Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Britain in the Age of Arthur contained some very interesting ideas about the “historical” Arthur. However, I do question the extent to which all of it is reliable. The parts which are backed up by archaeological evidence or logical connection with other contemporary sources are quite believable. For example the theory that “Pendragon” actually means “dragon-head” and refers not to some grandiose claim to ancestry but to a crest with a dragon design on a helmet. The Sutton Hoo helmet seems to have a similar motif on the noseguard, and other crested helmets from the same time period have been found.

The less credible parts were the author’s rather slavish adherence to the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth. On some level, I did understand her “don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater” approach and the annoyance with the tendency to dismiss mythical and literary sources out of hand as having no value. All legends have some basis in fact, do they not? However, it is possible to have too much faith in the Legends, especially when Geoffrey’s supposed ancient sources are not known to have ever existed and even his contemporaries thought him to be a liar.

We must, it is said dismiss all miracle stories and supernatural elements in the sources out of hand, but mythical sources are taken seriously. Sometimes too seriously.
There was also some assumption that I felt was based on modern prejudice: or the failure to understand Medieval customs. One of the Appendices, the parts of the book I had most trouble with: toyed with the suggestion that St Patrick might have been a paedophile because of references to him sharing sleeping chambers with young sons of the Irish aristocracy. Surely the author knows that references to shared sleeping arrangements did not have any sexual connotation until well into the 20th century? “Oh but the Irish chieftains must have had good cause to worry”--- there are any number of reasons they could have had cause for concern about handing their sons over to a foreign stranger: none of them sexual.

Pen and Sword approved me for this title on Netgalley. My review entirely reflects my own opinions, which are freely given without a requirement for a positive review or feedback.

One of my favorite periods in English history and especially anything on Kind Arthur. Unless you are a die-hard fan of either, you likely won't enjoy this book. It's a pretty detailed history and mostly dry academics. I don't mind the details at all, even opinions I don't agree with really don't bother me much. I enjoyed this book. It was insightful and interesting, as other pov's often are. I think it's a fine addition to the the Arthur tales. But, like I said, it's not for everyone.

I've always been interested in Arthurian mythology and enjoyed the look at medieval English history through the view of Arthurian legend.

I want to preface this by saying that I wanted to love this book. I am a huge fan of Arthurian Legend and of history. This book, however, reads like a dissertation. There is tons of information there. The problem is, whenever there are contradictions between different sources, the author lists all the possibilities and then goes back to the one she is choosing. Sometimes, this happens more than once on a page. While the layout is roughly chronological, because of the corrections and addendums, I frequently lost the date of the event being discussed.
If you are a history lover and can wade through the conflicting source material that intrudes in every paragraph, you will enjoy this book. If you are a dedicated Arthurian legend fan and can wade through it, you will appreciate the accurate history but will lament how the opportunities to truly bring the text to life are consistently missed.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read a prerelease copy of this book.

I could not get through this - the writing was so dense as to be incomprehensible and the tone was weirdly aggressive!

This book was received as an ARC from Pen & Sword Military in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I was excited and delighted to see that there was a researcher that put in the work to prove that King Arthur did exist and it was not just a mythical legend that we all knew to grow and love. All of the information presented through the research of Geoffrey of Monmouths account and organized in the fashion that proves his existence Ilkka Syvanne put together was jaw dropping exciting to read that I actually screamed for about five minutes that everyone around me could not understand. I absolutely loved this book cover to cover and it totally made my day and I want to find Ilkka Syvanne and personally thank her for putting this book together.

We will consider adding this title to our Non-Fiction collection at our library. I wish I could give this book infinite stars but I can only give it 5 stars.

A focus on what happened during what would have been Arthur's reign according to (author focuses on) Geoffrey de Monmouth. A few other sources added in. A interesting look at battles and sieges and a few other things. A nice book for those who like Arthur or this time period.

I genuinely enjoyed this! I haven't picked up a history book in a very, very long time, but I delved into it because the author's viewpoint and analysis of text was so intriguing. I couldn't put it down, though I'll admit it's not one for everyone and there were some small dry parts. Personally, though, one I had a great time reading despite the odd subject matter.

This book is definitely not for the casual reader or history-lover. I'm a huge history reader and don't mind getting scholarly at times, but this book was way over my head and I had a lot of trouble slogging through it. It was more a monograph than a history book and assumed you already knew a lot about military history and British and Roman history before you started. I couldn't follow any of it, which was disappointing because I enjoy reading about this time period in general. Definitely for serious Ph.D-level scholars and not for the general reader.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I couldn't get into this book so I thought it was best to DNF it. I will, however, not rate it because of this on Goodreads. I'm sure other readers will like it well enough but it wasn't it for me this time.

I am a fan of everything related to King Arthur and was more than happy to read this ARC.
It's full of facts and I learned a lot about this era. The books is well written and well researched.
I think it's a must read if you want to know more about the age when Arthur is supposed to live.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.