The Camelot Shadow

Got the ebook for free from the author, which was mighty nice. Thank you! (He is also absolutely hilarious. Read his Goodreads stuff, it's a joy.)

If you read books, especially nowadays and you are an alien who never saw real life you will assume only young people ever go on adventures. If they take an older person it is just so someone can die so the young hero can magically, quickly become the coolest, most powerful and knowledgeable one left.
Not here. Here we have older men having to find the sheath of Excalibur, which can heal the protagonist's wife, while multiple secret groups try to get there sooner, for various reasons.

The first thing I noticed about this one was the prose being so freaking smooth. It's like butter, I have no idea how it happened, but it's just so readable. Don't scoff, it is a big thing, especially in a book with an old-timey vocabulary and such. Also, it is something that many authors (not even always novices) fail at big time and it can really kill the momentum and the fun of reading. I mean in some way it's a bit sad that this is a big deal, because hey, books are meant to be read, but whatever.
Now I know I took a long time reading this, but it's not at all the book's fault, but freaking real life is getting in the way.

The whole Arthut-myth is not something that's super well-known here. Of course it is part of the universal European culture and all, we know about it, but the details are murky for the borderline Slavs, but that doesn't get in the way. It doesn't necessitate crazy in depth expertise in the stuff, which is how I prefer my books connecting to history. There are merits in the 100% history buff stuff, but it's not for me. So again, a win for this book.
(When I was younger the Sam Neill Merlin series freaked me out low key. They aired it on TV a lot here at some point, I don't even know why. But yeah, that, along with The Labyrinth and Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves probably left a mark on my soul big time. )

As I said before, this is a book of old dudes, which... again, I love. I have no idea what's going on with me and someone would probably tell me I'm crazy in some way, but I relate to old men a lot. I'm neither, but older men are my absolute favourite protagonist stock. These ones are awesome, freaking great and fun. They are not always super wise, not always the Gandalf or Yoda. Nothing wrong with that at all, because people aren't necessarily super wise just because they are older. In this case you could actually see the young people who have grown old, not just old people who were born as old men. You know what I mean.

The story is good in itself, as a one book thing, but it can be more than that, longer and I want it to happen. I find it's different enough, I feel there is a need for this, a market for something like this. I want it to succeed. I want it to go on, because there is a lot of potential for telling us more about the world of it.
I would also recommend it to people around me. I will. It's an incredible pleasant read that just makes you feel good about things at the end of the day.

Have a nice day and read indies!