Lancelot

By: Giles Kristian

Narrated by: Philip Stevens

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Lancelot by Giles Kristian.

The legions of Rome are a fading memory. Enemies stalk the fringes of Britain. And Uther Pendragon is dying. Into this fractured and uncertain world the boy is cast, a refugee from fire, murder and betrayal. An outsider whose only companions are a hateful hawk and memories of the lost.

Yet he is gifted, and under the watchful eyes of Merlin and the Lady Nimue he will hone his talents and begin his journey to manhood. He will meet Guinevere, a wild, proud and beautiful girl, herself outcast because of her gift. And he will be dazzled by Arthur, a warrior who carries the hopes of a people like fire in the dark. But these are times of struggle and blood, when even friendship and love seem doomed to fail.

The gods are vanishing beyond the reach of dreams. Treachery and jealousy rule men’s hearts and the fate of Britain itself rests on a sword’s edge.

But the young renegade who left his home in Benoic with just a hunting bird and dreams of revenge is now a lord of war. He is a man loved and hated, admired and feared. A man forsaken but not forgotten. He is Lancelot.

Set in a fifth-century Britain besieged by invading bands of Saxons and Franks, Irish and Picts, Giles Kristian's epic new novel tells - through the warrior's own words - the story of Lancelot, that most celebrated of all King Arthur's knights. It is a story ready to be re-imagined for our times.

©2018 Giles Kristian (P)2018 Random House Audiobooks

Complete package

Great writing, great storytelling, great narration. I’m putting the rest of this series on my list. Thanks for the momentary escape!

an amazing 1st half gets upended by a striving 2nd

I loved everything about Lancelot's story until Arthur showed up. Lancelot takes a back seat and while there are moments of amazing beats, they are few and never really payoff what came before. I was devastated by the end.

Beautifully bleak

What I most loved about this book, and oh there's not one point I despised, was the fact that it all felt too real. While an author writing partially from history has to be realistic about those matters (Like a more fancy Logen would say), it is easy to succumb eyes closed into the pleasures of morality, subjectivity and easy writing. But this half Norwegian writer(which he will apparently tell you even if you don't buy him a beer) has made dust of these temptations. In keeping this book grey as my future the author makes me almost believe that this is the true version and that it really happened. Credit due where it must for there were many easy options to choose from, revenge being the first on the list.

Êtes-vous prêt pour la bombe? Lancelot is the male author version of FitzChivalry.
I know you're stunned.

23 hours passed by in a dream

I never met a work of Arthurian fiction that I didn't like but this one is special. The plot is woven around the theme of betrayal: the many betrayals that Lancelot suffers and the two that he himself commits. Beyond that it is a novel about the loss of the dream and the courage to pursue it anyway.

There are two mythologies that are the foundation stones of our great Western civilization, the Bible and the Matter of Britain. They both endlessly inspire our imaginations with stories that can be told in a thousand different ways. The story of Lancelot is a tragedy, but the way Kristian has told it, it is also a call not to give up on the dream. Our Western culture is crumbling as the values we have held dear for a thousand years are being undermined, but when I read books like 'Lancelot' I have hope that the noblest values will be preserved for future generations by a courageous few.

Cool Characterization

Good sympathetic portrayal of Lancelot, however I’m not an entirely a big fan of how Arthur is characterized late in the story
But it was an highly enjoyable tale of the 6th century.