom we meet through the eyes of an aged Publius, who is looking back over a lifetime of unprecedented change during the 5th century A.D.

This fabulous pre-Arthurian tale presents the first plausible explanation of the origins of the Arthurian legend I’ve ever come across. The names and places and people are all laid out for us in a fascinating depiction of a tumultuous time that made way for the world we know today. From an explanation as to the origins of the Lady of the Lake and the Pendragons, to a foreshadowing of the forging of Excalibur and, amidst it all, the vivid description of the end of an age, Whyte has written an entertaining, moving and unique novel that begins what may come to be accepted as the true story of that time-shrouded figure we all know as King Arthur.

The entire series of A Dream of Eagles is sitting on my shelf, and I can’t wait to read each and every book.

Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2009