BOOKS: Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve

Declaration time: I’m a Philip Reeve Fanboy. When planning posts to write on the subject of novels which inspire me, I had to resist just doing about ten posts on his whole body of work. In fact, I’ve restricted myself to just one book per author, but it goes without saying that if you like the book recommended here, then you should check out the other works by that author.

Here Lies Arthur is a retelling of the myth of King Arthur, seen through the eyes of a young girl called Gwyna, who becomes apprentice to the wiley Myrrdin, a travelling storyteller and trickster. The book’s theme is story which is why it reached top of the pile when recommending one of Reeve’s impressive body of work. Gwyna learns the ways of Myrrdin, who takes it on himself to become the spin doctor for Arthur, a vicious warlord thug who has the potential to unite the lands of Britain in the year 500AD. The whole epic Arthurian saga plays out in front of Gwyna, who picks up Myrrdin’s gift for storytelling and passes on the legend of Arthur.

The book was rightly awarded the Carnegie Prize in 2008, and the quality of Reeve’s writing is sublime. He has the gift of being able to write a sentence so perfect that it can cause extreme depression in other writers trying to accomplish the same. His use of atmosphere and world building has been finely honed in his World of Mortal Engines books, and is put to excellent use here, creating a land of bogs and mist, of brutal fighters and mystical sorcerers. A hearty recommendation from all at StoryWorld. 

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BOOKS is a series of posts reviewing books that StoryWorld think are must-reads for the emerging writer, for their quality of prose, themes and power.