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A review by jessiqa
The Lance Thrower by Jack Whyte
3.0
This is the 8th book in the Camulod Chronicles. Leaving Merlyn behind as narrator, this book switches to Lancelot, the first Arthurian book I've come across to be told from Lancelot's point of view. In this series, he has the more historically likely name of Clothar, who is endowed with the nick-name Lance-thrower. The previous book ended with Arthur's coronation as High King of Britain; this book starts many years after that, with Clothar as on old man traveling back to Britain to pay a visit to Merlyn's grove along with his son and a few of his son's friends. It's during this visit that his son realizes that he knows very little of his father's life.
So, Clother begins his tale. He starts with his boyhood as the adoptive son of his mother's sister and her husband. He later goes to school in Bishop Germanus' school for boys in Auxerre. There is a minor civil war when Clothar's uncle dies. Clothar eventually makes his way back to Auxerre where Germanus sends him off to Britain.
As in the previous books in this series, there's a good deal of detail on military strategies and suchlike, most of which doesn't really interest me. Someone interested in military history would likely find those sections very interesting. It also seemed that Clothar's voice as a narrator was not all that distinct from Merlyn's (which was definitely distinct from Publius Varrus'). The only part in the book that truly brought a smile to my face was at the end, when Clothar finally met Arthur and the meeting was much as it has always been portrayed in Arthurian literature. I've said in previous reviews of books in this series that Arthur was always the person in the stories to whom I was most drawn. The same is true in this series, which is why I'm a little sad I haven't really had the opportunity to see him much, not even through the eyes of others. Ah, well. Perhaps that will change in the next installment.
So, Clother begins his tale. He starts with his boyhood as the adoptive son of his mother's sister and her husband. He later goes to school in Bishop Germanus' school for boys in Auxerre. There is a minor civil war when Clothar's uncle dies. Clothar eventually makes his way back to Auxerre where Germanus sends him off to Britain.
As in the previous books in this series, there's a good deal of detail on military strategies and suchlike, most of which doesn't really interest me. Someone interested in military history would likely find those sections very interesting. It also seemed that Clothar's voice as a narrator was not all that distinct from Merlyn's (which was definitely distinct from Publius Varrus'). The only part in the book that truly brought a smile to my face was at the end, when Clothar finally met Arthur and the meeting was much as it has always been portrayed in Arthurian literature. I've said in previous reviews of books in this series that Arthur was always the person in the stories to whom I was most drawn. The same is true in this series, which is why I'm a little sad I haven't really had the opportunity to see him much, not even through the eyes of others. Ah, well. Perhaps that will change in the next installment.