This brilliant reconception of the Arthurian epic cuts through the familiar myths and tells the story of the real King Arthur: Artos the Bear, the mighty warrior-king who saved the last lights of Western civilization when the barbarian darkness descended in the fifth century. Artos here comes alive: bold and forceful in battle, warm and generous in friendship, tough in politics, shrewd in the strategy of war-and tender and tragically tormented in love. Out of the interweaving of ancient legend, fresh research, soaring imagination, and hypnotic narrative skill comes a novel that has richly earned its reputation as a classic.