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Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff
Oct. 11th, 2020 06:14 pmI'd been looking forward to this one for a while and, well, it didn't disappoint.
Sword at Sunset (1963) is Rosemary Sutcliff's take on the Arthurian legend*. It's not so much a retelling as a historical novel attempting to reconstruct the sort of plausible events that might have given rise to the legend. Sutcliff deliberately removes the more 'romantic' legendary elements, notably including the characters of Lancelot (but not his role in the story, which is given to the more authentically British character Bedwyr instead), Merlin and the Lady of the Lake (both entirely absent; what magical elements there are are very subtle and the plot is basically a mundane one). Instead, Artos is a Romano-British war leader working to hold back the inevitable oncoming tide of the Saxon invasion, gathering a loyal Company to fight alongside him. The book follows their campaigns throughout Britain, from Artos's home in what's now North Wales to the banks of the Tweed and the downs of modern Berkshire.
The book is very ambitious in scope: the plot covers much of the geographical area of Great Britain and several decades of time, there are loads of characters, several big battle scenes, a great many highly memorable dramatic episodes of various sorts. Sutcliff's writing style suits this sort of thing really well—her prose is so dense, rich and emotionally evocative, the nature descriptions are detailed and perfectly placed, and she keeps it all up relentlessly for the entire five hundred pages without stopping. I'm honestly a little overwhelmed by it all—I can only sit back in awe—and I won't try to do the whole thing justice in a review. I'll just talk about a few points that stand out...
The mood of the book throughout is one of a sort of noble fatalism, a pervading sense of inevitable doom combined with an attitude that's neither resignation nor hopeless defiance: Artos and the Romano-British know they're doomed, they know the Saxons are going to win, and they keep fighting out of a belief that, despite that, it's worth something to hold back the darkness for a few more years, to raise the 'sword at sunset'. This philosophy is very appropriate to Arthurian mythology and it's something Sutcliff does really, really well. The book is also technically another part of the Dolphin Ring sequence, with the main character of The Lantern Bearers and his son and grandson appearing as side characters. I didn't enjoy The Lantern Bearers much—it got a bit too relentlessly grim—but this book, which gets harrowing enough at times but which always has that attitude of hope and of things worth fighting for, was much better.
The story is told in first person by Artos himself, which in some ways I thought sat oddly alongside the grand, wide-ranging scope of the thing—but, then, it's Artos's story as much as it is the story of the end of Sutcliff's Roman Britain, and having the one to narrate the other worked well.
There's a canon, positively portrayed m/m couple! Pretty impressive for 1963, and I found their story very sweet (and very heartbreaking, of course, but that goes without saying in this book). It's interesting to think of that as something Sutcliff was aware of as a possibility for her characters, especially given that the relationship between Artos and Bedwyr is another of the very subtexty loyalty-filled complicated friendships she likes so much—is some of that intentional, too? I don't know. In any case, the Artos/Guenhumara/Bedwyr relationship is an excellent take on the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot triangle—they all love each other in different ways and it all comes together in the worst way possible, as everything goes towards doom.
There's a lot more to be said about this book, but I think it's a great deal more than I can do after reading it once. I'll just summarise by saying again this is a really, really good book and my love and admiration for Rosemary Sutcliff only increases.
*Although not her only one—she also wrote an Arthurian trilogy which seems to be a more classic/traditional version of the story.
Sword at Sunset (1963) is Rosemary Sutcliff's take on the Arthurian legend*. It's not so much a retelling as a historical novel attempting to reconstruct the sort of plausible events that might have given rise to the legend. Sutcliff deliberately removes the more 'romantic' legendary elements, notably including the characters of Lancelot (but not his role in the story, which is given to the more authentically British character Bedwyr instead), Merlin and the Lady of the Lake (both entirely absent; what magical elements there are are very subtle and the plot is basically a mundane one). Instead, Artos is a Romano-British war leader working to hold back the inevitable oncoming tide of the Saxon invasion, gathering a loyal Company to fight alongside him. The book follows their campaigns throughout Britain, from Artos's home in what's now North Wales to the banks of the Tweed and the downs of modern Berkshire.
The book is very ambitious in scope: the plot covers much of the geographical area of Great Britain and several decades of time, there are loads of characters, several big battle scenes, a great many highly memorable dramatic episodes of various sorts. Sutcliff's writing style suits this sort of thing really well—her prose is so dense, rich and emotionally evocative, the nature descriptions are detailed and perfectly placed, and she keeps it all up relentlessly for the entire five hundred pages without stopping. I'm honestly a little overwhelmed by it all—I can only sit back in awe—and I won't try to do the whole thing justice in a review. I'll just talk about a few points that stand out...
The mood of the book throughout is one of a sort of noble fatalism, a pervading sense of inevitable doom combined with an attitude that's neither resignation nor hopeless defiance: Artos and the Romano-British know they're doomed, they know the Saxons are going to win, and they keep fighting out of a belief that, despite that, it's worth something to hold back the darkness for a few more years, to raise the 'sword at sunset'. This philosophy is very appropriate to Arthurian mythology and it's something Sutcliff does really, really well. The book is also technically another part of the Dolphin Ring sequence, with the main character of The Lantern Bearers and his son and grandson appearing as side characters. I didn't enjoy The Lantern Bearers much—it got a bit too relentlessly grim—but this book, which gets harrowing enough at times but which always has that attitude of hope and of things worth fighting for, was much better.
The story is told in first person by Artos himself, which in some ways I thought sat oddly alongside the grand, wide-ranging scope of the thing—but, then, it's Artos's story as much as it is the story of the end of Sutcliff's Roman Britain, and having the one to narrate the other worked well.
There's a canon, positively portrayed m/m couple! Pretty impressive for 1963, and I found their story very sweet (and very heartbreaking, of course, but that goes without saying in this book). It's interesting to think of that as something Sutcliff was aware of as a possibility for her characters, especially given that the relationship between Artos and Bedwyr is another of the very subtexty loyalty-filled complicated friendships she likes so much—is some of that intentional, too? I don't know. In any case, the Artos/Guenhumara/Bedwyr relationship is an excellent take on the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot triangle—they all love each other in different ways and it all comes together in the worst way possible, as everything goes towards doom.
There's a lot more to be said about this book, but I think it's a great deal more than I can do after reading it once. I'll just summarise by saying again this is a really, really good book and my love and admiration for Rosemary Sutcliff only increases.
*Although not her only one—she also wrote an Arthurian trilogy which seems to be a more classic/traditional version of the story.
