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At the Crossing Places

(Arthur Trilogy #2)

Kevin Crossley-Holland

3.74 · Rating details · 2,237 ratings · 90 reviews

The second thrilling novel in Kevin Crossley-Holland's bestselling Arthur trilogy

Arthur de Caldicot has achieved his dream: He now serves as squire to Lord Stephen of Holt Castle. But this new world opens up fresh visions as well as old concerns. Arthur longs to escape the shadow of his unfeeling father and meet his birth mother. To marry the beautiful Winnie, but maintain ...more

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Paperback, 416 pages

Published October 1st 2004 by Scholastic Paperbacks (first published August 23rd 2001)

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Sep 09, 2019 Gary rated it liked it

I loved the first book in this series The Seeing Stone-I loved the characters especially Arthur, Gatty, Tanwen, Sir John and Merlin. I loved the Canterbury Tales feel and the way mediaeval England was so beautifully done, and looked forward to reading the sequel At The Crossing Places-and the part that did focus on my favourite characters was still an enthralling read. The problem was the main narrative was not developed well enough or expanded enough on because of the continual switching to Art ...more

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Jun 01, 2008 Molly rated it liked it

I didn't like this one as much as the first one. Mostly it was because I didn't like how frequently the story switched to the world of the stone. I didn't like the stories that happened in the stone and felt like they had no real connection to the main plot. I really like when Arthur describes his normal every-day medieval life, and I think that is the best part of the book. But I just had a hard time enjoying the things that happened in the stone and staying interested in them. If they had occu ...more

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Dec 12, 2011 Nicky rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: based-on-myth-saga-etc, arthurian

Took me a long time to get onto reading this. I can't remember what I was so eager about when it came to reading these books, because they feel so slight, somehow. There's a reasonable enough attempt at historical accuracy, but I'm not really here for Manor Arthur, I'm here for King Arthur, and this really didn't keep my attention on that score. I ended up reading this and the third book really fast today and I'm not sure they're going to stick in my mind at all: at least Gerald Morris' books, w ...more

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Jul 24, 2016 Gary rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Children and adults

Recommended to Gary by: Folio Society

Shelves: adventure-derring-do, includes-religious-themes, owned, relationships-romance, social-commentary, childrens, historical-fiction, fantasy, myths-legends, folio-society-edition

At the Crossing Places is the second in the Arthur trilogy, as told by Kevin Crossley-Holland. This is a children’s book and I would say it is most suitable for 10-15 year olds, though that doesn’t mean other age groups would not enjoy it, just that they will get the most from it.

The story concerns Arthur, a 14 year old boy living in England, on the English / Welsh border, in the year 1200. The book is written by Arthur in the first person, so reads like his journal and is essentially the story At the Crossing Places is the second in the Arthur trilogy, as told by Kevin Crossley-Holland. This is a children’s book and I would say it is most suitable for 10-15 year olds, though that doesn’t mean other age groups would not enjoy it, just that they will get the most from it.

The story concerns Arthur, a 14 year old boy living in England, on the English / Welsh border, in the year 1200. The book is written by Arthur in the first person, so reads like his journal and is essentially the story of his life and development. Mr Crossley-Holland has done a wonderful job of capturing the mind of a teenager, so even though in some respects Arthur has very different worries to those of a modern teen – he does not crave an iphone 6! – the story reveals that many of the concerns and worries of people of all age groups remain essentially the same over time: relationships; health; career; family dynamics; right and wrong; and, in the case of young people, having little control over their own lives.

The strength of the book (and the whole trilogy) is this essential strand of universal truth running all the way through. As things happen to Arthur he puts his thoughts on parchment for us to share. He thinks through his problems and speculates on people’s motives and how what is happening to him will affect his future. There is also a strong moral aspect to this, as Arthur considers the actions of himself and others, slowly working out his own moral code and judging the behaviour of others against it. This is quite subtle, however, and the author is not ramming any messages down our throats – he clearly understands that teens would not like his book if he did. The reader is led by the hand, not shoved from behind and I believe that teens will like this realistic style because it may reflect their own thought processes and help them to relate to it.

The fantastical side to the book is that Arthur has a ‘seeing stone’ (The Seeing Stone is the title of the first book in the series), which is a small slab of obsidian, a black stone that acts as a kind of crystal ball. Arthur looks into the stone and sees extracts from the life of another Arthur – ‘Arthur-in-the-stone’ – who becomes King Arthur and faces many challenges. The book is full of stories of the Knights of the Round Table (KOTRT), which our Arthur sees in his stone and which lend themselves to his development and make him think about the parallels in his own life. Of course we wonder as we read whether our Arthur will become King Arthur by the end of the trilogy – I hope so!

Arthur has to deal with many issues that frustrate, annoy and worry him: his future career, who he will be betrothed to (not entirely his decision), whether or not he will ever become a knight, what will happen in the Land across the Sea when he goes to the Middle East as a crusader: will he be brave? Will he die? Will he ever make it home?, will his horse be okay?

I have the Folio Society version of the series and I heartily recommend it as a gift for a young person. Folio production values are second-to-none and this trilogy is a prime example of a book done well. The books are hardback and the endpapers have a map of the area Arthur lives in at one end and a detailed plan of the manor on which he lives at the other. These are drawn is a simple way and could be the work of a good child artist, so they will appeal to children. The book has 101 chapters but they are all very short, some only one page, so the book is not an intimidating read as it can be read as a series of short stories. The book is punctuated frequently by monochrome and colour illustrations, which really add to the enjoyment of the book. There is also a list of the quite extensive cast of characters and a list of words that reference the Medieval period; these really help.

Children who are not into fantasy, magic, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, et al, may not like this series but for the rest they will love it once they get used to the old fashioned themes of some of the stories about the KOTRT, some of which seem strange to our eyes. They will certainly enjoy our Arthur and his own quest for answers about life, which they will relate to.

Strongly recommended.
...more

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Nov 02, 2014 Stephen rated it really liked it

Shelves: literature

I quite enjoyed reading this book. My copy is the Folio Society edition, which doesn't appear on Goodreads. The story is a nice tale that is easy to read - just what I want from a bedtime book. It carries on the story from the first part of the trilogy. Arthur is now preparing for his crusade. He has doubts about his origins and wants some form of finality, whilst also preparing for his future.

This resonates with Arthur-in-the-stone, who is starting to make a mess of his reign. That is a diffic ...more

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Feb 13, 2010 Challis rated it liked it

Shelves: ya-fantasy

This wasn't as good as the first one. This had a lot more about Arthur-in-the-stone, who we can no longer relate to. Much of the stories in the stone are not useful to the book and only add confusion and disgust to an otherwise charming and sweet tale. I grew weary of the tales of knights killing each other gruesomely and some weird honor code which I couldn't understand and a bunch of men who couldn't be faithful around a beautiful woman. Ugh. The end of the last book led us right into Arthur p ...more

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Apr 20, 2015 Nilsson added it · review of another edition

I read this book out loud because my mother once told me stories seem different when you read them that way. I had to do it far away in the boat though, lest I should sound like a fool in front of my brothers. To my embarrassment, it's when I first discovered that voices carry across the water clear as a bell. I wonder if the fish enjoyed this story? ...more

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Jun 28, 2017 Rosemary Atwell rated it liked it

A fabulous blend of real and imagined characters invites intriguing comparison between young Arthur de Caldicot and his namesake, the once and future king. Once again, the storytelling and attention to detail are masterly and I was absolutely thrilled to discover Marie de France among the list of characters.

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Jun 03, 2011 Valerie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This was the 2nd book of the trilogy. It was somewhat labrious reading. The customs and ideas of medieval England saved it. Was ok but not as well done as the first book.

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Sep 25, 2018 Flynn rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

So I was walking around my school library, like us teenagers always have to do when we can’t buy books off of Amazon with our parents’ diminishing general budget and, if the book has anything to do with a personal interest, against the will of our siblings and their constant desire for a lot of us to live like a normal person for just one minute so they can finally gain even a speck of popularity at their school, and I came across this cool-looking book called Arthur: The Seeing Stone, and I tho So I was walking around my school library, like us teenagers always have to do when we can’t buy books off of Amazon with our parents’ diminishing general budget and, if the book has anything to do with a personal interest, against the will of our siblings and their constant desire for a lot of us to live like a normal person for just one minute so they can finally gain even a speck of popularity at their school, and I came across this cool-looking book called Arthur: The Seeing Stone, and I thought to myself “well, alright, this looks like a cool book, how about I check this puppy out and see if I’ll get any enjoyment out of it, like a lot of things that I used to enjoy doing in life?” So I checked it out from my library, most obviously, and started reading it, and let’s just say that once I was done with the book, I gained the mentality that the book was a straight banger, my dude or dudette. The characters are well-constructed, the plot is a perfect balance between original material and the same old King Arthur story that us humans have been telling for centuries, and a world that isn’t just the usual samey medieval world with wizards and fairies and whatever else fantasy books have nowadays. Seeing this, my Language Arts teacher (who is one of the dopest people I’ve ever met, b-t-dubs) bought me the sequel, and when I came into class one day, there it was, sitting on a table, waiting for me to start reading it. And while I read an entire different book, Jacky Ha-Ha (which is just as excellent as Arthur: The Seeing Stone, actually, go check it out), before I got to touch At The Crossing-Places, I must say that the book is just as astoundingly well-made as the first book and is just as, if not, MUCH better than the first book in the series.

The basic plot of the book is that Arthur, who is a young boy and not the king of England (probably should have mentioned that earlier, but whatever), has gone into service with his uncle Lord Stephen, and they both plan on taking the Cross and reclaiming Jerusalem, like every other knight at this point in history, and while Arthur has to prepare to take the Cross with hundreds of other knights, he also has to deal with all the struggles and problems that go on at his new home, the castle of Holt. Now, if that doesn’t sound like a plot you can learn anything from, well, I’m here to assure you can learn from a plot like this, with one thing you can learn being to be flexible and accept where life is taking you no matter how strange it gets, because even though tons of things happen in the area where Arthur is living that he doesn’t expect, he accepts that life doesn’t always have a direction and you just have to go along with whatever happens. The book has themes like, say, misdirection when it comes to a story that plays out in Arthur’s magical seeing stone depicting a boy on his way to be knighted by King Arthur that ends up in the house of a woman wearing white who he annoys with claims like his mother telling him that the woman wearing white would allow the boy to kiss her, and, oh, I don’t know, moral dilemmas in terms of another story that plays out in Arthur’s magical seeing stone that depicts a woman that wants her husband killed when she enters the property of a young man who allows the couple to stay at his establishment, yet saves him after he is badly wounded by a couple of knights she tells the host to send on him. Oh, did I not mention that there or may or may not be spoilers at the beginning of the review? (If I did, that’s because I didn’t think I would have to go into detail about scenes in the book, but now that I have done it, I’m sorry.) Anyways, to end this paragraph, some examples of representation in the book include the monks that Arthur and his reading teacher, Oliver, visit at one point in the book, who are not allowed to talk to either of them and whose priorities are made placed on their work by their overseers, representative of employees of all kinds of companies who are only allowed to work and not communicate their thoughts to their overseers or their partners in order for the company to get one of their products onto the market as quickly as possible to make it a bigger deal than other products, and the story about the husband and the wife I had mentioned earlier, representative of the indecisiveness that often goes in relationships when it comes to decisions that will affect them either for a short period of time or long-term.

As with the first book, the things I like about the book are its well-constructed and interesting characters, the plot being an incredible balance between an original fantasy story and another re-telling of King Arthur, and a world that is so much different from other fantasy books set in a medieval world with how realistic and down-to-earth it is. However, some things I like about this one that were actually improved upon from the first book are how the world has expanded so much from The Seeing Stone and how we get to know the characters in much more detail than we got to know them in the first book and just how much depth went into these characters that had so little to them in the first book, and the fact that there are now small illustrations to break up all the words written on page, as opposed to the first book, which often got boring with how much text the author threw at you and expected you to be constantly interested by no matter how long the chapters dragged on for. Some things I did not like about the book were the romance between Arthur and a girl named Winnie, which felt kind of unnecessary in the grand scheme of things and doesn’t really add anything to the book besides being compensation for Arthur’s romance with another girl in the previous book who turned out to be his half-sister, there being more of a focus on the new set of characters introduced in the book rather than there being a balance between how much time the characters in one domain of England got to develop and how much the characters in another domain of England got to develop as characters, and the replacement in roles of previous characters with new characters for seemingly no reason other than to remind us that Arthur must live in a new castle. And yes, I do realize relationships being added into books for seemingly no reason will always be a consistent trope, but in a serious coming-of-age story like this where the main character must prepare to participate in a serious event, a romance really isn’t that necessary of a thing to add. Some personal applications I can find in the book are how Arthur gets lost in the world of his seeing stone, just like I how so easily get lost in the world of a video game or anime that I am watching / playing, and how Arthur still cares so much about the people he lived with at his previous castle, yet rarely gets to see them, just like how I have a cousin and grandfather I care about deeply that I don’t often get to see and visit with in person.

I believe that both fans of fantasy books and down-to-earth books where the characters chill out and talk with each other, as the medieval world and knight conflicts are enough to make a fantasy fan interested in it, and all the downtime between preparation for taking the Cross in Jerusalem where characters hang out with each other and talk about recent events is enough to make a fan of those types of books interested in it. However, I also believe that fans of the usual types of fantasy books with frequent use of magic and anthropomorphic animals will not enjoy the book, since animals are portrayed like they are in the real world and there is barely any use of magic powers like stopping time or freezing someone or whatever kind of magical powers there are in fantasy books now. Anyways, I have a friend at school who has recently been reading The First Swords, a book that focuses heavily on its medieval setting and balance of swordplay and downtime for the characters to talk about how they will enact a surprise attack or how they plan to take on dozens of enemies, and I think he would like this book for the balance of exciting swordplay and enjoyable downtime for the characters to talk about things that have been going on around them or to tell stories focusing on men and women going on adventures or meeting inhuman beings who help them in life. Overall, I think Arthur: At The Crossing-Places is not only a fantastic book, but a fantastic sequel that makes this pre-established world more compelling and the characters more full of depth, and I give it a four out of five stars due to the harmful factors I listed in Paragraph 3 of this review. ...more

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Mar 16, 2012 Kristel rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-young-adult, fantasy, 2006, 2012

This book is certainly not as good as the first - it focusses much more heavily on Arthur-in-the-stone and the knights of the round table, but it's much harder to see how Arthur's life lines up with Arthur-in-the-stone's life. The stories about the knights just read like quick re-treads of stories we know from Arthurian legend, but there's little to be learned from them. (Essentially Arthur sees the knights promising to be one thing and then behaving exactly the opposite, but I'm not even sure t ...more

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Apr 27, 2011 Laurie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult-literature

I especially like the way this author has a list of characters at the front of the book, so you can refresh your memory of who is who.

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Apr 17, 2020 Bridget rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I didn’t feel like the two halves of this book married as well as they did in the first instalment of this trilogy, The Seeing Stone, but I still really enjoyed this. The narrative flips between Arthur, a medieval squire getting ready to go on crusade, and Arthurian legend viewed through his seeing stone.

In the first book the two narratives work really well together as both Arthurs discover hidden pasts and go through their own ‘becomings’, but I didn’t feel that same thread here. It made it fe ...more

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Jan 26, 2021 Len Hayter rated it liked it · review of another edition

If only I could have been twelve or thirteen again, and prepared to be mesmerised by the tales of King Arthur and the Round Table, I would have enjoyed this so much more than I did. The action adventures in the story are those of King Arthur, Sir Gawain and his Green Knight, Sir Pellinore and the Yelping Beast and, oh, I was so hoping the author would slip in the Knights Who Say Ni or a Killer Rabbit just for the fun of it; perhaps copyright, or common sense, got in the way. Young Arthur de Cald ...more

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Jun 03, 2020 Stephanie Fachiol rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The strength in this narrative lies in Arthur's strong (and sometimes poetic) voice, and the details built into the setting. I also love the subtle characterization, such as how Guinevere's insistence on knighting a youth who later gets grievously wounded is setup for her reaction to Lancelot's declaration that he'd rather die with honor than live meaninglessly. This is a strongly atmospheric work, and it's easy to get engrossed within it.

However, the plot is more meandering than the previous; i ...more

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Apr 18, 2020 Luke rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I see to have had quite the 'reverse' reading experience considering the 2nd book in the Arthur Trilogy. When I read some other Goodread reviews the lion's share of people seemed to enjoy the first book better than the second whereas for me it was definately the other way arround. Although, I loved the characterbuilding, scene descriptions and composition of 'The Seeing Stone', this is all to be found in 'At the Crossing Places' plus a wonderful stortyline that was much better structured and mor ...more

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Jul 22, 2017 Vivian rated it really liked it

Shelves: novels, ya

In which we follow young Arthur as he realizes his dream of becoming a squire, in which his future promises much more than he could ever have imagined, in which he observes more tales of the legendary Arthur and his knights in his Seeing Stone, in which he is confused in love and life-long held beliefs, and in which he prepares to participate in a Crusade. Three cheers for the author's grasp of the middle ages and ability to spin a tale and creating this marvelous character. Oh, and Arthur loses ...more

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Feb 17, 2018 Lindsey Rojem rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018-52-book-club, gave-away

I read this for the "A Book With A Green Spine" part of my 2018 reading challenge. I feel it was more of a 2.5 than a 3, it was ok but I wasn't in love with it. I ended up with way more questions than answers. Maybe if I read more of the series I would like it more, but it didn't make me desperate to pick them up. ...more

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Oct 16, 2019 Talie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

This series is historical in nature giving great view into what life might have been like at that time after King Arthur reigned, and war was done in armor with swords. The highest goal was spiritual absolution. Great parallelism to the King Arthur story and nicely woven through the use of a seeing stone and Merlin.

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Sep 12, 2020 Bat rated it liked it

Arthur's first person narrative continues to be vivid and appealing, but the stories in the stone became boring, bitty, and not obviously relevant. This book did not make much progress with the main plot of Arthur's origins and destiny, and seems clearly weaker than the first book. I had some trouble getting to the end. ...more

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Apr 25, 2018 Orchard Academy rated it liked it

I loved this book very much because it transported me another world, a fantasy world. It made me imagine what life was like in the 1200s. I would recommend it to my mates, in fact I already have!
By Etienne

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Jun 14, 2018 Jsrott rated it really liked it

An appreciated continuation of the story of Arthur de Caldicot and his adventures in becoming a squire and learning his true heritage, all while continuing to watch the story of King Arthur and learning the life lessons it gives him. Very enjoyable and very well written.

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Nov 16, 2019 Chelsea rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: middle-ages-historical-fiction, western-europe, young-adult-fiction, folklore-and-fairy-tales, library-reads

This second installment in Crossley-Holland's Arthur trilogy was absolutely superb. It was incredibly well researched, and I enjoyed the juxtaposition of teenaged Arthur of Caldicot's life with that of King Arthhur and his knights of the round table. I could better understand the choice of dual storytelling in this novel than the first. I definitely recommend it for anyone interested in realistic medieval period fiction, keeping in mind that it is Middle Grade level so it is more simple in style ...more

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Dec 27, 2018 Jillian Fox rated it really liked it

A very clever, original, and magical interpretation of Arthur and the roots of Arthurian legend. Plays with the idea of building a mythology and how such mythologies come about!

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Feb 13, 2019 Tressa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, fantasy, young-adult

I liked the mix of Arthurian stories and young Arthur’s adventures in At the Crossing Places. The narration by Michael Maloney was wonderful. I’m curious to find out what happens next.

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Aug 18, 2019 Ashley rated it liked it

Read this book last year, Loved it!

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Oct 11, 2019 Nathaniel added it

This was a good book to read because its action pact. This is was an interesting book for poeple who like action.

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Feb 09, 2021 Mil rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-serbian, mythology-fiction

6/10

I remember it being a bit confusing for my 10 year old self, but I really enjoyed the story.

It’s been a dozen years now since I read it and I’m thinking of rereading the trilogy.

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Mar 16, 2017 Lisa rated it liked it · review of another edition

I liked this book, I didn't love it. It is fairly slow paced, but for some reason I don't mind. Not a book I would read more than once though. ...more

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Jul 31, 2014 Charles rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, relationship, children-s-literature, fantasy

The Arthurian legends have always fascinated me, both as a child and as an adult. So Crossley-Holland had a wealth of material to deal with, and to synchronize the legends of King Arthur with those of young Arthur de Caldicot was no small undertaking.

The original concept behind Crossley-Holland's trilogy was commendable, with the aspect of the seeing stone serving to masterly integrate and contrast those two versions of medieval life. You do feel that certain elements are well-researched, such a The Arthurian legends have always fascinated me, both as a child and as an adult. So Crossley-Holland had a wealth of material to deal with, and to synchronize the legends of King Arthur with those of young Arthur de Caldicot was no small undertaking.

The original concept behind Crossley-Holland's trilogy was commendable, with the aspect of the seeing stone serving to masterly integrate and contrast those two versions of medieval life. You do feel that certain elements are well-researched, such as when Arthur celebrates Easter at Holt. However, I do agree with one reviewer who has commented how the book still manages to feel so 'slight' overall, despite its attempt to achieve historical accuracy. Some of the legends that are included feel like an amateurish summary rather than a concrete attempt to portray any similarities to the main story-line, like that of 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'. Another reviewer here on Goodreads has also commented how "it's much harder to see how Arthur's life (or any of the other knights for that matter) lines up with Arthur-in-the-stone's life", which is really the book's main objective for its target audience.

On the other hand, I do not think that the general reader finds nothing to relate to with young Arthur. We have all been at that point between crossing-places in our lives, one of the most life-shaping events of our childhood. One must remember that the trilogy is also a bildungsroman, which sees Arthur from his days as a carefree child and his days as squire to Lord Stephen, and who becomes, eventually, a knight. As regards to the legends being despicable, in the sense that they depict a flirtatious Guinevere or blood-thirsty knights, I do not believe that it is fair to criticize Crossley-Holland for that either. In 'The Sunday Times', Nicolette Jones did notice that "thoughtful children will also relish its suggestiveness." This extends to young Arthur's life as well, as it is mentioned how Haket the priest blackmailed Rowena into giving him certain favours in exchange for keeping her confession a secret.

Most reviewers have found that "the parts of the real Arthur and his 'coming-of-age', his innocence and maturity, his moral righteousness and even his blunders are what make these books endearing." I do agree with this observation, as when the story switches to the world of the stone there are very few attempts to establish any links. The story which tells of how Sir Lanval was loved by a fairy woman but was obliged to keep her affections a secret and in which Guinevere had tried to seduce him, is based on a short story written in the twelfth century by a certain Marie de France. So it is apparent that Crossley-Holland has tried to include as much material as possible. However, that is exactly the book's main fault, as it hinders the book's quest for relevancy. Nowadays, it is very easy to find a good summary of these tales, such as on http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthuria.... So Crossley-Holland should have spent more time better integrating the stories rather than offering just a decent summary.

That is not to say that 'Arthur at the Crossing-Places' is a substandard book. The more I read, the more I became engrossed in its charm. I also enjoyed the short poems at certain points throughout the book, with the maps being a nice addition to the book as well. Crossley-Holland did not maximize the book's potential, but he did write a "compulsively readable" (Lyn Gardner in 'The Guardian') book nonetheless. ...more

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About Kevin Crossley-Holland

Kevin Crossley-Holland

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Kevin Crossley-Holland is a well-known poet and prize-winning author for children. His books include Waterslain Angels, a detective story set in north Norfolk in 1955, and Moored Man: A Cycle of North Norfolk Poems; Gatty's Tale, a medieval pilgrimage novel; and the Arthur trilogy (The Seeing Stone, At the Crossing-Places and King of the Middle March), which combines historical fiction with the re ...more