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The Singing Sword
Jack Whyte

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smacn27076, January 3, 2008

Jack Whyte's grasp of history is very strong, and is the centerpiece to the backstory of the fictional King Arthur and (second cousin?) Merlyn, told against the backdrop of 5th century England.

The Singing Sword tells the story of Caius Britannicus and Publius Varrus, brothers-in-law whose bloodlines will produce both Arthur and Merlyn. Whyte's characterization of these men and the details of the day-to-day events that shape the greatness that inspires their progeny is much less compelling than their military and political achievements overall.

The dialogue in this novel is artificial, and the problems encountered by Caius and Publius, though presented as challenging, are rather contrived. It's almost as though Whyte developed his conflict resolutions first, and then created conflicts to fit the resolutions he needed.

I suppose that within the context of writing about an existing fictional character it would be necessary to do so, but as the vehicle for a novel, it doesn't work very well at all.

Having said that, I am staying with the series, although I am reading these books out of order. The backstory on King Arthur is just interesting enough to hold my attention, despite the rather bland storytelling.

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