Black Horses For The King (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
Black Horses for the King is an Arthurian novel, but focuses mostly on an original character, Galwyn, as he joins Arthur's men and helps to look after his horses, and eventually becomes involved in making prototype horse shoes for them.It's a little odd for an Arthurian novel, as it has nothing to do with the now-traditional focus of the stories on Lancelot and Guinevere, and barely even follows the well-known characters -- the minor characters among Arthur's knights are original ones, while Bedwyr, Cei and Gwalchmei are mentioned a couple of times, but no more. The drama of this story is very minor, when set against the usual Arthurian plotline: the main antagonist is a bully of a young man who wants to kill Arthur's horse as revenge for it throwing him.That might be a welcome change of pace for some, and it certainly served to fill a lazy Sunday afternoon for me, but it fits oddly: I'm not sure I would've cared much to finish it if it weren't for my interest in Arthuriana. In the end, it's more of interest to those who are interested in horses.The historical research seems accurate, in the sense that nothing in it sits very badly with me. The afterword made me wince: she claims not to include Merlin because Gildas and Nennius, chroniclers contemporary with Arthur, didn't mention him. Do note that Gildas doesn't mention Arthur at all, let alone Merlin. Her research on that front doesn't appear to have been stellar. It's a quick read, though, in any case -- it took me only a little over an hour to finish it, I think -- and the content is suitable for all ages.
A blurb on the cover of this one reads, "The story of King Arthur as it has never been told before..." This is true. It's true because this book seems to be as much about King Arthur's horse as it is about him. Now like I said before, I've never found horse stories to be all that interesting. Arthurian tales, however, I find to be quite enthralling. Mixing the two turned out quite successful and yielded an enjoyable tale. (Of course, Ms. McCaffrey's ability to create interesting characters might have helped a little...) The book tells the tale of a boy named Galwyn. As the story starts, he has lost his father and is apprenticed to his shipowner uncle. His uncle's ship has been hired by King Arthur--or Comes Artos as he's called here--who is heading to a horse fair down near the Pyrenees Mountains to buy some top quality African horses. Galwyn is totally unsuited for a seafaring life, but his skill with horses and knack for picking up languages makes him an ideal helper for Arthur. The story follows Galwyn's development as a servant for Arthur and the devolopment of Camelot's new cavalry. I quite enjoyed the "behind the scenes" setting of the story. Much as I enjoy reading about the knights of the round table, I know that if I had ever been living around Camelot, I would never had made the cut. But I still would have wanted to do my part for the kingdom, in whatever trade I would have found myself in. So Black Horses for the King offers wish fulfillment of a different sort. I'm really glad I could check this one out.
What do You think about Black Horses For The King (2004)?
This one was better than Bloodline, of course I really enjoy McCaffrey. But it wasn't a "wonderful" book. Historical Fiction about the King Arthur time period. McCaffrey tried hard to stay away from the cliche King Arthur. In fact, the story doesn't resemble King Arthur at all. The protaganist is a stable boy who works for Arthur and Arthur is a side character (which I found refreshing). Probably the best thing from this book was what I learned about horses and the historical background on horse shoes.This would be a really interesting book for my horse loving young friends!
—Sara floerke
A great novel, truly! Action filled, and adventurous. It was interesting to hear the classic and cliched story of King Arthur told in a completely different way. I think its the best of them all! Black Horses For The King is not cliched at all. It tells of horses and knights and battle, and even a bit of sailing. I found the main character, Galwyn, very original along with the rest of the story. Oh ya, and i like th idea in the book of how even though Galwyns job wasn't in the fighting, he was still important. and the whole horseshoe theme was cool aswell. Although I did think the antagonists story a bit simple, it is still a great book with a very satisfying ending.
—Chloe
I was pleasantly surprised with this novel. After reading Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums, I had figured out that I wasn't a huge fan of McCaffrey. But her historical fiction is far more pleasurable to read than her fantasy, due to my tastes. I loved reading about Galwyn's journey and his care of the Libyan horses. The only two things I found distasteful were the hard-to-pronounce Latin/Celtic names (which is a personal distaste, rather than McCaffrey's own fault) and McCaffrey's near arrogance at "sticking to the historical facts of the King Arthur story." I mean, I know the book is historical fiction; I didn't piss myself in anticipation of hearing all the cliches about King Arthur. I expected only McCaffrey's story, so it bothered me that she was so insistent in reminding her readers that she hated Hollywood-ized versions of the tale.
—Anna
