Product Description

Arthur de Caldicot arrives at Holt to be squire to Lord Stephen and accompany him on crusade. It is an exciting and bewildering time for him as he finds a warhorse, is fitted with armour, and improves his fighting skills. He dreads a confrontation with his blood-father, the violent Sir William, and dreams of finding his true mother; he discovers girls - including the vivacious Winnie de Verdon whom he rescues from burning to death; he has to deal with the aftermath of a murder; he sees the sea for the first time, sails to France and finally takes the Cross. And meanwhile these events are reflected in his seeing stone, in stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Packed with incident, wonderful characters, and fascinating historical detail, and interwoven with brilliant retellings of Arthurian legends, this is a glorious follow-up to THE SEEING STONE.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13258 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Financial Times, July 13, 2002
"Rich, evocative storytelling."

Review
"Rich, evocative storytelling." (Financial Times, 13 July 2002 )

"This is storytelling of subtlety and nuance and, for the reflective reader, all the more satisfying for that." (Books for Keeps )

"...a glorious panorama of medieval life, packed with incident and colour, brave deeds, passion , deception and even murder...and is surely destined to be become a classic." (East Anglian Daily Times )

"...an impressively multi-layered book, beautifully written, and a terrific piece of storytelling. I was impressed as much by Crossley-Holland's way with words as by the story itself." (The Historical Novels Review )

East Anglian Daily Times, July 6, 2002
"a glorious panorama of medieval life, packed with incident and colour, brave deeds, passion, deception and even murder...surely destined to become a classic."

Customer Reviews

The second in the Arthur trilogy - not as good as the first.,
This book continues the story of young Arthur, begun in "Arthur: The Seeing Stone". It is now the year 1200, one year on from the previous novel, and Arthur is all set to join Lord Stephen de Holt (the man to whom he is now squire) on the Fourth Crusade against the infidels. However, there are many preparations that have to be made before they can even think of crossing the Channel... Armour to get ready, horses... and will Arthur become betrothed??

This book, like the first in the trilogy, is cut short into 101 chapters, and the chapters chop and change between the story of Arthur of the Marches and the myth of King Arthur in the stone. Being used to the short chapters from the previous novel, I barely noticed them. Unfortunately, though, I just couldn't enjoy the story of the mythological Arthur in this novel. I found the sections about the legend of King Arthur seemed muddled and didn't have any continuity to them, making them difficult to read and follow. There also seems to be a greater emphasis on the mythology story in this novel as well, whereas in the first book it was used less often.

In all, although I still enjoyed the story of young Arthur in the Marches at his crossing point between boyhood and manhood, and the vivid descriptions of medieval life, I felt the legend of Arthur sections could have been used to tie the book together a lot better. As it is, they are just a confusing muddle and I was left disappointed.

Better than the first
I thought this book was incredible, all my freinds agree with me and for one them this trilogy is so far his favourite set of books. It is a brilliant historical story with the added bonus of the tellings of the heroics of the Knights of the round table. It is very interesting even just to hear about Arthur's life and not also his namesake King Arthur. It is definitely worth getting!!

Doesn't "Cross" far enough
The sequel to "The Seeing Stone," titled "At the Crossing-Places," is less interesting than the first book of this trilogy. While Crossley-Holland has clearly researched the historic details thoroughly, there doesn't seem to be much soul behind the actual narrative.

As Arthur found out more about his past, his life has gotten more complex. He's learned who his father is (the fierce Sir William), has learned that his now-ex-betrothed is his half sister and is a squire to Sir Stephen. He also still has the ability to see the life of Arthur of Camelot, whose life somehow (don't ask me how) reflects Arthur of Caldicot's. And he doesn't know who his unknown mother was.

As it is a medieval era, Arthur follows Sir Stephen to the Crusades while he continues to search for his mom's identity, while watching the ancient king who is him -- and not him. And as he goes to Champagne and then back to Britain, he comes closer to the truth about the connection between Arthur de Caldicot and Arthur in the stone...

Arthurian fiction has been around for a long time, and many readers have a particular affection for it. But, within the framework of another, different story, it just doesn't work. It worked better in "Seeing Stone," but in "At the Crossing-Places" nothing much happens to Arthur de Caldicot. Things happen, sure, but not very fast. Most of the focus is on King Arthur. And while that isn't really a problem in other books, it's a little frustrating to see things through Arthur de Caldicot's eyes, and not get a strong sense of what's happening in his own life.

Unfortunately, Crossley-Holland's writing hasn't improved much either. It's still very bare-bones, almost like a play. The narrative improves when the focus is on the past, or when something really spectacular happens. The rest of the time, it's just rather boring. (Especially when dealing with Arthur's romantic involvements -- he has no chemistry with Winnie at all)

Arthur is a rather flat lead character, who serves more as a window to the plot than an actual character. Winnie is also quite two-dimensional, but Sir Stephen is a likable enough guy. Unfortunately, Merlin is pretty much absent except through the seeing-stone, and it's hard to get a sense for Arthur and Gawain and the rest. It's like reading a book about someone watching a TV show -- I got little, if any, connection to the Arthurian people.

"At the Crossing-Places," like "Seeing Stone," had potential that never gets realized. At the end I felt frustrated and only slightly curious about "King of the Middle-March," the forthcoming third volume of the trilogy.