Arthurian Fiction and Literature
Explore the best Arthurian fiction and literature with our curated list of legendary books. Dive into tales of King Arthur, Camelot, and the Knights of the Round Table for timeless adventures and chivalric romance.
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The Winter King
by Bernard Cornwell
It takes a remarkable writer to make an old story as fresh and compelling as the first time we heard it. With The Winter King, the first volume of his magnificent Warlord Chronicles, Bernard Cornwell finally turns to the story he was born to write: the mythic saga of King Arthur. The tale begins in Dark Age Britain, a land where Arthur has been banished and Merlin has disappeared, where a child-king sits unprotected on the throne, where religion vies with magic for the souls of the people. It is to this desperate land that Arthur returns, a man at once utterly human and truly heroic: a man of honor, loyalty, and amazing valor; a man who loves Guinevere more passionately than he should; a man whose life is at once tragic and triumphant. As Arthur fights to keep a flicker of civilization alive in a barbaric world, Bernard Cornwell makes a familiar tale into a legend all over again.
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Enemy of God
by Bernard Cornwell
Having achieved a fragile peace with the Saxons, Arthur turns his attention to more dangerous enemies, those who pose as friends.
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Avalon:
by Stephen R. Lawhead
It has been foretold: In the hour of Britain’s greatest need, King Arthur will return to rescue his people. In Portugal, the reprobate King Edward the Ninth has died by his own hand. In England, the British monarchy teeters on the edge of total destruction. And in the Scottish Highlands, a mystical emissary named Mr. Embries—better known as “Merlin”—informs a young captain that he is next in line to the throne. For James Arthur Stuart is not the commoner he has always believed himself to be—he is Arthur, the legendary King of Summer, reborn. But the road to England’s salvation is dangerous, with powerful enemies waiting in ambush. For Arthur is not the only one who has returned from the mists of legend. And Merlin’s magic is not the only sorcery that has survived the centuries. AVALON “A rousing postscript to Lawhead’s bardic Pendragon Cycle . . . Playing off snappy contemporary derring-do against the powerful shining glimpses of the historical Arthur he created, Lawhead pulls off a genuinely moving parable of good and evil.”—Publishers Weekly
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The Skystone
by Jack Whyte
In 5th Century, two disgruntled Roman soldiers help King Ullic Pendragon create an independent Britain. By the author of The Crystal Cave.
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The Singing Sword
by Jack Whyte
A fictional portrait of King Arthur's great-grandfather, Publius Varius, and his wife, Luceiia, follows their desperate struggle to protect their land from the barbarian hordes threatening to overrun the last remnants of Roman civilization in Britain.
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The Eagles' Brood
by Jack Whyte
Caius Merlyn Britannicus, an heir of Roman colonists, has the responsibility of protecting Camulod and spreading Roman Civilization, and at first, his cousin Uther Pendragon helps him.
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The Fort at River's Bend
by Jack Whyte
Young Arthur trains with a wooden sword in preparation for the day when with the help of the magic sword, Excalibur, he will rule over a united Britain. The trainer is his uncle, Merlyn Britannicus, and he also teaches him justice, honor and the responsibility of leadership.
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The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis
by Jack Whyte
Merlyn finally realizes his quest and, after Arthur successfully withdraws the Sword of Kingship from the stone, presents him as the rightful High King of Britain.
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The Eagle
by Jack Whyte
Arthur, his queen Guinevere, and Lancelot share a vision of uniting all the peoples of Britain, but the dark forces that oppose them and the growing love between Lancelot and Guinevere could destroy everything that they have been working toward.
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Works
by Sir Thomas Malory
This single-volume edition of the complete works of Sir Thomas Malory retains his 15th-century English while providing an introduction, glossary, and fifty pages of explanatory notes on each romance.
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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
by Mark Twain
Mark Twain's classic tale of Hank Morgan, a resident of 19th-century Hartford, Connecticut, who is inexplicably transported to the early medieval England of King Arthur.
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by J. A. Burrow
The Green Knight, a mysteriously powerful creature, tests the honor and courage of King Arthur's youngest knight.
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Arthurian Romances
by Chrétien (de Troyes)
The 12th-century poet Chrétien de Troyes is chiefly responsible for the preservation of Arthurian myth and its eminent role in European literature. This sensitive translation of his verse narratives features four romances. Its tales of Lancelot and early Grail legends offer lively, accessible views of the ideals of French chivalry.
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The Last Companion
by Patrick McCormack
Ten years after Arthur's death, Britain is falling into chaos, a band of Irish raiders has shown up searching for the chalice the King took from the Western Isles, and Arthur's onetime companion Budoc must stop them from finding it.
