James Wilde: Bear King (Review)

book cover of The Bear King

For all the darkness in the land, there is hope. And it rests with one man. Lucanus – the one they call the Wolf – is a warrior. He wears the ancient crown of the great war leader Pendragon, and he wields a sword bestowed upon him by the druids. And he is the guardian of a secret entrusted to him and to protect that secret will demand untold bravery and sacrifice beyond measure – but to lose it would mean the end of everything worth fighting for.

Before Camelot. Before Excalibur. Before all you know of King Arthur. Here is the beginning of that legend….

Review

I grew up reading the legends of Robin Hood, King Arthur etc… and Arthur was always the head of a band of knights, and as a kid you didn’t question it, it wasn’t until much later that the glaring issues of arms and armour, ethos etc presented themselves… so it was fantastic to have an author like Cornwell challenge all that with his Warlord Chronicles to bring Arthur back into the muck and grime of the dark ages, Now both Giles Kristian and James Wilde have taken that further with examining the myth and coming at the tales from a new perspective, so for me there are now 3 must read Arthurian tales, Bernard Cornwell (Warlord Chronicles), Giles Kristian (Lancelot / Camelot) & now James Wilde (Dark Age).

Bear King completes the Dark Age saga, where we started pre Arthur, the story arc comes to its climax with the introduction of Arthur and not how i would ever have envisaged it. James Wilde mixes myth and story telling into the historical backdrop of the Roman Withdrawal of Britain, the power vacuum and the strife this causes he brings in old enemies, old friends are reunited, and new fantastic characters ( Niall of the Nine hostages being my favorite), the backdrop is the quest for the Cauldron of the Dagda / Holy Grail .. and the pending war with rivals to the crown.. the only man who can pull together the people, to stave off the impending darkness is Lucanas whom everyone believes is dead, but legend says will return in the hour of need, the true Pendragon…

I was riveted to this book, James Wilde weaves this final book in the series with such skill and attention that i struggled to put the book down at night. His characters are as always perfectly drawn, fallible yet heroic, his friends dedicated, funny, sardonic and better men than they know, there is betrayal, heroism, vast action and terrible fear …. true light can only been seen after terrible darkness and its through this darkness that James takes the reader…. this is simply and excellent tale, one of the best re-imagining of the iconic Arthur myth out there, and for me James Wilds best book to date.

Highly recommended

Parm

Series

Hereward
   1. Hereward (2011)
aka The Time of the Wolf
   2. The Devil’s Army (2012)
aka The Winter Warrior
   3. End of Days (2013)
   4. Wolves of New Rome (2012)
   5. The Immortals (2015)
   6. The Bloody Crown (2016)