King Arthur is dead.
The Knights of the Round Table are dead.
The Table is broken.
There is no leader left and Albion is disintegrated. The dream of a united kingdom is dead.
Queen Guinevere has fled and all have deserted Camelot.
Morgana enslaves Britain’s people, conspires with murderous Saxon war chiefs and seeks the head of Merlin the wise.
The Return of Sir Percival is no ordinary Arthurian romance, no mere retelling of the rise and fall of a magical realm. Instead author S. Alexander O Keefe bases his story on the historical invasion of Celtic/Roman Britain by the Saxons and sets it after Camelot falls and King Arthur dies at Cammlan. In this retelling Guinevere was not unfaithful to Arthur; Morgana and Merlin were from the Eastern Roman Empire and bitter enemies and Morgana seeks revenge, power, wealth and status.
People
Morgana is a critical character, here a vicious, scheming, malevolent woman. Arthur and his kingdom defeated Morgana at the battle of Cammlan, but lost overall when no strong leader emerged to keep the British people united. Instead the kingdom devolved into small pockets, some ruled by thugs like Ivarr the Red, others by family and clan groups, others more or less left alone. Morgana seized the lucrative silver mines and allied with the Saxon invaders who will turn on her the minute she is unable to pay them off. Morgana is a noblewoman from Byzantium, related to the Emperor, and is in Britain at his behest (and also from a well-founded fear she would be killed if she returns).
It’s hard to show the character of someone as despicable as Morgana without making them cardboard, and O’Keefe does his best to show Morgana is motivated by more than spite and hatred. She doesn’t like the northern climate and longs to return home to the Empire but dares not leave without securing the Emperor’s goals. Characterization is moderately good.
Capussa is a great addition to the story. He is a Numidian ex-gladiator friend of Sir Percival who joins him on his return home to Albion. Capussa is an excellent military strategist and helps Percival in battle but his biggest contribution is that of wry humor. We don’t get to know Capussa as a person particularly, but he is a fun character.
The other main characters, Sir Percival, Merlin and Guinevere are interesting and enjoyable to read about but we don’t get to know them well. In all fairness to the author it is difficult to show the characters of people that we think we know so well from legend, especially since O’Keefe discards much of the romantic trappings. In this novel Guinevere was never in love with Lancelot; instead she and Percival were good friends on the verge of falling in love when Percival honorably left Camelot, first to build the northern defenses, then for his Grail quest.
Story Line
The plot here is excellent, very well thought-out, enjoyable and interesting. O’Keefe based his ideas on actual situations to build a story that felt plausible yet was aligned with the romantic Camelot legends. For example, early Britains did mine silver (and gold) and the Eastern Empire would have coveted the mineral wealth. Britain was quite civilized after 300 years of Roman occupation, with good roads, some literacy, some sense of national identity. It would be easy for the Eastern emperor to covet such a pleasant territory and its riches.
Writing Style
Author O’Keefe published a thriller, Helius Legacy, before he wrote The Return of Sir Percival. He shows himself to be a careful writer, creates clear sentences and narratives. The book moves a little slowly in parts, most in the beginning, and picks up the pace. O’Keefe alternates between Morgana, the Saxon leaders and Percival for his main points of view which helps us keep the sense of time and urgency.
One weak point that I’d like O’Keefe to improve is the setting. He did a good job on the back story and used Capussa and Merlin to help tell the story of what happened to Percival and to Albion, but the physical descriptions were weak. Stories like this with scenes that depend on our sense of place need more vivid descriptions. I lost track a few times where the characters were.
Maps would have helped. It’s not necessary to have the action take place in the real-life locales – this is a fantasy – but something to show us about where Guinevere took refuge relative to London and about where Morgana ruled in her castle would have helped. I wondered several times why Morgana didn’t take bolder action to follow up upon Arthur’s death and Albion’s disintegration, and knowing about where the various power centers were would have cleared that up.
Overall
This is the first of a planned series and I expect to read the subsequent novels. I grew up reading imaginative Arthurian fantasy by T. H. White and Mallory and found most later novels set in the same legend (such as Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave) were disappointing. The Return of Sir Percival uses the legend as backdrop and asks “What if?”. What if Arthur’s kingdom wasn’t completely dead? What if Guinevere was faithful and alive and ready to help lead people back to a unified Albion? Setting the novel seven years after the fall of Camelot helped position this as a separate tale – and a good one.
4 Stars. If I were rating solely on the imaginative use of the story I would give this 5 stars. Overall execution and characterization were slightly less.
I received an advanced reader copy for free from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
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