The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis (The Camulod Chronicles, Book 6)

by Jack Whyte

2000

Status

Available

Publication

Tor Books (2000), Edition: Later Printing, 494 pages

Description

Throughout the widely praised Camulod Chronicles, Merlyn Britannicus has been driven by one sacred dream--to see Britain united under one just, powerful king. In The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis, it is time for the Sorcerer to fulfill his promise--to present the battle-proven Arthur as the Riothamus, the High King of Britain. When Arthur miraculously withdraws the Sword of Kingship from the stone in which it is set, he proves himself the true and deserving king--sworn to defend the Christian faith against invaders, and to preserve Britain as a powerful, united force. The Sorcerer has fulfilled his promise. The King is crowned, Britain is united--and the face of history and legend is forever changed.

User reviews

LibraryThing member hlselz
This is an historical fiction series about King Arthur, and they are my favorite books of ALL time. Whyte is an amazing author, and his descriptions are amazing. The books tell a realistic story of King Arthur, without all of the magic and sorcery we see in modern myths. These books start off with
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King Arthur's great great grandfather, and chronicle the family until the death of King Arthur. The charectors are so well developed you feel as if you know them. The other great thing about these books is that they are written in journal-like form. So as different members of the family are "writing" the different books, the writing style and methods change slightly.
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LibraryThing member willowcove
A wonderful retelling of Arthurian mythology from a more realistic and less mythological standpoint. Great read!
LibraryThing member wendytrim
Volume 2 of Book 5. Incredible. I am sad that there are only 3 more to go. Jack Whyte is one of my new favorite writers.
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
This is the sixth book in the "Camulod Chronicles" a realistic, historically grounded telling of the King Arthur legends. Although there are further books in the series, this was initially planned to be the culmination of the series. In a preface to one of the earlier books Whyte explains how the
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kernel for this series was his idea of just how a young Arthur pulled off pulling the sword from the stone, and it's that act that acts as the climax of this book and a series that began with its forging--from a skystone--a meteor.

And that in itself gives you a flavor of the books. It's not magic that makes Excalibur special--but metallurgy and craftmanship. A lot of this series could be called military fiction, and through the books we've been taken through the introduction of the stirrup, the invention of the flail and lance, and here the conception of knighthood. In a way, ultimately, I find that a bit disappointing. I've read a lot of books based on King Arthur. In Gillian Bradshaw's series, Camelot is conceived to be a "firebreak" that seeks to preserve the flame of civilization from antiquity. In T.H. White's, admittedly anachronistic conception, Camelot wasn't an attempt to preserve the past, but a premature glimpse of the future--of Marta Carter and a conception of the rule of law. In the end Whyte seems a bit more prosaic, orthodox, that I might like.

I do still like how this does work with the legend to give us a Camelot and King Arthur that might have existed during the Dark Ages and was part of the transition from antiquity to the medieval. In that I don't feel a sense of tragedy for what could have been. Because Whyte's Camulod is simply one of many transitions to what will be. But I definitely thought it worth a read. I'm told Bernard Cornwell and Stephen Lawhead also wrote historically-basted Arthurian tales, but for now at least Whyte's books stand as unique in its historical grounding. There are Arthurian books with stronger prose and characters, but the attempt to eschew all magical elements certainly makes this one unique. And I did grow to care enough about this version of Merlin (he carries the narrative in all but the first two books) that I do feel I'm going to miss this world, although I think I'll stop here, where Whyte first intended.
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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
As I age, I have become less interested in Jack Whyte's Arthuriana. His research into the fifth century world is not up to scholarly standards, and his grasp of fifth century technologies is weak. Seeing an image of the knightly warrior, he leaps from the fifth century for legend to the thirteenth
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for technology, and expects his audience to accept that. Well, I don't. The reviewers of his earlier books call them "Historical", and while the period is dimly lit, one should be able to get through it without major injury. His archery is very weak, as he claims a quarter mile range for a longbow, his insistence on the morning star flail as a horseman's weapon, and his introduction of the stirrup into western Europe three and a half centuries before there is any evidence for it, transform his works into the realm of fantasy rather than historical fiction. Now, in the area of "Those things too true to be real"? His love stories are weak, and the female characters have little motivation or conflicts in the feminine ream. His battle scenes are very conventional, and too complex to be engaging. But, he does like to describe complex ritual, and lay out guest lists for parties. These are not interesting except, perhaps for caterers.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1997

Physical description

494 p.; 4.25 x 1.34 inches

ISBN

0812544196 / 9780812544190

Barcode

1600023
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