Book Review of The Broken Kingdom: Episode Four: Arthur’s Folly, by Angus Donald.

An exciting penultimate episode to The Broken Kingdom novel. I can’t wait for the finale!

Angus Donald is not only taking us on an action-packed adventure that mixes historical and fantastical elements, but he’s also presenting it in a novel way, which is why I was so interested in reading it.

The Wormkind Chronicles promises to be a series of fantasy novels about King Arthur in post-Roman Britain. But instead of releasing it book-by-book, Donald is releasing it digitally, episode-by-episode. This is much like the old serials written and printed in newspapers and magazines like Dumas’s Musketeers series or Johnston McCulley’s The Curse of Capistrano, where we first met Zorro.

Each episode is six chapters or about 20,000 words and goes for 99p in the UK or $1.24 in the US. The Broken Kingdom will have five episodes in total. “Arthur’s Folly” is “Episode Four” and quite a banger. You do need to read the first three episodes before this one.

I will remain spoiler-free in this review, especially since this episode starts deep in the narrative. I can say, however, that it begins and ends with action. 

We open with a battle, which Donald set up in the previous episode. Donald writes very visual battle scenes that’ll put you in the center of the action and present real stakes for the characters you care about. Even though it’s decisive, there’s definitely a “to be continued” element at the conclusion.

We then get an update on his “half-sister” Morgan and her magical training with Merlin. They can transmit their consciousnesses into animals far away and witness things as they happen, or that can happen if they allow it. 

I really like how Donald portrays this. When Morgan occupies the mind of a horse, I felt I was there too, feeling “the impact of her small unshod hooves vibrate through her bones with each strike of the firm turf.” Great stuff, man!

Morgan sees her brother’s in danger and must find a way to warn him. We also see more and more evidence that Morgan isn’t quite human. This is something that Donald’s been building since the prologue in episode one.

We finally catch up with Arthur, who is traversing a web of deceit from some while forming bonds of trust and loyalty with others as several of the storylines start to converge. 

We get an exciting and somewhat tragic duel to cap off the episode. Arthur becomes closer to the legend we know him as. But as he overcomes his human opponents, a larger, more sinister threat draws near: the Wormkind. 

The soothsayer has woken the dragon, and from its foul form, other creatures are borne like sallow unicorns, wolf-like Wulpines, and other ghastly things. 

If Britain is to survive, she must put aside her petty power struggles and unite under the one king legends have called for.

I can’t wait for the conclusion in Episode Five! Hopefully, it’s coming soon before the dragon gets me!

Check out “Episode Four: Arthur’s Folly” here:

But be sure you start with Episode One if you haven’t read it already. Here’s the preview for that:

And once you’ve read all of those, check out my latest novel here: