I have a lot of respect for Gidlow and some of his non-fiction work. However, this book didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

Gidlow creates a very authentic historical world, displaying Britain in the Dark Ages. From the way characters dress and to various customs and food, he paints a world deeply immersive. This novel has been really well-researched, and the finer details are captured. This lends the novel a lot of interest for me, as it is the gritty, real world that I associate Arthur with.

However, the tone wasn’t there for me. The novel starts with someone looking back, and who interrupts at various points. There’s an air of mystery as to who this person is but I’m not sure if that was intended, as there was no obvious connection between the voice and the protagonists. Also, the tone sometimes changed from third person to using ‘we’ and ‘you’ which broke the fourth wall a bit.

I think the bones and the history of the novel were there, but I found the tone a little too distracting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Chaosium for the ARC.

Stories of Arthur seem to be becoming a bit of a crowded field. This one though stands out in a couple of ways. It is deep rooted in post Roman history, with Britain's Dark Age as much a character as Arthur himself. Arthur is well presented, an ex-soldier of Rome returned home to bring the light back to his land. It starts quite slowly, clumsy, but by the midway point that has gone and what is left is an engaging tale rich in Arthurian lore. Would recommend

The battle scenes were good but the place names and references to lots of characters made events seem confusing. I felt the story got bogged down with too much boating from a number of characters relating their complex lineage. Perhaps this was to reflect the Britons use of bards and handing down their history through story telling and word of mouth.The relationships between characters was confusing as well or perhaps I didn't concentrate on it enough.

Had there been less of this I would have given it a higher score

This book is littered with problems from formatting to the prose. Authorial intrusion breaks the prose with a different voice than the fictive prose, which comes off as pedantic rather than scholarly. The prose is dense with details that don't advance the story, and light on details that do. The prose (when it is strictly prose) is redundant, and the dialogue is stilted. Unfortunately, this did not bring the past to life, but made for hard reading. I normally try to focus on the positives, but with this one, I'll do all involved the favor of NOT disseminating my on all the platforms I normally do.

I tried really hard to enjoy this but I could not get past the writing style and character names in this. It seemed way more complicated than it needed to be, even if more historically accurate.

Fans of more literary historical fiction and battle politics will probably enjoy it but it wasn’t for me. It simply wasn’t compelling enough even in the first few chapters to keep me reading on.

However I gave two stars as I appreciate the research that went into it, and the writing is actually good if not my preference.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this book an honest try and couldn’t get into it. The language sounded forced, and the history was off. What is a common soldier, or even an officer, doing wearing gilded armor, presumably after the Roman legions left? The gilding would have long since been removed for hack silver. And what were Picts doing in Wales? The Picts were in what is now Scotland, contending with the Irish invasions. And why is everyone calling Arthur, Arthur the Solider all the time? Descriptive names weren’t used like that. And why is Arthur’s dog Cabel, when CAVEL is the French/Latin word for horse as in Cavalry or Chevalier.

I love the theory of this book and the historical aspect is well described as are many of the settings.
The character of Arthur needs more definition, it could be if we get a second book that this is developed more.
As per some other comments I agree you do need to read the character list in the back of the book first to give you a more defined aspect.

3.5. This was interesting. I liked this new take and the writing was decent. Interested if there'll be another one.

This book was interesting. It was obviously really well researched and you could tell that the author had a huge amount of knowledge about Arthurian legends and roman Britain. I enjoyed it but I wish the character of Arthur was developed more, it almost felt like this was the second book of a series.

A WORTHY NEW ENTRY TO ARTHURIAN LORE Jeffrey Bampos

I have had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of this book by Chris Gidlow. The reader is in good hands from the start as Gidlow is the author of "The Reign of Arthur", a non-fiction exploration of the legendary king's historical reality. I have read that book, and Gidlow, a member of the Oxford Arthurian Society, provides intriguing theories on the subject.
In his first novel, "Arthur the Soldier", the author creates an immersive world of post-Roman Britain, with all of its dark-age drama. It is written in a truly bardic style, and the characters and setting are very Celtic. In the back of the book, there is a list of characters and places. I suggest the reader tackle this first to understand this world better.
Here we meet not only Arthur, always referred to as "the Soldier", but his companions, also with their Celtic names and descriptive nicknames. Gidlow's narrator describes these colorful characters delightfully. Hair color, clothing, distinct ornamentation, all of these are included to give a real sense of these boastful, independent folks. The story revolves around Arthur's mission to restore unity and peace to Britain until the Emperor returns to reclaim the land. But first, he must convince the skeptical kings that he is the heir to Uthyr Pendragon. The pace is leisurely, as there are two more books in the series, called "The Ruin of Britain". I encourage Arthurian buffs and fans of heroic literature to read this delightful addition to King Arthur's fascinating world.

Arthur the Soldier by Chris Gidlow is a fascinating read. It covers a period in the life of Arthur that is ripe with legend and adventure. After a successful career as a soldier in the Empire, Arthur begins to find his place in his homeland. He struggles with his role and his place but eventually realizations are made and he pursues his destiny.
Accompanied by boon companions and his stalwart dog, Cabal, Arthur's tale reads at first like a work of Homer. Indeed, I was oft reminded of The Iliad at the beginning of the book. There are epic scenes of battle, both as organized forces as well and single combat. There is love and sensuality. Indeed, one passage of the book borders on erotic fiction. There is also growth and personal.progress for the protagonist as his destiny becomes apparent.
This was a studious work of Arthurian lore, the author is clearly at ease and well-versed in this period of history, the early medieval, as well as the Arthurian Legend.
Dr. Brandon Neff

Decent enough story characters could do with a bit more fleshing out but as this says book one I'm assuming it's going to be a series so that will probably come later on

Set in early medieval period when the Romans were long gone, but their infrastructure such as Hadrian’s Wall and roads remained. Arthur had returned to Britain after fighting in Europe. Alliances change quickly. Many intrigues and betrayals with a strong sense of place. His skills and Roman maps with paces between structure allowed him to plot a campaign against his enemies.

Maps at the beginning of the book and at the end lists of place and character names are appreciated.

Arthur the Soldier is such a cool book. Loved to read this story so much. I recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic.

Arthur the Solidier by Chris Gildow is a unique perspective and retelling of the original story. There were themes in the story that were reatin from the original story and had a great premise and a strong start to the trilogy.

I really enjoyed this use of King Arthur and how this was retold by Chris Gidlow. It had that element that I expected from the world and the idea of what everything was going on. The characters had that feel that I was hoping for and glad this was a strong start to the Ruin of Britain trilogy.