What do you think?
Rate this book
King Arthur Trilogy #3
Road to Camlann: The Death of King Arthur
The evil Mordred, plotting against his father King Arthur, implicates the Queen and Sir Lancelot in treachery and brings about the the downfall of Camelot and Round Table.
143 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
2 people are currently reading
471 people want to read
About the author
Rosemary Sutcliff
107 books680 followersRosemary Sutcliff, CBE (1920-1992) was a British novelist, best known as a writer of highly acclaimed historical fiction. Although primarily a children's author, the quality and depth of her writing also appeals to adults. She once commented that she wrote "for children of all ages, from nine to ninety."
Born in West Clandon, Surrey, Sutcliff spent her early youth in Malta and other naval bases where her father was stationed as a naval officer. She contracted Still's Disease when she was very young and was confined to a wheelchair for most of her life. Due to her chronic sickness, she spent the majority of her time with her mother, a tireless storyteller, from whom she learned many of the Celtic and Saxon legends that she would later expand into works of historical fiction. Her early schooling being continually interrupted by moving house and her disabling condition, Sutcliff didn't learn to read until she was nine, and left school at fourteen to enter the Bideford Art School, which she attended for three years, graduating from the General Art Course. She then worked as a painter of miniatures.
Rosemary Sutcliff began her career as a writer in 1950 with The Chronicles of Robin Hood. She found her voice when she wrote The Eagle of the Ninth in 1954. In 1959, she won the Carnegie Medal for The Lantern Bearers and was runner-up in 1972 with Tristan and Iseult. In 1974 she was highly commended for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. Her The Mark of the Horse Lord won the first Phoenix Award in 1985.
Sutcliff lived for many years in Walberton near Arundel, Sussex. In 1975 she was appointed OBE for services to Children's Literature and promoted to CBE in 1992. She wrote incessantly throughout her life, and was still writing on the morning of her death. She never married.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/rosema...
Born in West Clandon, Surrey, Sutcliff spent her early youth in Malta and other naval bases where her father was stationed as a naval officer. She contracted Still's Disease when she was very young and was confined to a wheelchair for most of her life. Due to her chronic sickness, she spent the majority of her time with her mother, a tireless storyteller, from whom she learned many of the Celtic and Saxon legends that she would later expand into works of historical fiction. Her early schooling being continually interrupted by moving house and her disabling condition, Sutcliff didn't learn to read until she was nine, and left school at fourteen to enter the Bideford Art School, which she attended for three years, graduating from the General Art Course. She then worked as a painter of miniatures.
Rosemary Sutcliff began her career as a writer in 1950 with The Chronicles of Robin Hood. She found her voice when she wrote The Eagle of the Ninth in 1954. In 1959, she won the Carnegie Medal for The Lantern Bearers and was runner-up in 1972 with Tristan and Iseult. In 1974 she was highly commended for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. Her The Mark of the Horse Lord won the first Phoenix Award in 1985.
Sutcliff lived for many years in Walberton near Arundel, Sussex. In 1975 she was appointed OBE for services to Children's Literature and promoted to CBE in 1992. She wrote incessantly throughout her life, and was still writing on the morning of her death. She never married.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/rosema...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
February 20, 2022
Book 3 of 3. Definitely one of the most faithful and artful adaptations of The Arthurian Tales for all ages. And yes, this final chapter of the series made me cry. Highest recommendation for fans of Arthurian tales, myths/legends and children’s literature.
March 6, 2010
This book is lovely, too. I didn't quite cry, really, but there was a certain tight ache in my throat at certain points. The bittersweetness is much closer to the bitter than the sweet in this book, but thankfully I didn't feel like I had to hate any character for the way they treated the others -- they were all handled carefully, their feelings justified. I loved the characterisation of Arthur, the way he wanted so much to show mercy and to be kind to Lancelot and Guinevere, but the way he also wanted to uphold his own laws.
When I was reading the battle scene, I really noticed how well it was done: well-described, but not gory.
I love the final page or so, with Lancelot's words: "We shall have made such a blaze that men will remember us on the other side of the dark."
When I was reading the battle scene, I really noticed how well it was done: well-described, but not gory.
I love the final page or so, with Lancelot's words: "We shall have made such a blaze that men will remember us on the other side of the dark."
May 16, 2023
I sort of hated this but then Rosemary Sutcliff is an annoyingly good writer and I got into it and now my feelings are just all over the place
(she likes Lancelot way more than I do, and she doesn't like Gawain enough, I think)
(she likes Lancelot way more than I do, and she doesn't like Gawain enough, I think)
September 17, 2024
What a beautiful, tragic conclusion to the Arthurian legends. True to Sutcliff's style, it ends on a wild, poetic, despairing yet hopeful note that continues to whisper into the oncoming dark.
June 21, 2020
A civilization falling into chaos and darkness - seems all too familiar.
And yet, the King will come again.
And yet, the King will come again.
Read
December 27, 2022devastating!!!! the trilogy as a whole is excellent, beautifully written, heartbreakingly romantic, and a v accessible, faithful treatment of all the hits
April 26, 2011
This tragic tale is a classic, and Sutcliff does fairly well in the retelling. 3 stars for the retelling. 5 stars for the story itself.
Lancelot's illicit love for Guinivere brings the downfall of Camelot, dividing the knights of the round table against each other. The story asserts that Lancelot is the greatest knight in the kingdom, because of his superior fighting skills against all other knights, and also because he heals a wounded foreign knight by laying his hands on him, who had a dream that the best knight of Camelot would heal him.
What the story says less directly is the great treachery and disunity that is caused by the unconfessed sin of Lancelot in pursuing and thinking it right for him to have Guinevere. He returns to Arthur too late to save his kingdom, having destroyed it himself.
Much more could be said about Mordred's deceitful malice, Gawain's fierce but impulsive loyalty, and Guinevere's noble denial of Lancelot's later advances. Suffice it to say that this is a story to think about things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report (Phil 4:8), while taking warning from the downfall that comes from eschewing self-control, peace, goodness and faithfulness (Gal 5:22).
Lancelot's illicit love for Guinivere brings the downfall of Camelot, dividing the knights of the round table against each other. The story asserts that Lancelot is the greatest knight in the kingdom, because of his superior fighting skills against all other knights, and also because he heals a wounded foreign knight by laying his hands on him, who had a dream that the best knight of Camelot would heal him.
What the story says less directly is the great treachery and disunity that is caused by the unconfessed sin of Lancelot in pursuing and thinking it right for him to have Guinevere. He returns to Arthur too late to save his kingdom, having destroyed it himself.
Much more could be said about Mordred's deceitful malice, Gawain's fierce but impulsive loyalty, and Guinevere's noble denial of Lancelot's later advances. Suffice it to say that this is a story to think about things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report (Phil 4:8), while taking warning from the downfall that comes from eschewing self-control, peace, goodness and faithfulness (Gal 5:22).
January 21, 2021
After the completion of the Quest for the Holy Grail, the Round Table is in decline, and Camelot is eventually destroyed through the machinations of Mordred, King Arthur’s ill-begotten son with his half-sister.
“The flowering time that had come to Arthur’s Britain with the Grail Quest was over and past, though for a while a golden quietness lingered like the little summer that comes sometimes when the days are growing shorter and the autumn is already begun.”
Following the Grail Quest, Camelot experiences a brief resurgence as a new generation of knights flocks to the Round Table to replace those who were lost. Among them is Mordred, son of King Arthur's half-sister Morgause/Margawse and King Arthur himself. Having been reared to be his mother's instrument of revenge, Mordred immediately perceives the love between Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot and begins sowing unrest throughout the court through whispers and subtle intrigue.
Lancelot senses danger and seeks refuge in the wild, but he is repeatedly called back to defend Guinevere. Much to Guinevere's displeasure, he attempts to resist their adulterous love because of which the Quest of the Holy Grail was denied him.
Mordred's relentless scheming eventually exposes Lancelot and Guinevere and forces the king's hand, effectively causing a civil war within the court. After much fruitless warfare, a truce is declared, and King Arthur commutes the queen's death sentence and allows Lancelot to go into exile on the continent. But the peace between King Arthur and Lancelot does not last, and King Arthur is pressured into pursuing Lancelot to France.
While King Arthur is away, Mordred seizes the opportunity to usurp the throne. He falsely reports King Arthur's death and crowns himself high king. He attempts to marry Guinevere to further legitimize his claim to the throne, but she escapes and sends a message to King Arthur.
King Arthur returns to Britain and engages in a full scale civil war, which culminates in the Last Battle at Camlann in which both sides are completely destroyed. King Arthur kills Mordred but is mortally wounded. He is borne away to the realm of Avalon. Queen Guinevere enters a convent. Lancelot, arriving too late to aid King Arthur, becomes a monk along with the surviving members of the Round Table. And Britain sinks into the dark ages.
“But the King had a sense of Fate upon him. He knew deep within himself that the pattern was almost finished; and the doom upon himself and [upon] all that he had fought for, which he had unleashed when he fathered Mordred on his own half-sister, was hard upon him; and maybe he would hold out his arms to it rather than seek to fend it off, seeing that there was no escape. No escape from the doom, no escape from the ordained end of the pattern...”
The entire story carries a sad inevitability. The characters are caught up in events set in motion and rush headlong towards their individual dooms. But at the same time they all given realistic personal motivations, creating a double motivation that heightens the sense of inescapable doom.
Rosemary Sutcliff’s retelling is very readable and faithful to the tradition. She humanizes the characters without diminishing their grandeur. Readers who struggled with the classic King Arthur texts may want to give this trilogy a try.
“The flowering time that had come to Arthur’s Britain with the Grail Quest was over and past, though for a while a golden quietness lingered like the little summer that comes sometimes when the days are growing shorter and the autumn is already begun.”
Following the Grail Quest, Camelot experiences a brief resurgence as a new generation of knights flocks to the Round Table to replace those who were lost. Among them is Mordred, son of King Arthur's half-sister Morgause/Margawse and King Arthur himself. Having been reared to be his mother's instrument of revenge, Mordred immediately perceives the love between Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot and begins sowing unrest throughout the court through whispers and subtle intrigue.
Lancelot senses danger and seeks refuge in the wild, but he is repeatedly called back to defend Guinevere. Much to Guinevere's displeasure, he attempts to resist their adulterous love because of which the Quest of the Holy Grail was denied him.
Mordred's relentless scheming eventually exposes Lancelot and Guinevere and forces the king's hand, effectively causing a civil war within the court. After much fruitless warfare, a truce is declared, and King Arthur commutes the queen's death sentence and allows Lancelot to go into exile on the continent. But the peace between King Arthur and Lancelot does not last, and King Arthur is pressured into pursuing Lancelot to France.
While King Arthur is away, Mordred seizes the opportunity to usurp the throne. He falsely reports King Arthur's death and crowns himself high king. He attempts to marry Guinevere to further legitimize his claim to the throne, but she escapes and sends a message to King Arthur.
King Arthur returns to Britain and engages in a full scale civil war, which culminates in the Last Battle at Camlann in which both sides are completely destroyed. King Arthur kills Mordred but is mortally wounded. He is borne away to the realm of Avalon. Queen Guinevere enters a convent. Lancelot, arriving too late to aid King Arthur, becomes a monk along with the surviving members of the Round Table. And Britain sinks into the dark ages.
“But the King had a sense of Fate upon him. He knew deep within himself that the pattern was almost finished; and the doom upon himself and [upon] all that he had fought for, which he had unleashed when he fathered Mordred on his own half-sister, was hard upon him; and maybe he would hold out his arms to it rather than seek to fend it off, seeing that there was no escape. No escape from the doom, no escape from the ordained end of the pattern...”
The entire story carries a sad inevitability. The characters are caught up in events set in motion and rush headlong towards their individual dooms. But at the same time they all given realistic personal motivations, creating a double motivation that heightens the sense of inescapable doom.
Rosemary Sutcliff’s retelling is very readable and faithful to the tradition. She humanizes the characters without diminishing their grandeur. Readers who struggled with the classic King Arthur texts may want to give this trilogy a try.
May 6, 2025
5/5/25 reread: amazed how it held up, I wanted to quote so much but realized it would be almost entire chapters. The tragedy, the humor, the little personal touches and utterly believable characters, all wrapped in her beautifully simple words. So fitting that memory is a big part, the past constantly referenced, since it is at its core a story of paradise attempted and lost, our story!! A book that will break your heart because there is something universal and true in it; a story I won’t get over. 😭😭😭
“Get up!” said Sir Lancelot in an agony. “And I will lay aside my helmet and my shield and my left gauntlet and fight you with my left hand tied around my back!”
“Yes. And you are right, always you are right; it is one of the least likeable things about you.”
“Something seemed broken within him; maybe it was his heart. And so he listened to Sir Gawain whom he loved, and to Sir Mordred whom he tried not to hate, when he should have listened to the voice within himself.”
“he was glad that Gawain had found his own lady again, for the years that he had shared with her had been his best as a knight and as a man.”
“Get up!” said Sir Lancelot in an agony. “And I will lay aside my helmet and my shield and my left gauntlet and fight you with my left hand tied around my back!”
“Yes. And you are right, always you are right; it is one of the least likeable things about you.”
“Something seemed broken within him; maybe it was his heart. And so he listened to Sir Gawain whom he loved, and to Sir Mordred whom he tried not to hate, when he should have listened to the voice within himself.”
“he was glad that Gawain had found his own lady again, for the years that he had shared with her had been his best as a knight and as a man.”
February 6, 2024
In the first book, ‘The Sword And The Circle’, Merlin foresees Britain’s eventual downfall, so the final ending is always partially known to the reader. But rather than being put off, I raced through the second book to get to the third, and find out how it would happen. Throughout the trilogy, Rosemary Sutcliff builds towards the end cleverly, with hints and reminders that ‘this character will play a part’, and ‘that place is where it will happen’.
I knew vaguely how the story would end from an old cassette tape with ‘King Arthur’ stories I listened to as a child. But I wanted to read it in full detail, and I wasn’t disappointed. It was bittersweet, and strangely satisfying. I’ve never minded a sad ending if it’s done well (hello Michael Henchard), and the legends are improved in my opinion by having this ‘end of all things’ where nothing and no-one is left.
Gawain is still my favourite, and while Lancelot became more interesting, he is still at fault for a lot that goes wrong. I agree with another reviewer who said that Sutcliff seems to like Lancelot too much and Gawain not enough. Mordred was the perfect weaselly bad guy, Guenever annoyed me.
Arthur was finally the central character again, and is torn between mercy and justice. At times in the previous books I thought that Arthur gave his name to the legends but not much else. After the first few chapters it’s the knights who have all the adventures. But by the end you realise how important he was… the king who united Britain, drove out the Saxons, and, with the help of The Round Table, created a brotherhood which promoted loyalty, chivalry and valour. The best knights in the kingdom wanted to be part of it, and mirroring Arthur, they set the tone for the entire realm. It becomes obvious how important Arthur was when a usurper seizes power for a while: before long, Britain is full of doubts and whispers; invaders and rogues see that Britain’s strength has gone and plot their moves.
Anyway, I have loved this trilogy, and thankful that I have at last found what I hoped for when I read TH White’s ‘The Once And Future King’… which was awful.
I knew vaguely how the story would end from an old cassette tape with ‘King Arthur’ stories I listened to as a child. But I wanted to read it in full detail, and I wasn’t disappointed. It was bittersweet, and strangely satisfying. I’ve never minded a sad ending if it’s done well (hello Michael Henchard), and the legends are improved in my opinion by having this ‘end of all things’ where nothing and no-one is left.
Gawain is still my favourite, and while Lancelot became more interesting, he is still at fault for a lot that goes wrong. I agree with another reviewer who said that Sutcliff seems to like Lancelot too much and Gawain not enough. Mordred was the perfect weaselly bad guy, Guenever annoyed me.
Arthur was finally the central character again, and is torn between mercy and justice. At times in the previous books I thought that Arthur gave his name to the legends but not much else. After the first few chapters it’s the knights who have all the adventures. But by the end you realise how important he was… the king who united Britain, drove out the Saxons, and, with the help of The Round Table, created a brotherhood which promoted loyalty, chivalry and valour. The best knights in the kingdom wanted to be part of it, and mirroring Arthur, they set the tone for the entire realm. It becomes obvious how important Arthur was when a usurper seizes power for a while: before long, Britain is full of doubts and whispers; invaders and rogues see that Britain’s strength has gone and plot their moves.
Anyway, I have loved this trilogy, and thankful that I have at last found what I hoped for when I read TH White’s ‘The Once And Future King’… which was awful.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 29, 2020
It's probably a very faithful retelling of a story that makes little sense to the modern reader. That sense of tragedy/inevitability is frustrating rather than moving and people behaving the way they do in this book depends on a complex "honour" system that has more to do with hegemonic masculinity than with humanity.
Gawain in particular is hard to relate to but even the overly passive Arthur seems to bring this upon himself. Meanwhile the leson Lancelot learned in the last book comes to naught (there is not struggle he just abandons it) and Guinevere is portrayed as nothing but empty lust and neediness. I didn't particularly enjoy it but perhaps there is some value in understanding folklore. I find with the King Arthur story, the more nebulous it stays the more I (probably wrongly) think I like it.
Gawain in particular is hard to relate to but even the overly passive Arthur seems to bring this upon himself. Meanwhile the leson Lancelot learned in the last book comes to naught (there is not struggle he just abandons it) and Guinevere is portrayed as nothing but empty lust and neediness. I didn't particularly enjoy it but perhaps there is some value in understanding folklore. I find with the King Arthur story, the more nebulous it stays the more I (probably wrongly) think I like it.
January 20, 2020
This would probably get a higher rating if I'd had the opportunity to read the first two volumes of the trilogy. It feels slightly more stilted than I remember Sutcliffe's other children's historical novels being, probably because she's sticking so closely to Malory. It still had me in floods of tears at the end.
August 9, 2021
The final book in the King Arthur Trilogy by Sutcliff is heart-rendingly breathtaking and tragic. From Arthur’s betrayal by Lancelot and Guinevere to his ultimate death at the end of the book, Sutcliff leads her readers along; hoping beyond hope to save Britain from Merlin’s prophecy in book 1. Definitely worth the read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2025
My heart hurts from reading this, just about as badly as it did when I finished T.H. White.
Recommended without hesitation - this is as masterful as its predecessors. But let the reader beware - one cannot see the end of the Round Table unmoved.
Recommended without hesitation - this is as masterful as its predecessors. But let the reader beware - one cannot see the end of the Round Table unmoved.
October 27, 2024
Very much a childrens srory, and obviously part of a series; but enjoyable. I learnt some stuff. Always good.
January 28, 2026
" We shall have made such a blaze that men will remember us on the other side of the dark."
April 23, 2020
Lancelot over King Arthur any day of the week
October 6, 2010
I picked this novel up from the children's section of the library, thinking I would look it over for my nephew. I turned to the first page, intending only to skim a few lines, and ended up reading it all night. I fell asleep over the book, and woke up early the next morning to finish before going to work.
This story, meant for young readers but easily the most mature work I've read this year, is the last in a trilogy on the legend of King Arthur. Sutcliff manages to tell the tale with all the action and adventure one would expect from a knights tale, but she also manages to illuminate the humanness of these legendary characters. Few other books--for adult readers or kids--capture the essence of love, friendship, and loyalty as this one does.
Sutcliff's prose is flawless, and reflects the language of this time while still being clear for young readers. She recounts the legend through the lens of historical fact, and somehow makes medieval Britain more real than the modern one.
This is an excellent book, the best I've read this year. I'm going straight the library and getting the first two books in this trilogy.
This story, meant for young readers but easily the most mature work I've read this year, is the last in a trilogy on the legend of King Arthur. Sutcliff manages to tell the tale with all the action and adventure one would expect from a knights tale, but she also manages to illuminate the humanness of these legendary characters. Few other books--for adult readers or kids--capture the essence of love, friendship, and loyalty as this one does.
Sutcliff's prose is flawless, and reflects the language of this time while still being clear for young readers. She recounts the legend through the lens of historical fact, and somehow makes medieval Britain more real than the modern one.
This is an excellent book, the best I've read this year. I'm going straight the library and getting the first two books in this trilogy.
October 6, 2013
The third book in Sutcliff's triology retelling the Arthurian saga.
Although these books are for purpotedly younger readers, and filed in the children's section at most libraries, I would not read this aloud to any child I know. I mean that as praise, not as a criticism. This series is heavy in symbolism and developed characters with real, human emotions that speak to adult readers in simple but profound ways, and this book certainly carries that forward as the demise of Arthur's kingdom brings tragic despair.
I found this to be the weakest of the three books; that being said, it is still extremely well-crafted, readable, and beautiful. An absolute must-read for any King Arthur fan.
Although these books are for purpotedly younger readers, and filed in the children's section at most libraries, I would not read this aloud to any child I know. I mean that as praise, not as a criticism. This series is heavy in symbolism and developed characters with real, human emotions that speak to adult readers in simple but profound ways, and this book certainly carries that forward as the demise of Arthur's kingdom brings tragic despair.
I found this to be the weakest of the three books; that being said, it is still extremely well-crafted, readable, and beautiful. An absolute must-read for any King Arthur fan.
May 7, 2008
The second of Rosemary Sutcliff's that I have read and the first of her young adult novels. I previously read The Sword at Sunset, one of the most beautiful and moving books I have ever read - Arthurian or otherwise. I wasn't disappointed in Road to Camlann. The same moving language and impressive treatment of Arthur and all that inhabit his world. Highly recommend.
June 10, 2023
A retelling of the last years of King Arthur's reign where suspicions of the love between Lancelot and Guinevere along with the evil influence of Mordred divide the knights of the round table. Just as Merlin foretold, a chain of events leads Arthur to the inevitable final battle on the field of Camlann.
November 15, 2025
Good history book for young girls. I loved Sutcliff's historical novels as a child and young teenager, she was one of my favourite authors. I am not going review them all individually because all her books are good. If your looking for children's historical novels, just start at the beginning of her books and read them all. This is how I learned British history.
July 5, 2008
I never got to hear about what happened to the rest of the Knights of the Round Table after King Arthur died until I read this book.
June 18, 2009
The last one in the Arthur trilogy. Sutcliff is already working with fairly tragic material, and her dark, pre-Christian style makes it even sadder.
September 22, 2011
Really a fantastic book.
I was a little doubtful when I picked it up in the kids section of the library, but it exceeded my expectations.
Sutcliff's Mordred is a chilling villian.
I was a little doubtful when I picked it up in the kids section of the library, but it exceeded my expectations.
Sutcliff's Mordred is a chilling villian.
Read
December 1, 2012mooi boek
July 15, 2013
I hated seeing the book come to an end, yet all of the loose ends were wrapped up leaving me wanting to read other books about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
September 8, 2015
*sniffles* "We shall have made such a blaze that men will remember us on the other side of the dark."
December 18, 2016
I loved it!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews