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Camelot

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Camelot

By: Giles Kristian
Narrated by: Phillip Stevens
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Following his acclaimed Sunday Times best seller, Lancelot, Giles Kristian's new novel returns us to the realms of Arthurian legend....

Britain is a land riven by anarchy, slaughter, famine, filth and darkness. Its armies are destroyed, its heroes dead or missing. Arthur and Lancelot fell in the last great battle and Merlin has not been seen these past 10 years. Now the Saxons are gathering again, their warbands stalk the land, their king seeks dominion. As for the lords and kings of Britain, they look only to their own survival and will not unite as they once did under Arthur and his legendary sword Excalibur.

But in an isolated monastery in the marshes of Avalon, a novice of the order is preparing to take his vows when the life he has known is suddenly turned upside down in a welter of blood. Two strangers - the wild-spirited, Saxon-killing Iselle and the ageing warrior Gawain - will pluck the young man from the wreckage of his simple existence. Together, they will seek the last druid and the cauldron of a god. And the young man must come to terms with his legacy and fate as the son of the most celebrated yet most infamous of Arthur's warriors: Lancelot.

For this is the story of Galahad, Lancelot’s son – the reluctant warrior who dared to keep the dream of Camelot alive....

©2020 Giles Kristian (P)2020 Penguin Audio Fantasy Fiction Arthurian Royalty

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All stars
Most relevant  
Finishing this book has left a hole that I'm not sure how to fill. I will miss the characters and this is a new experience!

Fabulous

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It's a truly wonderful book. The narration is just fabulous and I cant imagine reading Giles Kristian without Philip Stevens. Like its predecessor, Lancelot, I found myself unable to put it down. Read it!

An extraordinary and beautiful story

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One thing that Galahad is frequently told and thinks within his own head is that 'you are not your father'. Much in the same way that, 'Camelot' is in no way the first book 'Lancelot'. I felt bad for thinking that, almost like it was an insult of sorts to the author and the hard work he has put in for such a wonderful book (and it is wonderful). But then you hit the author's note at the back and he says how this is not a true sequel to Lancelot and is more of a companion of sorts. I breathed a sigh of relief that I would have loved to have breathed much sooner.

In Lancelot we had a lot of build up to the main story. It started with Lancelot as a child and worked all the way up to him as an adult and one of the most famous warriors, and infamous lovers, that Britain has ever known. In Camelot, we don't have much of the build up with Galahad. He starts out training to be a monk and that's pretty much all the growing up with him we do. I'd have liked more just so I could get a deeper connection with him that I felt I had, but I don't think it was either possible due to the time and events going on, nor did it detract too much from my enjoyment of the book. After all, that experience in 'Lancelot' gave me one of my favourite connections to a character (Lancelot's sparhawk) and one of my all-time most hated antagonists (Melwas).

In Camelot, Giles Kristian is getting the band back together (with a new front man this time). Lancelot ended with our hero leaving his son on a windy hilltop to go off and fight the saxons. This book features that self same boy and his destiny to carry on the fight in reuniting Britain against the saxon hoard.

Characters that were more of a main focus are either entirely absent (for reasons in the prior book) or take a much lesser role in this one. It feels almost like the old guard standing to one side and allowing the new to inherit the earth. 

As with Lancelot, events in this book deviate from pretty much any Arthurian retelling you have heard or seen before. And thank god for that. Who wants to sit through two hefty tomes of a rehashed story when, what we have been given instead is a fresh, new and far more unknown version of events. With Camelot, and the story that preceded it, Kristian has created a brilliant story and used the characters in such wonderful and interesting ways. There are, as you will notice (and as you will read in the author's note if you don't notice) nods of the head to the traditional events from retellings of old, just with a new twist.

If I had one complaint to go along with the 'I'd have liked the same in-depth childhood build up with Galahad that we had with his father', it would be how fast Galahad turns into a warrior. He spends so very long living the life of an aspiring monk and yet, in so short a time, he is fighting and killing men who have been fighting and killing for the best part of their entire lives.  I know he was the son of the greatest warrior to walk the land, but fighting isn't a genetic trait. In all fairness, he isn't the greatest warrior himself. Much of his skill is talked up by Merlin and the other knights in order to make him more feared by the saxons. So it could have just been my needling too hard for criticism. 

One high point, after such a minor lowpoint, is that Kristian has a real knack for building up to a fight and giving you that 'big fight feel'. If ever he gets tired of writing great books, he could easily become a booker for wrestling, or a boxing promoter.

I hope there is more to come in this series as I am very much interested in what happens next with Galahad's band of warriors.

Another great listen from Kristian

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I could find nothing whatsoever to dislike; I absolutely loved it all!
I was kept hooked from the start.
A beautifully woven story,
Wonderfully descriptive, fantastically narrated.
I look forward to more stories by Giles Kristian and to them being brought to life by Phillip Stevens.

Wow! Spellbinding!

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What a story! This one had me hanging on virtually every word. The prose painting pictures in my mind such that, at one stage, I could see the shield wall pushing forward away from me. Also at other stages, heart rending, and so emotional. I found myself chuckling at times but emersed all the time. Another great book, Giles.
Narrator, Phillip Stevens is getting better and better with each story; as he was at a very high level already, this is quite a feat. This particular programme, I believe, is his best so far and the best of all the narrators I have, so far, come across.

Camelot...As never before.

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Once again Giles Kristian brings you a adventure of warriors,magic,lovers , friendship and legends that transports you back through time into the Dark Ages where Britons are hundred by the Saxon invaders. The main difference for me from Giles Arthurian tale of Lancelot was that Camelot read for me like his excellent Raven books, that is not being critical of Lancelot which was excellent in its own style, it embraced you more in the myth of the Arthurian legend, where in Camelot I felt I was back into the courage and bloody crush of the shield wall of Raven and the Wolfpack and then of course out of the reeds came a She Wolf to stand in bloody battle with Galahad , Gawain and the rest of Bear Shields. Giles has produced a beautiful sequel to Lancelot , a page turner of the highest order, from a master storyteller.

She Wolf from the reeds

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I have the previous book. This story. Is the most awesome I have listened to after the previous one. It took me though a range of emotions. I actually cried when it finished. I felt the loss of friends. Please write another to carry on. The narrator is absolutely fantastic. The words by Giles were brought to life by the narrator Phillip Stevens. Buy the book but listen to it as all you will not regret it. Thank you Giles Kristen

Amazing book

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Just as Galahad stepped out of Lancelot's shadow, the author himself emerges from Bernard Cornwell's. This fabulous book, flawlessly narrated, could only be faulted for its title; 'Galahad' might have better suited its focus than 'Camelot'. Thank you Giles Kristian and Phillip Stevens!

Lovers of historical fiction rejoice!

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it's not a great book but a good book, the narration is ok , a 3.9 star book with 3.7 narration, and I nearly returned it, but the supporting characters are very good, Iselle in particular from woodland scavenger and murderer of saxons, to icon and nominal Queen. Will Gallahad return to search for the grail?

generous

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You can enjoy this book as a stand-alone novel or as a sequel to ‘Lancelot’ since this book is about Galahad, the son of Lancelot who we left standing alone on a hill at the end of the first book ‘Lancelot’.

The narrator is first class and has a nice range of different voices for different characters. There is a lot of detail setting scenes which either helps you conjure up Ancient Briton or frustrates you as you wait impatiently to find out what happens next. The ending clearly suggests there are more adventures ahead for the Ancient Britons, but especially Galahad, Isobel and Merlin.

You know it’s a good book when you are invested in the characters. You want to know more. You can picture them.

So another good novel from the author who I suspect has already mapped out the coming years in another narrative of Ancient Britons battling Saxons once more. I hope I’m right.

Excellent follow-up to Lancelot! More Arthurian legends!

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