Pendragon: An Historical Novel

by Douglas Carmichael

Sir Arthur of Camelot, now a warrior king, battles wizards, love and betrayalto bring law and order to his kingdom.

302 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1977

Reviews

[Arthurianmaiden · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Pendragon" is an historial arthurian novel, mostly focused on Arthur's battles at the beginning of his rise to power. I usually tend to prefer more character focused novels and less war/battles focused ones, but this book is simply amazing. The plot revolves around young Arthur facing the rebel kings after finding out he is Uther's heir. When I say "revolves around" I mean that the book is heavily focused on this period of Arthur's life. This makes the story feel slightly disconnected, as some chapters are about a specific battle or enemy (like for example Urien or Lot), and some others are about events in Arthur's life (his conception, then his relationship with Morgause, his meeting with Guinevere etc.).

Sometimes it felt like the author was keeping me hostage with endless battles and war strategies, keeping the character development/character focused chapter just out of reach. Still, I loved those character focused chapters. I particularly enjoyed the novel way Douglas Carmichael decided to tackle some of the usual arthurian plot points. I will just list a few of my favourite ones, here, under spoilers:

Uther is not even remotely sympathetic. He does not love Igraine, he just wants her, and end up marrying her out of boredom (and because of Merlin's suggestion). As a matter of fact, not a lot of characters try to be sympathetic. Arthur and Morgause sleep together, but just because they end up using fake names, and never recognize each others, but they both seem to dislike Mordred (pre-born Mordred) after they find out that Mordred will be the end of Arthur. Arthur, in particular, expresses his disgust and hatred towards baby Mordred (whom he has never met) many times.

Another new point is how Arthur decides to marry Guinevere even after Merlin predicts that Guinevere and Lancelot will fall in love. Lancelot seems to have no interest in women, and he assures that to Arthur, until it gets too late and he gets close to Guinevere, trying to comfort her (as she feels saddened by the fact that Arthur already has three sons but none with her).


These are just some of the points. In general I enjoyed the novel a lot, but it always felt like I could have had much more. The novel stops at Arthur's Baddon Hill battle- and I really wish we could have seen Mordred growing up and the affair between Guinevere and Lancelot actually take roots.