Rex quondam rexque futurus

    

 

          I'll just say straightaway that J.P. Buxton's I am the Blade is a cracking read! Amazon reviewers - and they include novelist and Times children's books critic Amanda Craig - are unanimous in giving it five stars, and I'd do the same. A re-telling of the Arthurian legend, this is historical fiction for older children and adults of any age. There's action and adventure enough to propel the plot along at a fair speed but there's also so much Dark Age detail there, so much fact and myth alike, and it's never forced and stilted but of a piece with the story. I was gripped right through and am now missing the book and the world it so deftly conjures.

    Its events taking place through one lunar phase and culminating in a dramatic scene on Easter day, it follows young Tog, a woodcutter's ward, who is given a strange deathbed message by his rough guardian and has to flee from a murdering stranger. As he travels through Cornwall in the direction of an island in a lake, so he teams up with a Breton boy and a Pictish girl, and they encounter other-worldly creatures as well as Saxon circus performers and the last Romans in Britain. But all the while Tog's destiny is governed by his possession of a strange sword, one that seems to be leading him into ever greater danger.

    Tog - real name Artognu, pronounced Arthnu - is, of course, Arthur, although he has no clue about his parentage and what lies before him, but while the legend of the sword in the stone is well known to most of us, this version is so fresh, so full of humour and keen intelligence that it's new and original and a joy to read. There's nothing arch or contrived here and there's a realism about the characters which will make them recognisable to readers of any age, and important to them - you will care what happens (and there are too many novels of which that can't be said). I mentioned that I was sorry to have reached the end of the book, but happily the next instalment of Tog's adventures, A Heartless Dark, came out earlier this month, so there's that to look forward to.

Comments

[ctussaud]

Just enough school Latin left to recognise The One and Future King! Now, there's a book........

[Sandy]

Another bait swallowed, thanks Cornflower. I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Luckily there is another bookcase on order!

[LizF]

I have always preferred a Dark Age setting for the Arthurian legend rather than the whole knights in armour Camelot look - not sure why but it could have something to do with Oliver Tobias as Arthur of the Britons on TV when I was a susceptible teen!
This book looks like a must and since I have discovered that the library has it and its sequel available, I will hot foot it down there as soon as possible!
Thanks for the recommendation Cornflower!

[Cornflower]

Sandy and Liz, I hope you'll both enjoy it as much as I did.

[Sandy]

I'm half-way through - it's in the Kindle. I'm ejoying it very much

:)

[Cornflower]

Great!

[Stephanie]

This is a fresh and engrossing take on an old story that has many and varied characters with great names - Tog, Jenna, Allanza, the pigseys etc. It felt like a Lord of the Rings saga with the various groups that Tog and his growing band come across in their journey and the many fights he had to survive in order to arrive at the Island. A well told tale that leaves you wanting the next book in the series. Thank you for putting this exciting book on my reading list

[Cornflower]

So glad you enjoyed it, Stephanie.