Britannia, AD 535.
Book Synonyms
The Romans have gone. While their libraries smoulder, roads decay and cities crumble, men with swords pick over civilisation’s carcass, slaughtering and being slaughtered in turn.
This is the story of just such a man. Like the others, he had a sword. He slew until slain. Unlike the others, we remember him. We remember King Arthur.
This is the story of a land neither green nor pleasant. An eldritch isle of deep forest and dark fell haunted by swaithes, boggarts and tod-lowries, Robin-Goodfellows and Jenny Greenteeths, and predators of rarer appetite yet.
This is the story of a legend forged from a pack of self-serving, turd-gilding, weasel-worded lies told to justify foul deeds and ill-gotten gains.
This is the story – viscerally entertaining, ominously subversive and poetically profane – of a Dark Age myth that shaped a nation.
About the Author
Lavie Tidhar is the World Fantasy Award winning author of Osama (2011), The Violent Century (2013), the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize winning A Man Lies Dreaming (2014), and the Campbell Award winning Central Station (2016), in addition to many other works and several other awards. His latest novels are Unholy Land (forthcoming October 2018) and debut children’s novel Candy (June 2018). He works across genres, combining detective and thriller modes with poetry, science fiction and historical and autobiographical material. His work has been compared to that of Philip K. Dick by the Guardian and the Financial Times, and to Kurt Vonnegut’s by Locus.
Twitter: @lavietidhar
Website: http://lavietidhar.wordpress.com
Amazon link to buy the book
My Review
This was not the usual genre of books that I read, but I am so glad that I did. A King Arthur retelling with so many exciting twists and turns and also many moments that made me laugh out loud. It was brutal, funny and moving. It contained talking cats, sword fights and ‘fucking fairyland’ (which I thought was hilarious!) Many times throughout the book ‘by force alone’ was referenced and it was perfect. Merlin was my favourite character of all and the phrases he came out with I absolutely loved the most.
If you are thinking about picking up a book this year I urge you to get this one! You will not be disappointed. I am looking forward to reading some more of Lavie Tadhir’s work.
Disclaimer – Thank you to Head of Zeus for this free copy of this book. I read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.