Not Quite King Arthur
For King and Country by Robert Asprin and Linda Evans
What happens when three modern U.K. inhabitants get stranded in Arthurian times with each inhabiting the body of a well known figure in that time? With Robert Asprin contributing fantasy and Linda Evans bringing historical accuracy, you get For King and Country, another out-of-time experience that has been done countless times since Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee.
For King and Country offers none of the simple and Earth-changing devices found in Peter David's Knight Life series that brings Arthur into modern times. Instead, Asprin and Evans cast an SAS captain and two members of rival factions intent on bringing about their own vision of Ireland into a point in history where their actions could actually change the current time line.
Asprin and Evans have collaborated before on the Time Scout series of books and write well together, but the typical Asprin light fantasy reader is in for plenty of surprises.
Great History, Bad Science
The best element in For King and Country is the sixth century setting. Many of the standard Arthurian elements are there, but cloaked in different names or present with reduced emphasis. There is a Guinevere-like character, as well as druid magic, but the Knights of the Round Table don't exist yet, and Arthur is the war-weary Dux Bellorum (or "warlord", "Duke" or "leader" depending on which resource you reference) who is responsible for uniting the various kingdoms against a series of vicious battles.
The solid and interesting historical settings are offset by the nonsensical science that allows time travel and the possession of a body by someone else. The premise is an accepted form of fantasy fiction, but in setting the science in a modern day world, Asprin and Evans ask too much of the reader. Accepting that time travel is even a secret project being worked on in Europe is difficult enough. That the project actually works and results in dual possession of a body pushes the limits of credibility. The authors even return to the project at the book's somewhat surprising end to seemingly lend more credence to this unnecessarily detailed plot device.
The Plot In Exactly One Hundred Words
Trevor Sterling is an SAS officer scarred by an especially bloody battle. He is sent almost immediately to a secret lab in Scotland where he believes a female IRA sympathizer is about to sabotage a time travel project. Sterling, the woman and a third person activate the project and are cast back in time so that they share bodies with sixth century figures fighting in the round robin battles throughout what is now the U.K. Sterling and his knight-like character continue to chase the woman, not knowing the real enemy who wants to change the time line is someone else.
What Works Well
The book's gritty, bloody beginning is the literary equivalent of the opening of Saving Private Ryan. Explosions and gunfire rip through the pages, hammering the reader with carnage that at the very least humanizes the struggles in Ireland regardless of their own knowledge or involvement.
The book's main setting fifteen hundred years ago is marvelous. I am not enough of a student of that period in history to know if the events and settings are accurate, but they feel real, which is good enough for me. Asprin and Evans avoid having the main character's completely overshadow their historic counterparts to allow even more historical perspective to seep into the story.
Finally, the ending in both timelines is especially bittersweet, which is something I didn't expect, especially from Asprin. The ending was certainly a relief from the cozy "everyone lived happily after", vicious "burn everything down" or other anticlimactic endings that sometimes mar an epic novel.
What Doesn't Work As Well
Besides the silly time travel project's existence at all, I had a lot of trouble with the easy way that the modern characters slid into their historical counterparts. There was almost no struggle for control between the two "essences". Even more striking was the absolute ease with which the modern characters acclimate to life centuries before their own time. The expected culture shock never materializes.
A great example of what characters can expect is in Harry Turtledove and Judith Tarr's Household Gods. There, the main character struggles with sanitation, family and food. Asprin and Evans write about no such struggles here. Their characters instead flit back, and with a few moments of acclimation, less time than it takes people to mitigate jet lag, are working within society.
Two other characteristics seemed a bit off - pacing and the number of characters. For King and Country has a tendency to plod along in places, especially after the rapid-fire opening scenes. Meanwhile, the number of major characters are reminiscent of the ensemble groups Kim Stanley Robinson chokes his novels with.
The Bottom Line, Dog Earred Pages and All
This is an average historical fantasy. The settings are well done and belong in a better book, but ultimately the plot holes, pacing and excessive number of characters make For King and Country a muddy adventure.
Five Things To Remember From This Review
1. Asprin and Evans have collaborated before.
2. There is almost none of Asprin's light fantasy touch here.
3. The historical settings are very well done...
4. ..but the science is silly and given too much attention.
5. Despite the complicated plot and some huge mechanical issues, the ending is well done.
