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mrbear's review against another edition
4.0
This book was fine. I’m still curious to see how the story develops, but I am slowly tiring of the author’s style, and still feel like Merlyn as a character is not very interesting, which makes the whole series feel slower. Something about the characterization generally feels a bit limited - characters are either underdeveloped or fit extremely well into perfect boxes. Gray areas are limited. Lets see if Arthur can turn that around.
bahoulie's review against another edition
3.0
I'm really loving this series. Whyte does such a nice job of enlarging the Arthurian legend, while still making it feel like the story we all know and love.
thomas_hense's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Not as good and interesting as the previous books.
jaxboiler's review against another edition
2.0
This book seemed much slower than the others in the series. I am guessing he was trying to set up the story for the following books.
tri_sara_topps's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyable, only took me longer than others due to a busy life. Some sections faster than others, but really enjoying seeing the myths develop.
thepoisonrain's review against another edition
3.0
It was a solid read, but nothing particularly impressed me. A few things that didn't impress me:
- Thinly veiled homophobia. (Even if we're supposed to read the narrator as flawed, there wasn't enough delicacy in the writing to point the reader in that direction... he seemed to tackle a lot of tricky subjects, but then pull up on really addressing them.)
- Sometimes awkward writing about females. (It's worth mentioning that I think Whyte handled writing about females a lot better toward the end of the book, not sure why that is, but that moved it from a solid 2.5 stars to a 3.5.)
- All of the women who were competent also just so happened to be beautiful? And that always seemed to make them hero material more than whatever cool thing they were doing.
- Realizations through the protagonist about lepers/other races that were clearly meant to be novel. The moments where Merlin realized he was othering groups pointlessly/unfairly/to his own detriment were kind of over-explained/weren't particularly enlightening, even for a book written 15 years ago.
- Thinly veiled homophobia. (Even if we're supposed to read the narrator as flawed, there wasn't enough delicacy in the writing to point the reader in that direction... he seemed to tackle a lot of tricky subjects, but then pull up on really addressing them.)
- Sometimes awkward writing about females. (It's worth mentioning that I think Whyte handled writing about females a lot better toward the end of the book, not sure why that is, but that moved it from a solid 2.5 stars to a 3.5.)
- All of the women who were competent also just so happened to be beautiful? And that always seemed to make them hero material more than whatever cool thing they were doing.
- Realizations through the protagonist about lepers/other races that were clearly meant to be novel. The moments where Merlin realized he was othering groups pointlessly/unfairly/to his own detriment were kind of over-explained/weren't particularly enlightening, even for a book written 15 years ago.
kylieqrada's review against another edition
4.0
About 3/4 of the way through reading The Saxon Shore, the fourth book in the Camulod Chronicles, I had a personally transformative awakening to the realities of white supremacy and my complicity in racism, so maybe my rating and reading experience are a little skewed. I landed somewhere around a 3.5 ⭐. I definitely am seeing the progression of Jack Whyte as a writer throughout this series, and his characters are experiencing alot more growth than they did in earlier books. If the rest of the series continues on the path it's on currently, I think this will be a 4 ⭐ series for me. However, the problematic elements do take away from what is mostly an enjoyable narrative.
jessiqa's review
4.0
This is the fourth book in The Camulod Chronicles. As with the others, it is very detailed in its recreation of Britain in the decades following Rome's withdrawal. As Arthur is a young boy in this story, the names of certain characters are starting to become more familiar, while my brain searches for the characters I know from other versions of the Arthurian Legend.
I'm not sure the reason why, but I took far longer to read this than I had any of the previous installments. I had the renew the book more times than I can recall, and it was a struggle somehow. This may not be a comment on the book itself, so much as on me. I dunno. Anyway, I shall be eager to read the next book in line.
I'm not sure the reason why, but I took far longer to read this than I had any of the previous installments. I had the renew the book more times than I can recall, and it was a struggle somehow. This may not be a comment on the book itself, so much as on me. I dunno. Anyway, I shall be eager to read the next book in line.
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