Uther   by Jack Whyte

Sept 2004     Recommended by K. my Ballet teacher from Victoria.

I bought this book to amuse me in my 16 plus hours of travelling back to work from my summer in Canada. And it did the job satisfactorily. Now, I don't want to do any discredit to this author, for there was nothing Wrong with the work. The circumstance was that the series, and this author in general, was highly recommended to me, and praised as very good, and engaging writing. And it was a good book, but not up to the level of my expectation; I was looking forward to something that could grasp me, and not let go until I'd reached the end. (Such is how I felt with Vonnegut.)

Getting on to this book it's self, the story is solid, and sound, being an ancient tale, from centuries past; It is the life of the Father of Arther Pendragon, King of the Britons. I think there must be literally hundreds of versions of this whole legend, and each has it's peculiarities. This one presents the material as factual, and gives logical basses to every action and event. There is also no Magic, (In the Supernatural sense) in it; The whole thing proceeds with no more than standard Human Ability, (With some luck, some foul chance, and some inspired ideas.) There IS a fair amount of belief in the supernatural within the text, and superstition abounds. But it is presented as a human reaction to events: The people who cross the King often come to bad ends, some times through unexpected means, And THIS makes the people wonder How the King made this happen. Then there are weapons that others are not familiar with, and battle tactics that were unrecognised. Surely, if common people knew that their army of 1000 were frequently routing armies three times their size, they could easily come to understand that it was through some Magical means.

I quite liked the references to the Romans, which appear through out this work; It is written of a time about 50 years after the Roman forces left Britain. So there are still the influences of their Currency, Language, Housing, Military and Society which are seen adopted by the Britons.

But, I suppose that one of the things that really made this book work for me, was the realistic, Logical view it had; Merlin was just the Cousin of Uther, and the happenings of his life, and nothing else, save the natural inclination towards superstition, leads the people to believe him to be a powerful sorcerer. Likewise, all the people are just themselves, and all events are realistic. BUT, at the same time, the reader easily sees how all the events could lead to the beginning of the Legend, that became of this story, and of the life of Uther's Son.

The characters are well formed, and believable, And I liked the level of Psychology which is explored, for each important person in the story. I guess that it makes the motives of each person that much more clear, And also much more believable and creditable. We are given background on Queen Ygraine, which makes everything she does understandable.

It's a good book, and though I wouldn't read it again, if I had any other options, I would certainly like to read the others in this series, (Which tell the complete Arthur legend, as well as the life of Merlin.)

Well... OK, I guess I MIGHT read this book again, but only if I had the others of the series, so that rereading it would give me a better sense of continuity.