The Winter King
Bernard Cornwell 
Macmillan
These are the tales of the last days be­fore the great dark­ness de­scend­ed. These are the tales of the Lost Lands, the coun­try that was once ours but which our en­emies now call Eng­land. These are the tales of Arthur, the War­lord'; the King that Nev­er Was, the En­emy of God and, may the liv­ing Christ for­give me, the best man I ev­er knew. How I have wept for Arthur... Fifth cen­tu­ry Britain lies on the edge of dark­ness. Mem­ories of Ro­man civ­iliza­tion! are fad­ing; the pa­gan Gods are re­treat­ing be­fore the spread of Chris­tian­ity; the Sax­ons are snap­ping and snarling at the bor­ders. On­ly frag­ile bonds unite the un­ruly king­doms of Britain against the in­vaders, bonds ce­ment­ed by the vigour of the High King, Uther Pen­drag­on. But the Pen­drag­on is fail­ing, and his heir is no strong lead­er but a child, born on a bit­ter win­ter night.