Excalibur!

by Gil Kane, John Jakes

The Chronicles of Arthur, King of the Britons. Here is the dazzling epic of England's past..the birth of the nation that gave America birth..told with the sweep and vigor of history and romance that only a master storyteller can conjure.

Genres: Fantasy, Arthurian, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics

509 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1980

About the author

Gil Kane (/dʒɪl keɪn/; born Eli Katz /kæts/) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character.

Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and co-created Iron Fist with Roy Thomas for Marvel Comics. He was involved in such major storylines as that of The Amazing Spider-Man #96–98, which, at the behest of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, bucked the then-prevalent Comics Code Authority to depict drug abuse, and ultimately spurred an update of the Code. Kane additionally pioneered an early graphic novel prototype, His Name Is... Savage, in 1968, and a seminal graphic novel, Blackmark, in 1971.
In 1997, he was inducted into both the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame and the Harvey Award Jack Kirby Hall of Fame.

Reviews

[WhatShouldIRead]

Oh boy! I slogged through more than half this book and finally decided to call it quits. I wanted to like this, I mean I'm a huge fan of anything Arthur, but this book seemed to go from one gory battle to another with not much else inbetween. There was quite a bit of the young Arthur story, of which some passages were very slow. It was only at the point where I stopped reading that Excalibur finally came into the picture.

I didn't know what to expect from this book, but upon reading what I did, I realized I wanted more of the story about Arthur, Merlin, Guinevere, Lancelot, Morgana, and the knights at Camelot, and all the mystical stuff associated with these people and events, not all the battling that was presented here.

[Kim-Lost-In-A-Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, at times poetic. Epic story of Arthur's Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table. Amazing story.

[Marc Pressley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Otherwise known as the Pendragon family chronicles....

[Haley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. It was a take on Arthurian legend that included magical elements, but also shied away from them. More blood & gore than is typically my taste.

[Mike Harnish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book MANY years ago as I was into the legend of King Arthur. I was checking out works of John Jakes and this was mentioned and so I added it my list.

[Arthurianmaiden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't rate this novel three stars because I absolutely loved the first part of it, so at the end I simply rated it four stars even if I am not sure it would deserve all of them.
I'll start talking about how much I loved in this novel.
The first part, which was actually the majority of the book, is dedicated to Arthur's childhood and the time before he became king. I've never read a novel that takes so long about describing Arthur, his dreams and his character before he gets the crown (a part from "Sword in the Stone"). I loved it till the point where he marries Guinevere, because after that everything is told and narrated differently, from the details and care the authors used before to a rest of the novel which jumps from event to event without focusing anymore on Arthur or even on a single character.
Arthur is arrogant, hopeful and does so much growing up, learning to become the kind of dreamer I love so much in novels about him. There's also a lot of Sir Kay, character that even in novels about Arthur's growth into a man, is sometimes forgotten. Arthur's meeting with Lancelot is a fun moment, interesting and original and so is the way Arthur meets Guinevere. For a moment the focus of the narration moves to Guinevere and Lancelot and a part of me wanted it there for the rest of the novel too, as I've never read a novel where Guinevere loves Lancelot but decides to marry Arthur anyway because of politics and the marriage between them is never becoming love.
Other little things I loved, just quickly before getting to the no no parts: Morgause as Mordred's mother but not as the villain, Morgana is Nimue and tricks Merlin to his death, little Galahad and little Mordred together on the Grail quest, where the Grail is Britain itself, Lancelot's story with Elaine, Galahad as the little dreamer, the one who took the real events and turning them into legends.

Now, for the parts that left me bitter. I already talked about how the second part of the novel jumps from event to happening, and the story is very quick. This also implies that characters do things that are not well explained. Arthur gets extremely jealous of Guinevere and Lancelot, but the last time we saw him in his introspections he knew he was marrying a woman in love with another and never showed jealousy, Mordred is evil without reasons, he is presented by Morgana as the one who will destroy Arthur and probably the rest of the court treated him differently, knowing of this, but Mordred never met Morgana. Mordred is raised in Cam by Arthur. After Arthur gets him from Morgana, Arthur raises him even if at first he immediately knows (but with no explanation) that Mordred will be his end. We don't see Mordred's young years, but when we meet him at 13 years old, he is cruel, tortures animals and hates everyone, while Arthur has raised him and is always worried about him and justifies every one of his cruelties. And of course, there's the classic "effeminate Mordred who looked like a woman", which makes him lovely attractive to me but which is one hundred percent in the queer stereotypical villain trope.
But the thing that irritated my more was how useless women are killed away. Or sometimes just disappear. Morgause appears to be tricked by Morgana and sleeps with Arthur. She gets Mordred and dies because she didn't want to live anymore. Morgana is presented as this great villain but as soon as she brings Mordred to Arthur, to let Arthur grow him and then be killed by him, she is killed off by Gareth, who beheads her, Elaine leaves enough to get Lancelot's baby and sends him to Lancelot before killing herself because Lancelot never loved her as Guinevere. Young Elainn, Galahad's friend, disappear after finding the Grail with him and Mordred.

At the end I was a bit disappointed by how quickly (just 100 pages over 500) were dedicated to the final events, from the accusation of Guinevere and the death of Arthur. It seemed strange for a book that started as something focused on Arthur. But I generally liked it and liked the feeling of realistic story in it.

[Mark Major · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excalibur! (1980) by Gil Kane and John Jakes is a bit of an odd bird. It lacks the fantastical grandeur of John Boorman's 1981 film of the same name (minus the exclamation point) though it seems Boorman wasn't completely unaware of this version of the Arthurian legend. There are a few scenes (Arthur-Mordred's impaled embrace in death, Morgana's imprisonment of Merlin), which find echoes in that film. It also lacks the brilliance of Marion Zimmer Bradley's revisionist The Mists of Avalon. The characterizations are not half-bad (especially Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere) but this version of the Arthurian legend is sorely in need of a credible antagonist to drive the story forward. Morgana is introduced early as this antagonist but then disappears for two-thirds of the book. Once she returns, her main power lies in the fact that everyone has forgotten about her. She then almost immediately disappears when quickly killed off after engineering the twisted birth of Modred via her sister, Morgause, by her half-brother, Arthur. In between, generic Saxons serve as the antagonists before Modred does so during the last one-fifth of the book. The result is a very leisurely pace for a story that desperately wants to move forward. The chronology is also strange, which has the effect of transforming the tragedy of the three main characters into an unfortunate, lingering series of misunderstandings which only endures because Lancelot-Guinevere do not speak up about their truth feelings despite given ample opportunities to do so by Arthur. Merlin is nothing more than a scheming politico with a few magic tricks as the fantasy elements of the story are almost completely eliminated (the exception being matters surrounding the sword of power, Excalibur). Gil Kane's book isn't a bad read but there are better versions. Besides, it's always fun to read absurdist metaphors for human genitalia in historical romances ("she felt his sword against her") such as Excalibur! 2 1/2 stars.

[Michael D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel paced like an attempt to cram the whole of Arthur's reign into the span of the story, only to realize about 75% of the way into the story that the writers needed to wrap it all up. Although there were some poignant scenes, particularly the graphic depiction of the violent struggles in combat, the overall story development was weak.

Romantic interactions were incredibly stilted, like scenes from pot-boiler mini-series, which must have been the work of the co-author, John Jakes. Although not bad enough to force me to put the novel down, it was not among the better modern Arthurian fiction I have read for the past 30 years. It combined the worst elements of comic books and Hollywood, neither quite getting the Arthurian romance right.

[Kathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's start with the fact that the Arthurian legend, in all its many forms, is one of my most favorites.

I liked the way the authors brought in all the tribes and groups vying for power and control in Britain--Britons/Celts, Picts, Saxons. There was at least an attempt to show both good and evil in the various groups. And many parts of the legend were included--Merlin (and Morgan as Nimue), the Grail, Lancelot and Elain, the sword in the stone. And there were twists from other versions--Morgause and not Morgan as mother of Modred (Mordred), a mutual desire between Ygraine and Uther, and the marriage between Arthur and Guinevere never consummated.

7/10

[Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a mess. The first half (250 pages) is nothing but blow by blow swordfight after swordfight. Terrible! Then the authors shift but it still doesn't work. Morgause gets less than one page, Morgan La Fay gets less than 10 pages, but it goes on and on describing every flower and weed that grows in Britain.

[Janice Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love anything and everything about King Arthur, and I read this book many, many years ago, and just felt the urge to read it yet again. And I still loved it. Read it from cover to cover in one sitting.

[Alexander widrow]

Really good read for an Arthurian enthusiast.

[Rally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this several times as a teenager, really enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Phil Gladden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written to coincide with the movie release , but it stands apart from the movie. It is really a great book

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful retelling of the Arthurian story. Along with Mists of Avalon, the best Arthur book. Worth searching for.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent job at collating various legends into a whole and at setting the story in real times. It just didn't do the tales justice, for me.