The narrator of the story is Derfel Cadarn, a monk who was at one time a warrior pledged to Arthur. The early chapters set the scene, I suspect, for the full three book series.

The Arthur we read of is not the Arthur of legend but basically, a war-lord who becomes the protector of Mordred, the crippled infant king of Dummonia. Merlin, too, is not the magically wise maven of repute but a rather nasty, cynical druid with his own agenda. Lancelot is a coward. Guinevere is a narcissistic, selfish flirt. Galahad is an extremely brave loyal friend to Derfel. Actually, Cornwell does a better job than usual of character development.

He does not do as good a job, though, of moving the story along and delays most of the action until the last third of the book. His description of the fighting is, as always, excellent.

I was, more than once, tempted to abandon the book. I'm glad I didn't and am now willing to try Volume Two of the Warlord Chronicles, "Enemy of God: A Novel of Arthur".