What do you think?
Rate this book
Bedivere, Book One: The King's Right Hand
"The tales of King Arthur and the knights of his Round Table, though barely a generation past, have already gained the status of legend. He united the land and defeated the foreign invaders and eventually brought peace to a war-torn Britain. Every historian in the land wishes to know the details of his the battles fought, the laws he made. The names of Lancelot and Guinevere, Tristan and Isolde, Gawain, Perceval and many others are on the lips of every bard and storyteller from Scotland and Britain, south across the continent, and on into lands unheard of.
"I am neither historian nor bard. I am simply a man who was blessed to live at the time of King Arthur. You may have heard my name, though there are precious few stories told of my exploits. I need no tales, for I lived the greatest of them all.
"I am Bedivere, the King’s best friend, his right hand man. I was his horse lord and the first Knight of the Round Table. I was the first man to know him and the last man to see him alive. I followed his orders and carried his secrets. Where others saw only his crown I was privileged to know the man. This is my story.
"But my story is his story."
"I am neither historian nor bard. I am simply a man who was blessed to live at the time of King Arthur. You may have heard my name, though there are precious few stories told of my exploits. I need no tales, for I lived the greatest of them all.
"I am Bedivere, the King’s best friend, his right hand man. I was his horse lord and the first Knight of the Round Table. I was the first man to know him and the last man to see him alive. I followed his orders and carried his secrets. Where others saw only his crown I was privileged to know the man. This is my story.
"But my story is his story."
Nook
First published August 28, 2011
22 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 28, 2013
I miss 20 pages to the end but I wanted to write something about it immediately because I am really loving this novel and my review may not be perfect, because I am not English, but I am extremely glad I could read this story.
The novel is the first of a trilogy (I suppose) which I hope will continue soon. It is about Bediere who is narrator and protagonist. In the story an old Bedivere, post Camlann, decides to write down his memories of Arthur and Camelot.
One of the things Ioved a lot of this way of narration was how Bediere often compared reality to the legend, talking about what people say happened and what really happened. Sometimes the narrator doesn't remember everything, being Bedivere quite old, and trust the legends or what his friends told him (for example in a point, he says "Tristan said that... it seems strange to me and I didn't rememeber it, so I asked Tristan what he said. But we all know that Tristan is a liar" or something like this). The book narrates from Bedivere's childhood, alongside his best friend Arthur, Arthur's adoptive brother Kay and Ector to Arthur as king, in his first years of kingship.
I would absolutely recommend this book to everyone. Of course there were things I didn't like, for example how sometimes the characters talked in a bit unrealistic way just to give information to the reader, but generically speaking it's a good book.
And now
SPOILERS.
I appreciated immensely how Guinevere and Morgana were 'of the guys'. Let me explain.
in a lot (all of them?) books I've read, Arthur and male friends meet each other when Arthur becomes king and the Guinevere arrives (and Morgana arrives etc.). Here instead Arthur meets Tristan, Lancelot, Guinevere, Morgana, Gawain and Agravain before he finds out about being king. Guinevere is part of the group, she is still a child but she is part of the group even more than Morgana who has less adentures with them. Also, both of them are wonderfully described round characters.
The author also manages to narrate a story that I don't think I have never seen in modern arthurian retellings: the giant of Mont Saint Michel. Convinced by Guinevere's reasonings and compassion, the gang of guys decide to save a girl and his brother from a cruel king and in the story Bedivere loses his hand. Also the sword in the stone is retold in a very imaginative way.
I still have my doubts about Merlin, because in this novel he travels and lives with different identities with each one of the characters to create them, instruct and educate them for the future he wants and both Morgana (who is Arthur's lover) and Nimue (who appears by the end) are seers so know of that future. I am not a fan of 'I slept with my brother because it was destiny that Mordred killed him' buy we'll see!
Bedivere is a wonderful protagonist, with the right balance (at least for me!) of post-losing-hand angst and loyalty for Arthur and need to fight. I can't wait for the next books, to know what will happen to them and especially to Guinevere who in this novel is clearly infatuated with Bedivere (who is uncomfortable with the tought knowing she is a child).
As someone who likes to collect arthurian novel and who read a lot of arthuriana I can say that I am immensely glad to have had an encounter with this one!
The novel is the first of a trilogy (I suppose) which I hope will continue soon. It is about Bediere who is narrator and protagonist. In the story an old Bedivere, post Camlann, decides to write down his memories of Arthur and Camelot.
One of the things Ioved a lot of this way of narration was how Bediere often compared reality to the legend, talking about what people say happened and what really happened. Sometimes the narrator doesn't remember everything, being Bedivere quite old, and trust the legends or what his friends told him (for example in a point, he says "Tristan said that... it seems strange to me and I didn't rememeber it, so I asked Tristan what he said. But we all know that Tristan is a liar" or something like this). The book narrates from Bedivere's childhood, alongside his best friend Arthur, Arthur's adoptive brother Kay and Ector to Arthur as king, in his first years of kingship.
I would absolutely recommend this book to everyone. Of course there were things I didn't like, for example how sometimes the characters talked in a bit unrealistic way just to give information to the reader, but generically speaking it's a good book.
And now
SPOILERS.
I appreciated immensely how Guinevere and Morgana were 'of the guys'. Let me explain.
in a lot (all of them?) books I've read, Arthur and male friends meet each other when Arthur becomes king and the Guinevere arrives (and Morgana arrives etc.). Here instead Arthur meets Tristan, Lancelot, Guinevere, Morgana, Gawain and Agravain before he finds out about being king. Guinevere is part of the group, she is still a child but she is part of the group even more than Morgana who has less adentures with them. Also, both of them are wonderfully described round characters.
The author also manages to narrate a story that I don't think I have never seen in modern arthurian retellings: the giant of Mont Saint Michel. Convinced by Guinevere's reasonings and compassion, the gang of guys decide to save a girl and his brother from a cruel king and in the story Bedivere loses his hand. Also the sword in the stone is retold in a very imaginative way.
I still have my doubts about Merlin, because in this novel he travels and lives with different identities with each one of the characters to create them, instruct and educate them for the future he wants and both Morgana (who is Arthur's lover) and Nimue (who appears by the end) are seers so know of that future. I am not a fan of 'I slept with my brother because it was destiny that Mordred killed him' buy we'll see!
Bedivere is a wonderful protagonist, with the right balance (at least for me!) of post-losing-hand angst and loyalty for Arthur and need to fight. I can't wait for the next books, to know what will happen to them and especially to Guinevere who in this novel is clearly infatuated with Bedivere (who is uncomfortable with the tought knowing she is a child).
As someone who likes to collect arthurian novel and who read a lot of arthuriana I can say that I am immensely glad to have had an encounter with this one!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2012
I very much enjoyed this book, the author really made the character of Bedivere come alive and all the characters were well drawn, with the likable ones being very likable.
I haven't read an Arthurian tale that focuses on the view point of someone who knew Arthur from the beginning but not as king, so this was a fresh take on events from my point of view.
Since this is referred to as Book One, I hope that more is to come and will look forward to reading how Arthur's reign turns out and how the author deals with the well-known legends.
I haven't read an Arthurian tale that focuses on the view point of someone who knew Arthur from the beginning but not as king, so this was a fresh take on events from my point of view.
Since this is referred to as Book One, I hope that more is to come and will look forward to reading how Arthur's reign turns out and how the author deals with the well-known legends.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews