The Circle of the Gods

Name: The Circle of the Gods
Rating: 3.55 (36 reviews)

by Victor Canning Book 2 in the The Crimson Chalice Trilogy series.

First published 1977

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3.1(36)

Arturo grows to manhood under the authority of Count Ambrosius, whose attempt to command Britain’s resistance increasingly conflicts with the younger warrior’s ambitions. Arturo rebels, gathers a small mobile company and begins attacking Saxon settlements. Durstan and Lancelo join his followers, while marriage to Daria gives his campaign a dynastic future as well as a military purpose.

The second volume moves the trilogy from the survival of Arturo’s parents to the creation of the leader remembered as Arthur. Canning presents power as something assembled through personal loyalty, local alliances and success in battle rather than inherited from a stable kingdom. The legendary war band is placed within a fragmented fifth-century landscape where Romano-British authority, Celtic custom and Saxon expansion compete to define the country that will follow Rome.