Camelot 2050: Black Knight

by David Cartwright, Omercan Cirit (Cover Art), M.J. Bridger (Foreword)

Camelot 2050: Black Knight is the first instalment in a three-part story that rewrites the ending of the classic legend of King Arthur, and transports the reader to a near-future England ruled over by the ancestral line of Pendragon and the Knights of the Round Table. In this setting we meet Squire Rosalyn Taunton-Savant, struggling to find acceptance amidst jealousy and fierce rivalry. Her life and the lives of everyone around her are thrown into chaos when an ancient enemy, the Sorceress Morgana le Fay, unleashes a devastating attack on Camelot. Reeling from the assault, Ros and her friends (some from unexpected quarters) are sent on a desperate mission; To find and bring back the wizard Merlin, Master Magician of the Court of Camelot from his internment in the Crystal Cave on the fabled island of Avalon. With the enemy hot on their heels, and an armoury of high tech weapons at their disposal, the young squires race to complete their quest before le Fay can destroy Camelot. A Military Science-Fantasy Novel; Camelot 2050: Black Knight takes the ideals of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and brings them forward through an alternate history into a time of power-assisted armoured Knights on cybernetic horseback.

Genres: Fantasy

476 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2018

Reviews

[Steven Poore · Rating 2 out of 5]

An excellent idea - fusing together Arthuriana, pulp cyberpunk, and Warhammer 40k-style slugfest battles - that definitely needed a bit more refinement both stylistically and technically before launch. Formatting issues abound, which drag attention away from what is actually a fast-paced and confident good vs evil romp. The Arthuriana is lightly hung onto pre-existing British history though, with characters quoting Chruchill before literally fighting on the beaches - surely with a line of kings descended from the great Pendragon Britain would have no need for Winston's empire-building shenanigans and use of concentration camps? And where's the slabs of Welsh mythology?
As one great game designer has said, "Your Pendragon may vary". This one certainly won't be to everyone's tastes, but it's not afraid to stake out its own place at the (round) table.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.9/5 Stars (Minus 0.1 for the final battle being set in Great Yarmouth)
I really enjoyed this book. I thought that the world building was interesting. The plot was compelling with enough time dedicated to setup and to main plot and managing to straddle the fine line of having a satisfying end point while still leaving plenty of intrigue for the sequels. I was worried that it might suffer from what I have dubbed ‘too many characters syndrome’ whereby there are so many characters that some are inevitably sidelined or underdeveloped but I was pleasantly surprised that even the obvious secondary characters were given some clear character traits and moments in the spotlight. My only slight annoyance in this regard was the at times disjointed POV switches. Finally this book wins the award for most plot relevant and believable reason for a YA book to have YA protagonists, many senior knights and M.A.G.Es defecting would obviously leave their apprentices and squires to be the next most senior and the vast majority of squires and apprentices are teenagers or young adults. All in all an enjoyable book.

[Zia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is outside of my favorite genre (sci-fi with more sci than fi), but I wanted to explore new authors while I was at WorldCon. David’s charm made me buy the book. I admit there are places in the story that made me think this was more YA than adult fantasy, and I guess there are some elements of sci-fi mixed in. Overall, I can tell that a lot was put into it and if this was my prefered genre, I would most likely read the rest of the series. I relunctantly label this as a “guys book.” Having been a volunteer copy-editor for another first-time/self publisher I know there is an evolution for every writer to work through. Getting a best seller on the first go is extremely rare. This deserves more than a 1-star review as there are quite a few original elements that make it worth the read. I have no regrets for reading it. If the subject interests you, give it a go!

[Rupert Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great - once it got going.
I found maybe the first 50 pages hard going as this was the section that was setting the scene for this medieval-futuristic-fantasy-scifi novel. If that sounds an odd mix, it is. Full marks to the author for coming up with such an odd scenario. As I say once we got the explanations out of the way, this was a great adventure novel. It was just a bit hard work getting past the scene setting.
Anyway, this is a great adventure novel. Lots of plot twists, friendships betrayed, lovers loved, daring fights, intrigue, speed, romance. I guess this book has it all.
I think it would help if you knew a few basics about Arthurian legends. You don't need to be an expert, but if you already know who Morgana, Arthur, Merlin and Guinevere were then you will be ahead of the crowd.
Enjoy!

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A re-telling of the story of the last days of Arthur's round table at Camelot, but set in 2050 with more-than-modern technology, biotechnology and weapons. I found it a very interesting idea. I particularly liked the CTEEDs - the high tech transport for knights who are each basically attired like a variant of iron man.

You can tell it is the author's first book. The style improves as the book goes on. It reminds me a lot of reading The Colour of Magic. If you read that after reading Pratchett's later books you can see how much his maturity and confidence improved his style considerably in later books. I look forward to seeing what Cartwright writes in 2 or 3 books time.

[Laurie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The great thing about self publishing is that anyone can publish a book, the down side to it are books like this. Badly written with ridiculous and constant descriptions of terribly realised tech that seems to fill every page, names so unremittingly awful that I genuinely wondered if this was even written by an adult. I deeply question any five star reviews but after checking out the ‘ authors ‘ pages on social media I found both he and his wife begging their friends for good reviews, so that answers that question.

[Samuel Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was immediately charmed by the foreword, being pre-inclined to enjoy anything that takes Boorman's Excalibur as the definitive Arthur. The story itself, considering it's a debut novel and the start of a trilogy, is overall strongly conceived and well executed.

The author succeeds admirably at suspending disbelief, and the story cracks along at a swift pace, replete with action and intense imagery.

I look forward to seeing how the story unfolds, and how the author develops, in future instalments of the series.

[Nadia Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic modern Arthurian tale