THE SAXON SHORE

Fourth volume in the Camulod Chronicles, Scots-born Whyte’s reinvention of the Arthurian saga, begun with The Skystone (1996) and the discovery of a new metal with which to forge Excalibur, The Singing Sword (1996, not reviewed) and—200 years later—The Eagle’s Brood (1997), in which the Roman occupation of fifth-century Britain hears the first chords of its death knell. Now, the Colony that will become the fabled Camulod is ruled by Merlyn Britannicus and Uther Pendragon. When Uther (Arthur’s father) dies, cousin Merlyn cares for the babe and raises him to unify Britain and guard Excalibur. Bernard Cornwell’s more florid, less gritty trilogy of Arthur ends with Excalibur (see above), while Whyte’s doorstoppers are historically more dense and action-crammed than marvelous, and—with Arthur still a child after four long volumes—already dwarf Le Morte d—Arthur, will soon loom over Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, and, with the Saxon chronicles marching on logically into Ivanhoe and The Waverley Novels, may simply go on forever.