King of the Middle March [Hardcover]

The first two of this set were interesting and intriguing. "What will happen next" was constantly a thought. Any reader would wonder how the two Arthur's worlds would intersect, what would happen to our protagonist. This third book, by a respected and experienced children's author, is simply a time server, an incomplete story to fill a deadline. None of the story lines have any sort of climax; they just end. Lazy writing: quite frustrating to anyone who cares about books.

We will always owe an English friend for introducing us to this series. As she gave us the third book in the series my wife and I immediately bought the first two from Amazon so that we could read them in order.

King of the Middle March is possibly the best in the series about a young man named Arthur in the early twelve hundreds. Author Kevin Grossley Holland again does an excellent job in writing about the times. His settings, four locations in the area of the Middle Marches, France and Italy are superb. Holland shows himself to be a real historian here. We see the young Arthur, formerly of Caldicot, then of Holt, and finally of Catmole, his own Camelot, go from am idealistic young squire to a knight. His maturity and his experiences are well done and all the characterizations are excellent.

There is again a dual story as through Arthur's "seeing stone," a gift from Merlin, he continues to follow the story of the original King Arthur. It is interesting from the standpoint of how the stone shows parallels between the two Arthur's and young Arthur learns a great deal about himself from it and the things he should be prepared for.

As I said in my reviews of the first two books, it is sad that Holland relies too heavily on Mallory and White despite many other excellent books that have been written about Arthur, especially the two series by Mary Stewart and Stephen Lawhead. Those are far from the only ones and having walked over those areas of England where Arthur's story arose I am surprised Holland missed so much despite having done the same thing. The only thing that convinces you that the original Arthurian stories may have been true is the existence of Merlin in both worlds. (There are at least two other strong clues I won't mention here.)

I also have to repeat that this is not a series for young children as there are strong sexual situations alluded to, though not described in detail.

Despite the misgivings I have expressed I loved the series and frankly there is room for a 4th book as there are still questions to be answered at the end.

A very good read indeed.

Kevin Holland Crossley's King of the Middle March left me wondering. I absolutely loved the first two books, but King of the Middle March is....a bit dull. I never cared for the stories inside the stone, and this book takes away for Arthur de Caldicot's life experiences...the chapters about King Arthur are longer than those of our young narrator. I wanted to know: What's going to happen to Gatty? Will Serle ever return?? Will Serle marry Tanwen? Will Arthur marry Winnie? Will Arthur marry Gatty? Will Arthur ever be happy if he doesn't marry Winnie or Gatty?? Will Arthur ever get Bonamy back? And will Arthur ever see his little friend Bertie again??....many unanswered questions..I read quickly because I was eager to see what would happend with Arthur's life in the Middle March. On the topic of Arthur's mother, I like the way it ended...but everything else...was slightly disappointing. This story felt very rushed towards the end of the book. Mr. Kevin Holland-Crossley's first two books were excellent, but the third doesn't quite live up to it predessesors as most books don't.