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crocketraccoon's review against another edition
1.0
Wow! This is the first review I've written. I hated the book that much. I have come to believe that the best quality of a writer is knowing when to end the story. For this story that was when Arthur was crowned High King. It would have been far better to leave it to the reader's imagination to finish the story. As it is, it was a journey thru two books of Lancelot's story. None of the Arthur story I was interested in was dealt with in an interesting way. I would have forgiven it if Lancelot's story had been interesting...but it wasn't. It just seemed like filler in between teasing bits of the Arthur legend. I was actually skimming the pages towards the end of this book...something I never do...that is how much I disliked this book. A very disappointing ending to a great saga.
mslourens's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
alexctelander's review against another edition
3.0
THE EAGLE: THE CONCLUDING VOLUME OF THE CAMULOD CHRONICLES BY JACK WHYTE: Jack Whyte has come a very long way from the crumbling empire of Rome many generations ago to the man known as Riothamus – Arthur. In this ninth concluding book in the series, we finally get the full story of Arthur’s life, and what makes this series interesting is that while our hero is obvious, in the context of the series, he is but one of the many players on the stage of early medieval Britain. This is what Whyte is saying with this series: that it’s not about specific individuals, but – as is the case with all history – it is a series of events over hundreds of years that lead to the establishment of Britain as a country putting itself back together as a sovereign nation after its abandonment by Rome.
Continuing on from the Lance Thrower, our narrator is Clothar, known as “Lance” by his friends because of his skilled ability to throw lances with precision at the enemy – a feat no other man, not even Arthur, can master. In the first part of the book, Arthur forms his knights – a term taken from the Roman élite, all with their own specifically designed swords in the form of Excalibur. The knights are addressed by the term “seur” from a Frankish term meaning one of noble or high stature. Whyte is impressive in his interweaving of parts of the Arthurian legend and fitting them in a realistic setting in fifth century Britain. In the second part of The Eagle, it is learned that the girl who Arthur considered his soul mate in the Lance Thrower was in fact his sister and that an act of naïve incest was committed. At the same time, Clothar has his own personal problems to deal with in falling in love with a woman who is to be married. After a long night of sharing their love, they must accept their fate and go their separate ways. In the final part of the book, Clothar must go with Arthur’s élite cavalry to Gaul where he will train thousands more men both to establish the authority of Arthur and his cavalry, as well as to prepare for any invading forces. Word has begun to spread of these invading peoples from the distant east known as Huns, led by a man known as Attila.
While the fate of Gaul with the invading Huns is never fully revealed, the book ends, naturally, with Arthur’s death from a wound in battle, while his son Mordred is next in line to rule. The book ends without any great summation of the mighty ruler known as Arthur who united Britain and made it a nation to be reckoned with, but tapering out like a long burning candle. Whyte’s point here is that the saga of Camulod is over, its characters now all dead, but they have done much to change Britain from the abandoned land after the fall of Rome. Their part is complete, and it will be up to other people, other kings, and other rulers to continue making Britain into a great nation.
For more book reviews, and author interviews, go to BookBanter.
Continuing on from the Lance Thrower, our narrator is Clothar, known as “Lance” by his friends because of his skilled ability to throw lances with precision at the enemy – a feat no other man, not even Arthur, can master. In the first part of the book, Arthur forms his knights – a term taken from the Roman élite, all with their own specifically designed swords in the form of Excalibur. The knights are addressed by the term “seur” from a Frankish term meaning one of noble or high stature. Whyte is impressive in his interweaving of parts of the Arthurian legend and fitting them in a realistic setting in fifth century Britain. In the second part of The Eagle, it is learned that the girl who Arthur considered his soul mate in the Lance Thrower was in fact his sister and that an act of naïve incest was committed. At the same time, Clothar has his own personal problems to deal with in falling in love with a woman who is to be married. After a long night of sharing their love, they must accept their fate and go their separate ways. In the final part of the book, Clothar must go with Arthur’s élite cavalry to Gaul where he will train thousands more men both to establish the authority of Arthur and his cavalry, as well as to prepare for any invading forces. Word has begun to spread of these invading peoples from the distant east known as Huns, led by a man known as Attila.
While the fate of Gaul with the invading Huns is never fully revealed, the book ends, naturally, with Arthur’s death from a wound in battle, while his son Mordred is next in line to rule. The book ends without any great summation of the mighty ruler known as Arthur who united Britain and made it a nation to be reckoned with, but tapering out like a long burning candle. Whyte’s point here is that the saga of Camulod is over, its characters now all dead, but they have done much to change Britain from the abandoned land after the fall of Rome. Their part is complete, and it will be up to other people, other kings, and other rulers to continue making Britain into a great nation.
For more book reviews, and author interviews, go to BookBanter.
ajlenertz's review
3.0
Too bad he forgot about Morag being in Camulod in The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis.
lizruest's review
3.0
Well, a slog in many places, but a fascinating idea: placing all the myths of Arthur and Merlin into real-life likely scenarios. Recommended ONLY if you like Arthurian novels AND wordy books AND a really long read. I have the entire 9-book set in paperback if anyone is up for it.
elusiverica's review
3.0
The ninth and final book in the Camulod Chronicles. I liked it more than the previous one - we spent some of the time in Camulod! People talked to each other about things besides war! Lots of recognisable stuff from the legends came to pass! And as a medical minded person I got a kick out of this scene where a knight falls down a cliff and breaks his leg, and they have to treat it and get him home again with tools they improvise from what they can find in the woods. But overall, the ending of this series was much weaker than the beginning. It’s a shame, I loved the beginning, I wanted it to stay good.
It says in the blurb that Jack Whyte had always considered the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle to be the heart of the Arthurian story, so I was disappointed by how little this version impacted me, and how little these three interacted on page. Arthur and Gwinnifer had a political marriage, and they liked and respected each other but were never really in love. Clothar and Gwinnifer liked each other too, and we’re told they eventually fell in love and got married after Arthur’s death, but everything was strictly platonic before then. And Arthur and Clothar were supposedly the very best of friends, but that just didn’t ring true for me. It’s frustrating, because I know Whyte can do better! Publius Varrus and Caius Britannicus from the first and second books in the Chronicles had a special friendship that I was very invested in. If Varrus had told Caius “You and my wife are the two people I love most in the world, I need you both to be safe”, I would have accepted it without question and felt feelings about it; but when Arthur said that to Clothar I was just like “… Is that true, though? Really? I’m gonna want some more evidence than just you saying it”.
Overall, I found this ending unsatisfying. The thing about the Arthurian story is that it’s a tragedy, and this version took away a lot of the power in that. There was nothing between Clothar and Gwinnifer, Mordred always knew he was the product of incest but he didn’t care and neither did anyone else, he was openly acknowledged as Arthur’s son and heir, Clothar left Camulod before it fell because Arthur ordered him to get out and take the queen with him, and Arthur lost his final war not due to betrayal or anyone’s fatal flaws but simply due to the overwhelming might of the enemy. It was nice, but somehow felt hollow to me.
It says in the blurb that Jack Whyte had always considered the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle to be the heart of the Arthurian story, so I was disappointed by how little this version impacted me, and how little these three interacted on page. Arthur and Gwinnifer had a political marriage, and they liked and respected each other but were never really in love. Clothar and Gwinnifer liked each other too, and we’re told they eventually fell in love and got married after Arthur’s death, but everything was strictly platonic before then. And Arthur and Clothar were supposedly the very best of friends, but that just didn’t ring true for me. It’s frustrating, because I know Whyte can do better! Publius Varrus and Caius Britannicus from the first and second books in the Chronicles had a special friendship that I was very invested in. If Varrus had told Caius “You and my wife are the two people I love most in the world, I need you both to be safe”, I would have accepted it without question and felt feelings about it; but when Arthur said that to Clothar I was just like “… Is that true, though? Really? I’m gonna want some more evidence than just you saying it”.
Overall, I found this ending unsatisfying. The thing about the Arthurian story is that it’s a tragedy, and this version took away a lot of the power in that. There was nothing between Clothar and Gwinnifer, Mordred always knew he was the product of incest but he didn’t care and neither did anyone else, he was openly acknowledged as Arthur’s son and heir, Clothar left Camulod before it fell because Arthur ordered him to get out and take the queen with him, and Arthur lost his final war not due to betrayal or anyone’s fatal flaws but simply due to the overwhelming might of the enemy. It was nice, but somehow felt hollow to me.
alexctelander's review
3.0
THE EAGLE: THE CONCLUDING VOLUME OF THE CAMULOD CHRONICLES BY JACK WHYTE: Jack Whyte has come a very long way from the crumbling empire of Rome many generations ago to the man known as Riothamus – Arthur. In this ninth concluding book in the series, we finally get the full story of Arthur’s life, and what makes this series interesting is that while our hero is obvious, in the context of the series, he is but one of the many players on the stage of early medieval Britain. This is what Whyte is saying with this series: that it’s not about specific individuals, but – as is the case with all history – it is a series of events over hundreds of years that lead to the establishment of Britain as a country putting itself back together as a sovereign nation after its abandonment by Rome.
Continuing on from the Lance Thrower, our narrator is Clothar, known as “Lance” by his friends because of his skilled ability to throw lances with precision at the enemy – a feat no other man, not even Arthur, can master. In the first part of the book, Arthur forms his knights – a term taken from the Roman élite, all with their own specifically designed swords in the form of Excalibur. The knights are addressed by the term “seur” from a Frankish term meaning one of noble or high stature. Whyte is impressive in his interweaving of parts of the Arthurian legend and fitting them in a realistic setting in fifth century Britain. In the second part of The Eagle, it is learned that the girl who Arthur considered his soul mate in the Lance Thrower was in fact his sister and that an act of naïve incest was committed. At the same time, Clothar has his own personal problems to deal with in falling in love with a woman who is to be married. After a long night of sharing their love, they must accept their fate and go their separate ways. In the final part of the book, Clothar must go with Arthur’s élite cavalry to Gaul where he will train thousands more men both to establish the authority of Arthur and his cavalry, as well as to prepare for any invading forces. Word has begun to spread of these invading peoples from the distant east known as Huns, led by a man known as Attila.
While the fate of Gaul with the invading Huns is never fully revealed, the book ends, naturally, with Arthur’s death from a wound in battle, while his son Mordred is next in line to rule. The book ends without any great summation of the mighty ruler known as Arthur who united Britain and made it a nation to be reckoned with, but tapering out like a long burning candle. Whyte’s point here is that the saga of Camulod is over, its characters now all dead, but they have done much to change Britain from the abandoned land after the fall of Rome. Their part is complete, and it will be up to other people, other kings, and other rulers to continue making Britain into a great nation.
For more book reviews, and author interviews, go to BookBanter.
Continuing on from the Lance Thrower, our narrator is Clothar, known as “Lance” by his friends because of his skilled ability to throw lances with precision at the enemy – a feat no other man, not even Arthur, can master. In the first part of the book, Arthur forms his knights – a term taken from the Roman élite, all with their own specifically designed swords in the form of Excalibur. The knights are addressed by the term “seur” from a Frankish term meaning one of noble or high stature. Whyte is impressive in his interweaving of parts of the Arthurian legend and fitting them in a realistic setting in fifth century Britain. In the second part of The Eagle, it is learned that the girl who Arthur considered his soul mate in the Lance Thrower was in fact his sister and that an act of naïve incest was committed. At the same time, Clothar has his own personal problems to deal with in falling in love with a woman who is to be married. After a long night of sharing their love, they must accept their fate and go their separate ways. In the final part of the book, Clothar must go with Arthur’s élite cavalry to Gaul where he will train thousands more men both to establish the authority of Arthur and his cavalry, as well as to prepare for any invading forces. Word has begun to spread of these invading peoples from the distant east known as Huns, led by a man known as Attila.
While the fate of Gaul with the invading Huns is never fully revealed, the book ends, naturally, with Arthur’s death from a wound in battle, while his son Mordred is next in line to rule. The book ends without any great summation of the mighty ruler known as Arthur who united Britain and made it a nation to be reckoned with, but tapering out like a long burning candle. Whyte’s point here is that the saga of Camulod is over, its characters now all dead, but they have done much to change Britain from the abandoned land after the fall of Rome. Their part is complete, and it will be up to other people, other kings, and other rulers to continue making Britain into a great nation.
For more book reviews, and author interviews, go to BookBanter.
jessiqa's review
3.0
Some spoilers ahead:
While the title refers to Arthur, make no mistake: This is Clothar’s story. Clothar is the Frankish name the author has given to Lancelot to better fit in with his historical setting. He was introduced in the previous book, The Lance Thrower, where he earned the nickname of Lance, based on his weapon of choice. Clothar spends most of his time in either the north of Britain or in Gaul, rather than in Camulod, so he has little time to spend with his king. While this saddens him, it also saddens me because I want more Arthur.
I enjoy how bits from the legends are worked into this story, from the way that Clothar saves King Pelles’ life, to how he fights a succession of five enemy knights. Whyte also subverts the generally accepted legend, in that there is never an affair between Clothar and Gwinnifer, and how Mordred is not the downfall of the King. (That comes from a wound that he receives in battle about 2/3 of the way through the book, but that never properly heals, such that it continues to weaken him through his remaining years.)
This being the final installment in the Camulod Chronicles, it brings the Arthurian tale to a close, but almost too abruptly for my taste. In Clothar’s final meeting with the king, he is instructed to take the Queen back to Gaul with him, for her safety, since a battle is coming soon and the King has doubts that he will survive. As such, Clothar isn’t there at the end. He just relays hearsay and rumor, noting that he may never know the truth of what happened on that battlefield. A) I find this unsatisfactory, the diving into rumor in a series that has done so well at presenting the whole story as factually and historically and in-depth as possibly can be. Why the sudden change at the end? B) It is made clear that Clothar is extraordinarily good at infiltrating the enemy force and speedily bringing about the end of a war or siege. He does in the North against Connlyn in just over a week, what Arthur’s army had been trying to accomplish over the past two years. Therefore, with Arthur knowing this strength of his friend, why would he not use this asset in the upcoming battle. Send Gwinnifer away with another knight, but keep Clothar at hand to assist in the final fray.
But that’s not how it plays out. On the whole, I did enjoy the book and the entire series. It has the tendency to get bogged down in the minutia of the military, though. On one such occasion, Arthur tells Clothar that all his sources are clergymen, so he does not know the military particulars of the battle which sent Atilla the Hun heading back East. And then there’s a page and a half describing this battle down to the details of which flank routed which. I learned about Atilla in school, of course, but this is far more than I ever learned in any classroom about this particular battle.
I recommend this book to any who’ve read the previous in the series, obviously, but also to those who are interested in seeing Arthur and Camulod in the most realistic setting possible. If you have an interest in military history as well, then this series is definitely something you will enjoy.
While the title refers to Arthur, make no mistake: This is Clothar’s story. Clothar is the Frankish name the author has given to Lancelot to better fit in with his historical setting. He was introduced in the previous book, The Lance Thrower, where he earned the nickname of Lance, based on his weapon of choice. Clothar spends most of his time in either the north of Britain or in Gaul, rather than in Camulod, so he has little time to spend with his king. While this saddens him, it also saddens me because I want more Arthur.
I enjoy how bits from the legends are worked into this story, from the way that Clothar saves King Pelles’ life, to how he fights a succession of five enemy knights. Whyte also subverts the generally accepted legend, in that there is never an affair between Clothar and Gwinnifer, and how Mordred is not the downfall of the King. (That comes from a wound that he receives in battle about 2/3 of the way through the book, but that never properly heals, such that it continues to weaken him through his remaining years.)
This being the final installment in the Camulod Chronicles, it brings the Arthurian tale to a close, but almost too abruptly for my taste. In Clothar’s final meeting with the king, he is instructed to take the Queen back to Gaul with him, for her safety, since a battle is coming soon and the King has doubts that he will survive. As such, Clothar isn’t there at the end. He just relays hearsay and rumor, noting that he may never know the truth of what happened on that battlefield. A) I find this unsatisfactory, the diving into rumor in a series that has done so well at presenting the whole story as factually and historically and in-depth as possibly can be. Why the sudden change at the end? B) It is made clear that Clothar is extraordinarily good at infiltrating the enemy force and speedily bringing about the end of a war or siege. He does in the North against Connlyn in just over a week, what Arthur’s army had been trying to accomplish over the past two years. Therefore, with Arthur knowing this strength of his friend, why would he not use this asset in the upcoming battle. Send Gwinnifer away with another knight, but keep Clothar at hand to assist in the final fray.
But that’s not how it plays out. On the whole, I did enjoy the book and the entire series. It has the tendency to get bogged down in the minutia of the military, though. On one such occasion, Arthur tells Clothar that all his sources are clergymen, so he does not know the military particulars of the battle which sent Atilla the Hun heading back East. And then there’s a page and a half describing this battle down to the details of which flank routed which. I learned about Atilla in school, of course, but this is far more than I ever learned in any classroom about this particular battle.
I recommend this book to any who’ve read the previous in the series, obviously, but also to those who are interested in seeing Arthur and Camulod in the most realistic setting possible. If you have an interest in military history as well, then this series is definitely something you will enjoy.
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