Arthur+the+Seeing+Stone

Arthur the Seeing Stone

Summary
My book "Arthur and the Seeing Stone" by Kevin Crossley-Holland is about a 13 year old boy named Arthur De Caldicott living in 1199 who lives on a manor with his father, Sir John (a knight, and owner of the manor) his mother Helen, his older brother Serle, his younger sister Sian, and the infant brother who dies early on in the book, Luke. There are also many other people who work on the manor like Arthurs friend Gatty, and Jankin, his father Lankin, Hum, Wat Harelip, Slim the chef, Johanna, Tanwen (who becomes pregnant from her relationship with Serle), Oliver, who is Arthurs teacher and is also priest, and of course Merlin the wizard. Arthur wants nothing more than to become a squire and then a knight. He is not very good at his yard skills though, like using swords and jousting because Arthur is left handed, and is considered improper to use ones left hand. One day Merlin gives Arthur an obsidian stone. Merlin tells Arthur that he cannot say anything to anyone else about the stone or else it will lose all of its power. So Arthur takes the obsidian stone to his reading room, which is the only place on the manor where he can be completely alone, nobody else knows about it. Arthur looks into the stone and he sees a story unfolding. A very complicated story, in which he sees himself in a parrallel universe. Everything that happens in the stone has some relation to what is actually going on in Arthur's life. A whole story ensues and Arthur continues to see himself in the stone and starts to make connections with the characters in the stone to the people in his life. At the end something very surprising happens as the two worlds merge.

Review
I enjoyed this book more than i expected to. It was very interesting and true to the middle ages. None of the characters are unrealistic and it is the best historical fiction book that i have read. I learned a lot from this book also. There was less forgiveness back then, for instance in the book someone is accused of stealing, and as punishment they have their right hand cut off. The book was a little bit graphic with the details of slaughtering the animals in some parts though. They described in detail how they caught the pig and then killed it, and made black pudding with its insides. This book taught me that everything is not always how it appears. The Seeing Stone is part of a trilogy, and i will probably read the other two books.