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Camelot #1
A World Called Camelot
Book by Landis, Arthur H.
220 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
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108 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 1, 2021
This novel mixes a sword-and-sorcery medieval setting with magic and space-opera science fiction. The first-person narrator describes his assignment to a planet named Fregis. His employer, the earth-based Galactic Foundation, calls the planet Camelot because of its culture’s similarity to post-Roman Britain. Traditional characters from the Arthurian plots do not appear, but the narrator alludes to Merlin, Arthur, Galahad, and “the Terran chronicler Mallory [sic].”
April 3, 2019
What a weird book. Not bad, not bad at all. Sometimes it’s hard to follow but I enjoyed it.
September 14, 2025
Landis' A World Called Camelot takes us to the planet Fregis, in the star system Fomalhaut, where a interplanetary adjuster, Kyrie Fern, takes on the role of a legendary knight in order to rally the peoples of the world against vile forces of a galactic nature.
The premise of the book intrigued me right from the start, and I was assumed it would something similar to McCaffrey's Dragons Dawn...not so much. Kyrie is...pretty much useless, as far as space explorers are concerned, and his only real saving grace in the whole 220-page of grueling, near Shakespearean verbiage, is that he's strong and can fight well. That's it. He may have a mental implant to communicate with the crew on his space ship, but they don't really do anything amazing, and while he does have a belt of cool, high tech gadgets (allegedly), he makes a point when explaining his role in the cosmos that he's not actually allowed to use anything, period.
As I said, intriguing premise but I was truly bored the entire time. And no, the Pug-Boos did not do anything for me either!
The premise of the book intrigued me right from the start, and I was assumed it would something similar to McCaffrey's Dragons Dawn...not so much. Kyrie is...pretty much useless, as far as space explorers are concerned, and his only real saving grace in the whole 220-page of grueling, near Shakespearean verbiage, is that he's strong and can fight well. That's it. He may have a mental implant to communicate with the crew on his space ship, but they don't really do anything amazing, and while he does have a belt of cool, high tech gadgets (allegedly), he makes a point when explaining his role in the cosmos that he's not actually allowed to use anything, period.
As I said, intriguing premise but I was truly bored the entire time. And no, the Pug-Boos did not do anything for me either!
February 16, 2023
Un buon fantasy.
July 18, 2013
This book (and series), more than any other, introduced me to the wonders of mixing SF and Fantasy genres. I loved the shades of Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
But now I'm wondering... I've never read Rocannon's World by Ursula K. LeGuin, but I see that work was written in 1966 and contains elements which sound familiar to me. Ursula K. LeGuin published Rocannon's World in which Rocannon goes on an ethnological mission to Semley's planet, Fomalhaut II. "He places the planet under an 'exploration embargo' in order to protect the native cultures."
Contrast that to A World Called Camelot penned according to one source in 1965 but which the primary publication seems to be 1976 in which the natives called Formalhaut II by the name of Fergis Kyrie Fern, a galactic adjustor, places the entire planet under exploration embargo in order to protect the native cultures.
If Landis published his book in 1965 and LeGuin hers in 1966, that's one thing. If LeGuin published hers in 1966 and Landis didn't until 1976... It seems awfully coincidental.
At any rate, have you ever heard of Arthur Landis? Most haven't. If he cribbed some ideas from LeGuin, I doubt he robbed her of any measurable sales. I find Landis a bit cheesy but extremely fun. His novels romp along at breakneck speed and fit right into the Space Opera genre tropes which I enjoy.
But now I'm wondering... I've never read Rocannon's World by Ursula K. LeGuin, but I see that work was written in 1966 and contains elements which sound familiar to me. Ursula K. LeGuin published Rocannon's World in which Rocannon goes on an ethnological mission to Semley's planet, Fomalhaut II. "He places the planet under an 'exploration embargo' in order to protect the native cultures."
Contrast that to A World Called Camelot penned according to one source in 1965 but which the primary publication seems to be 1976 in which the natives called Formalhaut II by the name of Fergis Kyrie Fern, a galactic adjustor, places the entire planet under exploration embargo in order to protect the native cultures.
If Landis published his book in 1965 and LeGuin hers in 1966, that's one thing. If LeGuin published hers in 1966 and Landis didn't until 1976... It seems awfully coincidental.
At any rate, have you ever heard of Arthur Landis? Most haven't. If he cribbed some ideas from LeGuin, I doubt he robbed her of any measurable sales. I find Landis a bit cheesy but extremely fun. His novels romp along at breakneck speed and fit right into the Space Opera genre tropes which I enjoy.
October 12, 2012
Ugh, this is difficult...I'm having a rough time getting into this one. Maybe it's the teddy bears, maybe its the fur on the people. It's tough...
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews