Book of
the Month: Black Horses for the King
By Vitora
Anne
McCaffrey, winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, is best known for the
series that details the adventures of the dragons of Pern as they battle the
fiery Thread in an attempt to save their delicate world—this being the Dragonriders of Pern series. But she is also known for a contribution to
the massive pool of books about the legendary King Arthur; though she “swore
that she would never write an Arthurian story”, McCaffrey eventually gave
in. In 1996, her love of horses drove
her to write the 217-page (Harcourt Brace hardback edition) novel Black Horses for the King, the tale of
young Galwyn and the black Libyan chargers who became mounts for the soon-to-be
King Arthur and his warriors.
McCaffrey’s
wide cast of characters are quite unlike those found in the traditional Arthurian
story—even she says so herself—and are a very interesting lot. Impulsive, land-bound Galwyn, the narrator of
the tale, is a clear and refreshing main character; he goes through the perfect
amount of development over the course of the novel while still retaining his original
humorous and spontaneous nature. Then
there is Lord Artos (later known as King Arthur), who, along with his band of kindly
but rough-around-the-edges knights, is patient and determined on his quest for
horses powerful enough to bear his heavy soldiers. Artos is a fatherly man, praising Galwyn for
the smallest things—a luxury the boy did not even dream of back on his wicked
uncle’s ship. There are other memorable characters,
too, such as old Canyd, whose catch phrase is “no hoof, no horse” and who can
call any horse to him with a single word; Iswy, the vengeful rider who lames
the Libyan horses out of spite and hatred for Galwyn; and Spadix, Galwyn’s
clever pony. Each character is easy to recall
when one reaches the end of the book—except, of course, for the fact that many
of the names are near unpronounceable!
Galwyn is
an orphan whose Uncle Gralior has forced into apprenticeship aboard his boat—he’s
an unwilling sailor with a knack for getting himself ridiculed. He “rebels at making a seaman”, and jumps at
the chance to go ashore when the great Lord Artos asks him to guide his men
around the port city. When Artos and his
men see the way Gralior treats his nephew, they are outraged and offer to take
the boy on several other horse-finding expeditions. Eventually, Galwyn makes his escape and joins
the party on their journey to purchase the fine horses of
Once they
have obtained the horses, their path winds to the stronghold of Camelot, where
Galwyn comes under the watchful eye of Canyd as the two labor hard to keep the
black steeds shod. Galwyn grows in body
and in mind and, in the last battle detailed in the book, gets revenge against
one of his greatest enemies.
I’ve never
liked King Arthur books, but this was an exception. I think that Anne McCaffrey’s approach of
steering away from Arthur himself and instead focusing on someone minor was
definitely the difference; Galwyn, as an ordinary person, is easier to relate
to than the legendary king of