Sword at Sunset

by Rosemary Sutcliff, Jack Whyte (Foreword by)

Overview

This brilliant reconception of the Arthurian epic cuts through the familiar myths and tells the story of the real King Arthur: Artos the Bear, the mighty warrior-king who saved the last lights of Western civilization when the barbarian darkness descended in the fifth century. Artos here comes alive: bold and forceful in battle, warm and generous in friendship, tough in politics, shrewd in the strategy of war—and tender and tragically tormented in love. Out of the interweaving of ancient legend, fresh research, soaring imagination, and hypnotic narrative skill comes a novel that has richly earned its reputation as a classic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781556527593
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/01/2008
Series:	Rediscovered Classics , #10
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	562,999
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Rosemary Sutcliff wrote more than 40 historical novels for young adults—including The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, The Lantern Bearers, The Sword and the Circle, and Black Ships Before Troy—five adult novels, and several books of nonfiction.

Editorial Reviews

"A book of great beauty, of fine writing, of the evocation of a time past. . . . A book for the appreciative, mature reader." — Library Journal

"[Sutcliff] is an effective storyteller and knows how to keep her dialogue terse and believable. . . . There are many fine battles in Sword at Sunset, and they are described with majestic eloquence." —Orville Prescott, The New York Times

"[King Arthur] is a living presence who moves in a brilliantly lit and fantastic landscape . . . rich and sumptuous as the world described in Mabinogion, as gay and menacing as The Tale of Genji . . . Rosemary Sutcliff is a spellbinder." —Robert Payne, New York Times Book Review

"The gritty realism and emotional power of Rosemary Sutcliff’s writing places Sword at Sunset in a place of its own . . . leaves you convinced that if the story of King Arthur is more history than fantasy, this must be the way events really occurred . . . makes other versions of the legend pallid by comparison." —Green Man Review

"A good story, swift, various, and at all times exciting. . . . Miss Sutcliff has a sure hand with heroism and pathos." —Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher