Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100913 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Lesley Agnew in The Bookseller, July 25, 2003
"…the multi-layered conclusion to a most original trilogy…an exciting medieval adventure relevant to today's conflicts and beliefs."

Review
"The trilogy is an ambitious and brilliantly realised work, which informs and astounds." (Joanne Owen, Borders Bookshop Bookseller Buyer's Guide Highlight, 11 June 2003 )

"...the multi-layered conclusion to a most original trilogy...The style is distinctive; short, kaleidoscopic chapters marked by uncluttered, precise sentences. Legend and historical fact are subtly intertwined to make an exciting medieval adventure relevant to today's conflicts and beliefs." (Lesley Agnew The Bookseller, 25 July 2003 )

"If you like a good historical saga then you've probably already read The Seeing Stone and At the Crossing-Places, the first two-thirds of Kevin Crossley-Holland's Arthur Trilogy. King of the Middle March weighs in at 432 pages and is a fairly chunky read...At times funny, at times magical and at times dark, King of the Middle March more than repays the effort" (John Crace Guardian Children's Books Supplement, Autumn 2003 )

"Crossley-Holland is, of course, a poet, and the simplicity, musicality and laconic directness of his writing reflects this." (The Independent, 31 October 2003 )

"...a dramatic conlusion to what has been a wonderfully inventive perspective on Arthurian legend...full of contemporary relevance." (Hampstead & Highgate Express, 31 Oct 03 )

"With King of the Middle March, Kevin Crossley-Holland triumphantly concludes his trilogy about the two Arthurs...Arthur's breathless diary entries have an immediacy and wonder" (Jan Mark Times Educational Supplement, 14 Nov 03 )

"...conjures up a vivid picture of medieval life combined with the magic of Arthurian legends." (Financial Times, 29 November 2003 )

"King of the Middle March makes a fitting elegiac end to a remarkably grown-up sequence." (Guardian, 29 November 2003 )

The Independent, 31 October 2003
"Crossley-Holland is, of course, a poet, and the simplicity, musicality and laconic directness of his writing reflects this."

Customer Reviews

The Arthur Trilogy - King of the Middle March
This is one of the best books I've ever read. In my opinion it is better than even the Harry Potter series.
It is imaginative, thoughtful, funny, and fantastic. I may be a kid but i know a good book when i read one and this is the best.
A must for all people who love fantasy and heroics.

Amazing!

A Tear Stained Conclusion to A Magical Trilogy
Oh dear, blubbing again. Kevin Crossley-Holland can have me howling with sorrow in a very short time. In the first book, Arthur and the Seeing Stone it was the death of little Luke, in this one, well it was practically everything. But don't let the salt water deter any reader - these are wonderful, wonderous books. I was intrigued to see how the author would tie together the parallel worlds of Arthur in the stone and Arthur out of the stone. I was not disappointed. He has pulled off an amazing juggling act, making it all knit together with perfect symmetry. But oh how sad, how tragic, and how sore the reading was. Arthur sees with his heart and with his head at once, a saracen fortune teller informs him: the same could be said of Crossley Holland who writes with both soul and intellect. Laced with a gentle poetry it is in the small details that the power of the writing tells - the little rag doll found in an abandoned room, the petty violence meted out by the crusaders, the smell of spice and jealousy in the air. I can't say more without saying too much. It is enough that this book is everything and more that I had hoped it would be: one of the most enthralling and sophisiticated pieces of writing I have had the fortune to read.

Absolutely Amazing Arthur
I love these books,is all i can say! I am probably the biggest Arthur stories lover, this retelling was fabulous. I recommend reading these books with a passion because they are so in depth and capture your heart, you feel everything he's going through and sometimes i swear I could almost be there in the book.
I also spoke to my Dad about these books, and being the critical person he is he simply presumed that they were the sterotypical medieval version, but even these books changed his mind completely. They may not be telling the supposedly druid version of Arthur, but they sure are a good read,whatever version you prefer.
Read them, you will be drawn in completely.