Launcelot, My Brother

by Dorothy James Roberts

373 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1954

Reviews

[Mariana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in the begging of the year. I find him in a blog and decided that I want to give it a tried. I didn't actually have a lot of expectation for this, but after reading the book I was in love with it.

This book is told from the perspective of Bors. He is usually cousin of Lancelot, but in this story his is actually his brother and he tells in the first person everything that happens in the court of King Arthur. The main theme of the book is Lancelot and Guinevere loves and the Orkney brothers (Gawain, Agravain and Garret).

We see a bit of the complicity between Arthur and Lancelot and his love for Guinevere. I have to say Lancelot was an amazing character, a broken man, hurt by the past and a man divided between loyalties and love.

The book was a beautiful retelling of the legend of King Arthur and I the end was heartbreaking I cried so hard and the end. But at the same, I am so happy that I found this book.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful meditation on what Arthurian knighthood means. This one digs heavily into the feuding between the various factions of the Round Table, the unintentional repercussions of the Grail quest, and the personal character of Lancelot.

If I have a gripe with this book, it's that Arthur's perspective gets short shrift and Lancelot/Guinevere get some tacit justification. This title does it better than most, but it's still noticeable.

The narrative follows Malory pretty closely, with the noticeable exception of Bors being Lancelot 's younger brother rather than his cousin and Arthur's eventual fate. These don't change anything to particularly great degree and shouldn't ward off fans of the original sources.

Not action-packed, but highly recommended.

[Kenyon · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good! One of my favorites of all time, and by far my favorite telling of the Arthurian myth. Her writing absolutely drips with a simmering sadness that floats in the back of your mind, and the alterations to the normal series of events & relationships plays very well. Highly recommend to anyone who wants to immerse themselves in this type of story

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been quite a while since I read this but I do remember that I liked the writing style of Dorothy Roberts. I wish her other books were readily available but alas, they are all out of print. I happened upon this one at a thrift store and took a chance upon it because it of the subject matter, which is, of course, the knight, Launcelot, as told by his brother Bors. It concerns Launcelot's rise from the son of a King in France to his becoming one of Arthur's most trusted knights. But then Guinevere gets in the way and things disintegrate. Highly recommended for anyone who likes Arthurian tales and who has never read Dorothy Roberts before.