The Hallowed: A Unique Start to Arthur’s Tale!

I’ve been looking forward to The Hallowed by author L. Marrick for a long time. It’s considered Arthurian fiction, but takes place during the early years of the Fifth Century near the end of the Roman Empire. This had me intrigued. After all, the legends of Arthur place him at the end of the Fifth Century or beginning of the Sixth Century, so I wondered how the author was going to pull all this together. Suffice to say, she does—and does it well—creating a unique prequel to King Arthur’s tale.

The Hallowed is set during the siege of Arelate (now Arles in France’s Rhone Valley) in the year 411 A.D. Holed up in the city is the Roman co-emperor Constantine III and his army of Goths and Franks, while the army of his besieger and former general Gerontius waits outside. Meanwhile, supplies are running short within the walls, and religious strife between the Arians and Catholics threatens whatever peace remains in Arelate. Given this set up, it’s not immediately clear how this book concerns the destiny of King Arthur until we’re introduced to Constantine’s nephew, Julian, a seventeen-year-old prince who has strange dreams about his British homeland and a spirit who is haunting him—a sorcerer named Merlin.

It’s soon revealed that Julian is “Hallowed,” meaning he possesses ancient druidic powers that allow him to open doorways between this world and the Otherworld. Merlin is one of the spirits pulled through this doorway—and it’s a doorway that goes both ways—leading to a number of dream scenes where Julian’s spirit stands alongside Merlin during another siege involving a young prince Arthur and the hostile King Lot.

The Merlin of The Hallowed is nothing like this ancient chap!

Roman ruins in Arles*

The various connections between Julian and Merlin, as well as early Fifth Century Rome and late Fifth Century Britain, are not fully revealed until the novel’s end. While a few parts were predictable, much of the ending was not, and it turned out to be more spiritual and thought-provoking than I expected. In all, The Hallowed is a well-written and well-crafted tale, with ample drama, lots of tension, and many tender moments between its characters in between. I have no idea where the next novel in this series will go, but I’ll definitely be along for the ride!

Lastly, for those who want to read more about Constantine III, author L. Marrick is offering a series called Usurper (a name by which Constantine was known) for free on her website lmarrickfiction.com. You can read it here.

* Photo courtesy of Craig Patik, Creative Commons attribution