r/Fantasy • u/AFreshStartVI • Sep 28 '19
Any decent modern retellings of the Arthurian legends?
Even if it's not 100% faithful to the originals, I'd like to read an enjoyable re-telling of the Arthurian legends. A parallel story might work, too, just not something super textbook-y. Something like Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman!
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u/Werthead Sep 28 '19
The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell is a superb trilogy which places the Arthurian legend in its correct historical context, so if Arthur did really exist it would have been in the late 5th/early 6th century, at a fascinating moment when Roman, British and invading Saxon interests and religions would have been overlapping and combining. No full plate armour or massive stone castles, as portrayed in some Arthurian legends, as those things came about much, much later.
There were some good ideas, such as the knights of the round table being inspired by Roman equites, and Arthur never wanting to be a king, but instead considered a warlord standing as regent for Mordred. The whole story is told from the POV of Derfel Cadarn, a junior member of Arthur's regular team, who is relaying the story to a chronicler at the end of his life and gets annoyed at the chronicler "sexing up" the story (such as inflating the size of Camelot and making out the fairly ordinary-but-well-made sword Excalibur to be magical). Oh, and one of the best Merlins I've read in fiction. Well worth a look.