Dark Age Britain, Lancelot, King Arthur, and 5 great books I may reread

Welcome to the Book and the Vibe, a mostly historical fiction podcast. I'm your host, Helen Gabe, and I traded PowerPoints for books, travel, and the places that stories take us. I live near Richmond, Virginia, and I say mostly historical fiction this week because I think historical fiction with one foot in the realm of a legend is so much fun. While last week we were in Italy, this week we are going north into Dark Age Britain with one of the oldest legends from the past two millennium. Do you reach for historical fiction often, but maybe not exclusively, and want to know exactly what kind of world you will inhabit inside your next book? If so, you're in the right place. We're all about spoiler-free book reviews for readers who love immersive books and yearn to explore the places and times they read about. Let me share right away that in today's main review, we'll review a book that feels a bit like the TV show The Last Kingdom meets the 1995 movie First Night, the one with Sean Connery, Richard Gere, and Julia Ormond. We will also unearth Lancelot's backstory and the evolution of the King Arthur legend. In the Tavern, we're talking about a handful of my all-time favorite books because I want to know which one you think I should reread next and review for the show. So pour yourself a goblet of ale and prepare to step back into the mud and magic of ancient Britain. Let's talk about the book entitled Lancelot by Giles Christian. The first thing you'll want to know about Lancelot is that although this is part of the King Arthur expanded universe, we are not in the usual medieval version of these retellings. There are no shiny castles, perfect knights, courtly manners, or people riding around in gorgeous cloaks talking about equality. This is a strong reimagining of the legend, filled with shield walls, wooden forts, and crumbling wooden infrastructure, a bit of blood, and a lot of warriors. It sits firmly halfway between historical fantasy and gritty dark age historical fiction. There is some magic, there is some myth, but the magic does not dominate the book, which is my preference when we veer into historical fantasy territory. Let's talk about the premise. As you may have guessed by the title, our author has not made Arthur the focus of the story. Lancelot is told in first person from Lancelot's perspective and is set around the 5th century in what is now modern-day Cornwall and Northern Wales. And you do not have to be deep into King Arthur to enjoy this. If you just know the vaguely general idea, Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, betrayal, swords, that is more than enough because the basics are enough to have fun watching Giles Christian take the legendary Lancelot and make him feel like a regular boy and young man before he becomes so famous. At its heart, this is a coming-of-age story that really grows into something sweeping in the second half. And I don't know about you, but I absolutely adore a book written for adults where we spend a really good chunk of time in the early years with someone that, you know, as readers, we know will become larger than life later on. That said, I am pretty sensitive to excessive teenage ruminations when a big chunk of any book is spent inside a young person's head, but luckily the author does not subject us to any of that while we're there. And Lancelot's origin story is not nearly as locked in as some other Arthurian characters. So the author had some real space available to him to imagine Lancelot's youth. Giles Christian has asked, what circumstances could make someone capable of dogged and great loyalty, and yet ultimately even greater betrayal of that same person? And how does the Arthur story look if Lancelot is our hero, albeit a flawed one? Behind the legend, the early section was probably my favorite part of the book. Here we see Lancelot as a youth, forming friendships, experiencing his first love, taking part in intense training and having brushes with real danger and powerful people. Now that's absolutely not to say his time as an adult later on is weak, because it is not. But the younger years are where we get the creative version we have not heard from the legend before. Without giving much away, when the book opens, we are thrown pretty quickly into a traumatic day that upends Lancelot's life forever. We then follow where he goes and travel to the unusual place he ends up from there. The childhood section is the engine, and what happens there has an undertone of magic humming beneath the surface. It also sets up big plot twists and emotional charges that explode later in the story. Arthur is ultimately very important, obviously, we are not pretending otherwise. It's just that this is largely Lancelot's story. I found this book when I was in a very specific mood, but interestingly, it was not a mood for a King Arthur telling. I was in a pre-medieval first millennium mood where no official England yet exists, which is a real mood to get into when you seek out a book, by the way. My craving for a story, set this early in British history, struck me after my brother came to visit. And inevitably, he and I started talking about one of our favorite shows on Netflix, The Last Kingdom. Have you seen it? If not, it's set during the rise of King Alfred, before English Kings as we know them now exist. And it is gritty and epic and filled with royalty and warriors. I'd already watched the series through a couple of times, and I wasn't going to watch it a third time. However, I found myself wanting more of that vibe. So I started looking for something similar and came up with Lancelot. That said, don't let me lead you to believe this is exactly like The Last Kingdom, because it's not. It's a different time period. But if you love the essence of that show, this book is definitely in the same emotional neighborhood with a dramatic childhood event, battle scenes, and an incredibly conflicted warrior protagonist who is destined for greatness. The time period of Lancelot is very much 5th or 6th century Britain. No one is remotely close to saying the word England yet, and there's a collective memory of Roman roads, Roman order, and Roman protection that has now vanished. What has taken its place is small kingdoms with local rulers who raid each other, form fragile alliances, and eventually realize they had better attempt to unite because they all share the same problem. Saxon invaders are pressing in. So our book is set after Rome has gone, but before England exists as England, the local Briton rulers are jockeying for power inside the vacuum left by the Roman departure. And the Saxons are moving in and exploiting the multitude of little kingdoms that have sprung up over time. And that struggle, the need to unite the Britons against outside invaders, is where Arthur enters the picture, both in our book and in the legend. Layered on top of the Saxon threat is the tension of religion, because old gods and older beliefs are still around, but Christianity has also arrived lately on the scene. And the book lets that religious and invasive tension exist without turning it into a classroom lecture. There are politically motivated religious conversions, tolerances and intolerances, and they are all wielded just as effectively as any sword in order to divide and unite the kingdoms. As for the inevitable romance, it is well written and central to the story, but it does not swallow the book whole, and neither do the battle scenes. The battles and sword fights are ever present, especially in the second half. But the author does not subject us to page after page after page of complex fight scenes where we lose track of who is who, and you know the scenes I'm talking about, you know, where the action is happening, but you kind of lose the thread and end up skimming it. And that is not the case here. The action is heartpounding and very easy to track on the page. And I'm sharing those thoughts on the romance and the battle scenes for a particular reason. And that reason is because I truly think the average male or female reader who enjoys books set in this world is going to like this. Again, you don't have to know the backstory, but if you know just enough to be dangerous, the anticipation of how the author will treat the major players of the legend is a force multiplier to the book. I'm talking about Lancelot, Guinevere Merlin, Arthur, and Mordred. There are more, but those are the big ones. For propulsiveness, I would give it an eight out of 10 on pacing, and I thought it absolutely stuck the landing. This is the first book in a trilogy, but, and I can't stress this enough, you do not need to keep reading after this one. It wraps up as a complete story with zero cliffhangers. The later books continue in this Arthurian world, but they follow other characters from the legend. And I haven't gotten around to reading them yet, but they are definitely on my TBR list because this guy can really write. He writes the way that you want legendary retellings to sound, lyrical but clear, authentic but magical. In fact, I'll read a short passage from the opening chapter that shows the style and sets up the story. Strangely, amongst all the swirling chaos of that night, I vividly recall the feel of my father's hand, the coarseness of his skin wrapping mine, the thick, calloused vice of it as he pulled me through the churning smoke and the flame-licked dark, because our enemies had come. The book has that evocative, sing-song-y, primal cadence and imagery the entire way through. And that style definitely elevates the reading experience. Let's talk characters. Lancelot has lots of colorfully drawn mentors and friends, relatives, rivals, and enemies to keep us highly entertained. We have people to root for and root against, but no one is fully good or evil here, which is exactly what you want from this kind of adult retelling. I've read a lot of King Arthur retellings, and this one feels original in both plot and characterization. For format, I moved back and forth between Kindle and audiobook, and the audio narrator was fantastic. It really did feel like I was listening to Lancelot tell his own story around a campfire. The voice had that intimate storytelling quality, and the character voices were distinct. Also, I could tell when we were in Lancelot's head versus when Lancelot was speaking aloud. And for a first-person narrative, that nuance matters more than I think people realize. So if you like to listen to your books, two thumbs up here. On sense of place, I would give this a nine out of 10, and I'd give it a 10 if I were only grading the first half. Because we have a childhood on an island where magic and the natural world blend together at times with birds and mammals and the forest and the sea. We have bullies and childhood defeats that feel like the end of the world, and minor victories that feel momentous. The story goes on to further develop those friendships and mentors and rivalries and everything in between, and including, of course, love. And that part has a truly entertaining and fresh plot line. Let's wind down with the stats. Lancelot by Giles Christian is about 450 pages, so it's long enough to sink into and feel transported, but it's not so long that you feel like you need to schedule it in your reading life. I read it in about four or five days and never hesitated to pick it back up. I'm rating it a very strong 4.5 stars, and I round it up on Goodreads where it averages 4.23 stars. If you like gritty historical fiction, an Arthurian legend retelling, or a coming-of-age story written for adults, or whenever that dark age Britain world of shield walls is calling to you like it did me, I highly recommend Lancelot by Giles Christian. Before we leave this world altogether, let's unearth a little about how Lancelot entered into the Arthur legend, because in the beginning, it was basically only Arthur. There was no Lancelot, no Guinevere, and certainly no Camelot. Let's go back about 1,500 years and trace the origins of the King Arthur legend. The legend, as it exists in our imagination today, is really a composite of several evolutions and rebirths of the story. And what makes it worth twice the bang for your book is that each version tells us something about the culture that produced it. In other words, these different Arthurs by different authors often reveal as much about the author's world as they do about Arthur. Did you get that? The earliest versions of Arthur paint him not as a king, but as a tough warlord, which makes sense for a story born out of a time when the Britons were trying to fend off invaders after the Romans left. One of the earliest references to Arthur is thought to appear in a Welsh poem, where he is basically used as a positive comparison point for another brave warrior. Then, early in the 9th century, Arthur is described by a Welsh monk as a warrior leading the Britons in battles against the Saxons, but he is still not described as a king yet. So at this point, Arthur is not yet the grand king of Camelot. He is a warrior figure in a world that needed warriors. From there, the story pops up and reappears across Europe. And in each version, Arthur becomes more virtuous, more regal, and the story more elaborate. New characters and plot lines are added, enriching the universe of Arthur, but also reflecting what each era found admirable or fashionable. Fast forward to 1136 when Jeffrey of Monmouth writes The History of the Kings of Britain, one of the big granddaddy foundational stories for the Arthur legend. Mammoth gives Britain a grand origin story, complete with founders who sailed to Britain after the Trojan War, and he also adds Merlin. So, some back of the napkin math here. We are about 600 years into the legend before Merlin even appears on the scene. Math is not my strong suit, by the way, so don't check me. This version is also when Arthur moves beyond warrior leader territory and into the role of true unifying king. Audiences in 1136 clearly wanted this kind of ruler, someone who could make the island feel important on the world stage. Side note, despite the title suggesting otherwise, Mammoth's history of the kings of Britain is almost entirely fictional, although understandably many treated it as true history at the time. Then, around 1170, Lancelot enters the story in a French poem, and he is introduced right away as a knight. And true to his French origins, straight out of the gate, we are given the affair with Guinevere. This character, who now feels absolutely central to the whole Arthur story, was absolutely not there from the beginning. He is a French, not English edition, and this French version is where we start to get the courtly love, catastrophic romance, and even Camelot entering the picture. So now the legend is becoming the Arthur most of us recognize. Knights, Courtly Love, Forbidden Romance, and the emotional disaster machine beginning to hum in the background. A century or so after Lancelot enters the scene, Arthur becomes politically useful in the real world. Arthur had very strong British and Welsh roots, but English kings wanted to claim him and fold him into their own version of Britain's past. In 1278, Edward I visits what is supposed to be Arthur's tomb at Glastonbury Abbey, which is, spoiler alert, very conveniently located on English soil, and this helps neutralize the idea of Arthur as a Welsh rallying cry against English rule. Much later, we get La Mort de Arthur, written by Sir Thomas Mallory and first printed in 1485. Whereas Mammoth gave Britain an origin myth, Mallory gives late medieval England that nostalgic chivalric world as it is starting to fall apart. Knights, quests, the round table, and a world obsessed with chivalry in the midst of the war of the roses. From there, the legend keeps growing, on until in 1958, we get T. H. White's The Once and Future King, where Arthur becomes a boy learning from Merlin, and the story turns towards the themes of might versus right, which makes sense because now we're in the dawn of the Cold War and the nuclear age. And now we have several entries into the Arthur legend year over year. We could wax poetic at length about the reason for its enduring influence and popularity. But maybe Arthur lasts because every generation gets to remake him into what it needs most at the time. To finish with a final note on the book we reviewed today, Arthur was most definitely born out of the legends surrounding Dark Age warlords of Britain. Lancelot, by contrast, is an almost entirely medieval French invention. So it is interesting that Giles Christian imagines reinserting Lancelot back into the Dark Ages of Britain, since he did not appear in any of the stories until roughly 500 years later in France. It never feels to me like I'm rereading the same book when I pick up different versions of this legend. It feels more like visiting something hauntingly familiar, and then I get to settle in and let the author surprise me with their version of events. And while we're on the topic of returning to familiar stories, let's head to the tavern and talk about rereading in the literal sense. Do you ever reread books you've already read? Today in The Tavern, I want to serve up three books that I've recently reread and five titles I'm thinking about rereading very soon. I'll move through them pretty quickly for time's sake, especially the five I haven't reread yet, because I'm not giving those the full treatment until they're fresh in my mind again. And here's where you come in. I want you to tell me which one I should reread first and then review in depth for the show. And I need your help because, with the exception of 4,000 weeks by Oliver Berkman, which I've read every year since it was published, I only reread maybe one or two books a year. So I need to choose wisely. The first book I recently reread is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, which is about as good as it gets when it comes to seasonal fall reading. The number one thing that makes this book special is its incredibly strong sense of place. Gothic English country manners, foggy landscapes, creepy children, and a story that somehow feels timeless. When you're reading it, it almost feels like it could be set anytime from the 1880s through the 1980s. And that adds to the story. Even though you may not notice the lack of a definitive time period in your first read, it's about a young biographer contacted by one of the most popular yet reclusive writers of all time who has summoned her to her giant house to write her biography, which we then get in flashbacks as the main storyline. Highly recommended. Another book I recently reread was The Secret History by Donna Tarte. I'm not going to go too deep on this one because it's been everywhere for years and years, but this is the book that gave us that entire subgenre of dark academia, and it is arguably still the best. It also weaves in elements of ancient Greek mythology, which gives it that extra layer of strangeness and intensity. Third, I reread the nonfiction book The Splendid in the Vile by Eric Larson. It is my all-time favorite nonfiction book, and in it you get a front row seat to Winston Churchill's rise to power and the Battle of Britain when the Germans were bombing London for months and months on end. It is undeniably a love letter to Churchill, but also to the fortitude of the British people at that time when they stood alone against the Nazis. I first read it during the early weeks of COVID lockdowns in the spring of 2020, so it is forever marked upon my readerly heart. I could go on and on about the soaring narrative and story arcs, but it's really the propulsive writing style that make it worth picking up, which of course Larson is known for. So with those recent rereads out of our way, let's touch on the five books I'm still thinking about rereading next. And this is where I want your input and your voice. Tell me which one I should bring back to the show for a full review this season. And you can just listen here because I'll put the list in the show notes for your reference. For future listeners, if you're listening between September and Thanksgiving of 2026, feel free to send in your vote. Book number one on the list is Northwoods by Daniel Mason. I first read this when it came out early in the fall of 2023, but it was so good I was tempted to start it over the moment I finished it. The story is set in New England, in and around an apple orchard and a farmhouse that becomes the constant character in the novel, while generations of people come and go over a couple of hundred years. It defies genre in the best possible way, part nature writing, part ghost story, and very much historical fiction. It was my favorite book of 2023, and probably it's the most beautifully written selection on this list today. It also comes close to being a short story collection, which is normally not my thing at all. So it says something that I love this book that much. It's 372 pages, and both the print and audio book worked beautifully for me. Should I reread Northwoods by Daniel Mason? On a related note, while it is popular to list books people wish they could reread for the first time, I have to say I'm really looking forward to the true rereading of these titles, which is different than experiencing something for the first time. That anticipation is doubly true for the next book on my list, An Instance of the Finger Post, written by one of my absolute favorite authors, Ian Pears. This novel is set in one of the richest settings for. English historical fiction, Oxford in the 1660s, specifically during the early years of Restoration England, when the monarchy is back, but the Civil War, Cromwell's Republic, and all that political, religious, and intellectual chaos and violence are still very much in living memory. A fellow of one of the colleges is found dead, murder is suspected, and a young woman stands accused of the crime. The mystery unfolds from four perspectives, but there is absolutely nothing repetitive about each part. Each one treads new and fascinating ground, but only one tells the real truth. And the ending is one of the best I've ever read in a novel. And I may have to give it the award for the worst book hangover of my life. I really had trouble moving on from that book. While the prose is accessible, make no mistake, it's a dense story requiring a bit of fortitude. You can't put it down for days on end, or you'll lose the substance and possibly the plot. There's also no audiobook in the U.S., and it's a little lengthy at about 700 pages, but to me it was entirely worth it. Fall or winter with long, dark mornings and evenings, is really the only time to pick this book up. Last selling point. The guys on the Rest is History podcast have said it may be the greatest historical fiction book ever written. And I agree. I first bought it after seeing someone on Reddit name it their favorite historical fiction book. And that same person had rattled off a list of other titles that I heartily agreed with. So I bought it, I loved it, and I have since bought it several times because I give it away every once in a while. I also bought a UK version when I was last in London, partly because I knew I'd reread it someday and partly because I loved the different cover art. It's set in Oxford, which I'm making plans to finally go see in a few months. And the only question is, is this the season of the podcast that I reread an instance of The Finger Post by Ian Pears? You tell me. Third on our list is Once Upon a River by Diane Sedterfield. We're still in England here, but a few centuries later, to a late 19th century story set along the Thames and filled with folklore energy. The premise is someone stumbles into an inn near the river carrying a small child everyone thinks is dead until several hours later she breathes again. From there, we follow the families and people living along the river as they try to understand who this girl is and what happened. The book really does feel like reading folklore with absolutely beautiful writing and a wonderful, bittersweet ending that sticks with you long after you finish it. It's around 450 pages, was published in 2018, and is by the same author as the 13th tale, which I mentioned just a little earlier. So is this the year to reread one of her later books, Once Upon a River? Let's head to the Fall of the Roman Republic for the fourth title we're considering. And to be fair, this would be a trilogy reread, but the first book is only about 300 pages, so we are far from doorstopper territory. I read this one the most recently out of the five, but I'm considering it again because of our upcoming trip to Italy. For your consideration, I am putting Imperium and really the entire Cicero trilogy by Robert Harris on the list. This is an imagining of Cicero, the great Roman orator and senator from the first century BCE, told through the eyes of his scholarly slave and right-hand man, Tyro. Historians know Tyro left a lot of writings about his time with Cicero, but unfortunately they were lost to time. Here, Robert Harris imagines what those writings may have told us. It's heavy on politics, yes, but also fascinating and soapy. And you learn so much about Cicero and the rise and fall of Julius Caesar. That's the Cicero trilogy, starting with Imperium by Robert Harris. And small side wish. The Folio Society is a book publishing group that reprints well-loved books. And it has done a couple of Robert Harris books. I really wish they'd do this trilogy. They do gorgeous hardbacks, illustrations, sprayed edges, the whole thing. I would buy that immediately. All right, our fifth and final book for consideration is where I'm indulging in being a mostly historical fiction podcast and going with a nonfiction pick. In the Garden of Beasts by Eric Larson, which I first read at the recommendation of my neighbor, who really has the most flawless yet grounded taste in books, film, and travel. In the Garden of Beasts lets us bear witness to the experience of the ambassador to Germany and his family during the early rise of the Third Reich. The premise and true story is that the ambassador and his family head to Germany, and one by one, they move from thinking the Nazis just might be a very spirited, patriotic phenomenon to realizing they are living right in the middle of a garden of beasts. The ambassador does try to warn people back home, but Larson keeps the pages turning while making us feel that awful sense of dread, even though we know exactly where this is headed and that no one is really ready to listen to his warnings yet. Should I consider In the Garden of Beasts by Eric Larson as our final choice? All right, which one should I reread? Go to thebookandhevibe.com and let me know. As always, let's wrap up the show with a note from the road, where today I'm going to make the case for why television and travel helps adults form new amazing core memories. And it's pretty straightforward, and I bet it's one you may have experienced before. There are so many things I look forward to on a family trip, but near the top of the list is the evenings, that hour or two before you go to sleep. Because there's really something so wonderful about putting your feet up after a day spent exploring new places. For me, it's the most satisfying and magical version of feeling tired that exists in the world, with your adventures still buzzing in your head as you drift off to sleep. So where am I going with this? And what does TV have to do with it? There are particular shows and movies that we've watched on TV that have, quite simply and firmly, merged together with the trip in our minds and helped to anchor the trip as a core memory to be recalled easily. Let me give you a few funny examples because they sometimes do, but sometimes do not have anything to do with the location. I'll start with my favorite, which was in Aruba. Every night, slightly sunburnt from snorkeling and checking out new beaches each day, we'd return to our Airbnb and my husband and I would pour gin and tonics, and all three of us would watch two to three episodes of a show my son had just started getting into right before our trip and wait for it. It was the Golden Girls. I mean, if my teen son with super modern sensibilities got sucked into the Golden Girls, what other proof do you need that that show holds up? So we always think of Aruba when the Golden Girls comes up or is mentioned now. Boom, core memory. Another instance of this was when we were in Scotland, and this was several years back. We made our home base at this 1800 stone cottage in the county of Perth, about an hour or two outside of Edinburgh. It was summer, so it would stay light outside really late, and the sun never set 100%, but it really felt lovely to retire into the stone cottage that was cozily designed, such that you could almost pretend the sun had gone down by about 10 p.m. And every night that trip, we would drink cold white wine from a local store. I was in my Chardonnay phase at the time, I think. Don't judge me. And we'd watch a couple of episodes of those house hunting shows like Escape to the Country that were filmed in the UK, not the US versions. It was perfect because of course, who doesn't dream about living where you are at that time on vacation while you're on vacation? In fact, my husband and son tease me that I've made plans to move to virtually every destination we've visited. And they're only exaggerating a little. So a handful more. I will always associate the cartoon Bob's Burgers with St. Augustine, where my son binged it after dinner each evening a few years ago. And last summer, my son discovered his love of horror movies while we were at the lake. And I think we watched every M. Night Shyamalan movie that week, which was his gateway to the genre. In an Airbnb in the middle of Charleston, all three of us got into a show called Drinkmasters, a cocktail mixology competition. You know, the kind where they eliminate someone each week, and it was the perfect ending each day in such a foodie town. It's not only funny and nostalgic that we recall these shows and trips together now, but I firmly believe the two together help them to be a more potent, permanent memory for all three of us. Do you have something like that, or maybe even a kind of souvenir you always buy on a trip that helps really solidify it in your memory? It's fun to ponder. I'm such a junkie that I can even think back to what kind of lifestyle I dreamt up for us at the time when I would plan out in my head our fictional move to all of these places. All right, before we wrap up today, our next episode will be full of old Hollywood, the Greek islands, and a bonus review. And before we completely sign off, I'd like to very quickly and sincerely thank Sharon, Kimberly, Michelle, and Sarah who listened to the earlier versions of the first episode and were really unafraid to give me some constructive criticism and five-star advice. I hope this is the year you get to read a book set in a castle while staying in a castle. Or whatever your historical fiction-loving heart desires!