I read “Sword of The Rightful King” believing it to be the story of King Arthur In a way, it is. It’s Jane Yolen’s version, and it’s good.
The story is focused on King Arthur, the King of Britain, and his wizard friend, Merlinnus. Arthur is worried that while he is king, the people do not fully accept him as one. Thus, Arthur and Merlinnus devise a plan to create a test, a test that would decide who the true King of Britain was. The test was that a stone would be found by a shepherd in a cave after one of his sheep ran away. Inside the stone, a sword would rest, and inscribed upon the stone in Greek would be the words; he who pulls the sword from this stone shall be recognized as the true king of Britain.

Yolen’s style moves like a stream down a hill. It flows smoothly and without stopping. The plot is clear and well focused, not drifting off course or hanging on the details. The characters are all well-rounded, and seem to be truly alive.

This is a great book, I deeply enjoyed reading it and, although I was confused because I didn’t realize it was alteration of the original King Arthur story, I still found it exciting and interesting.

This wonderful tale of knights and wizards feeds that part of us that lives in the world of “Once upon a time.”