A review by elusiverica
Uther by Jack Whyte

4.0

The seventh book in the Camulod Chronicles. It’s set during the same time period as The Eagles’ Brood (book three), but from the perspective of Uther Pendragon. This is the story of Uther’s childhood in the Pendragon clan, the duty he feels to follow in his father’s footsteps and become their king (even if he would secretly prefer to live in Camulod), his romance with Igraine of Cornwall and the birth of their son Arthur. I liked that we finally got an answer to the mystery of who killed Merlyn’s wife Cassandra, and I loved that Uther knew Merlyn suspected him but was certain that if he could just talk to his cousin and explain, all would be right between them again. He loved Merlyn like a brother until the day he died, even when Merlyn hated him, and he would have been glad that Merlyn took charge of his son and raised him to be king - in fact, it would probably be his ideal scenario. That makes me feel much better about that whole arrangement.
This book was different from the others in the series, because it was told in third person instead of first person. Uther isn’t the type to write memoirs, unlike Merlyn or his grandfather Varrus. This means that for the first time, we got women as POV characters. At first I wasn’t thrilled about this, because what it mostly seemed to mean was more rape/attempted rape scenes. But then we got to Igraine, and having her point of view was excellent. I enjoyed her romance with Uther more than any other romance so far in the series.