Hey Blog! Welcome to the second post in 2022. This one is my first book review of the year as I plan to do one every quarter.
This morning I received a mystery parcel in the post. It appeared to be a late Christmas present, but in fact it was a new book from an author I know. I had proofread it for her a couple of years ago. The book is called “Izzy’s Incredible Trampoline”, and is by an author known as Grace E. Bantick. It contains magic, hope, and a strange, backwards world. My topic today is reading.
However, the book I am writing about today is one I received at Christmas. It is called “The Always King”. The book is a collection of Arthurian legends, from Arthur’s birth to the end of the stories, by Chris Riddle and Kevin Crossley-Holland, illustrator and author respectively. The beauty of the book is that the stories feel as if they are told, not written. The word-crafting is wonderful, and speaks in a way not common in many books.
The real Arthur, King of the Britons, was probably a Romano-British lord whose deeds became entwined with folklore, and the mediaeval version is even more confused, based around the newly invented “Moral code of Chivalry” which didn’t exist in the times of the real king, leaving a largely fictional character who we know today. It was supposed, when two skeletons were dug up at Glastonbury abbey, along with a name plate saying Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arturius in insula Avalonia (“Here lies interred the famous King Arthur on the Isle of Avalon”), that this was the grave of Arthur and his queen, Guinevere. However, to the best of our knowledge, it’s not these two legendary figures, but a con by the monks to get more pilgrims to come to the abbey.
I really enjoyed reading this book because it contains all the legends of Arthur, the whole story. The book is mystical and historical. The legends come from the mediaeval period and we can learn so much about this time from the stories. Also, the illustrations are beautiful and perfectly complement the writing. It has all the makings of a classic.
The greatest thing about the Arthurian tales is they still go on. According to the legends, he still sleeps, waiting for the day to return…
Watch this space!