A fascinating take on an ageless legend, bringing Arthur brutally up to date, the Knights of the Round Table rewritten as a dark age Peaky Blinders.

"By Force Alone" by Lavie Tidhar is a bold and imaginative retelling of the Arthurian myth, set against the backdrop of contemporary political landscapes like Brexit and Trump's America. Tidhar, a World Fantasy Award-winner, has crafted a narrative that is as poetic as it is profane, breathing new life into the well-trodden tales of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really like the story of King Arthur and the Arthurian cycle.
This book was a big no for me.
A bit too much for my taste

Oof - there was a bit too much profanity for me 😬 definitely a different take on the Arthurian saga (not that I’ve read many/any tbh). Can’t say I enjoyed it but it was certainly an “experience”. Guinevere was pretty badass though!

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2021 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2021/02/2021-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

If you ever read the stories of the Knights of the Roundtable and thought they were perhaps a bit too chivalrous, a bit too self-sacrificing, a bit too romantic, a bit too good, you'll get none of that here. By Force Alone summarizes the motivation that drives many of the characters you're already familiar with, but what you know isn't what you'll read here. Merlin is power hungry, of course. Galahad, the purest of heart, runs a brothel! Because in real life, it's always what you least expect. We always read that the killer who lived next door was quiet and never bothered anyone. That's the way it is in By Force Alone. What if Arthur, Guevenere and the rest were all real human beings who acted just like real human beings act? The answer is this novel.

Lavie Tidhar has been on quite the roll, earning rave 5 out of 5 reviews from me his last three books. Unfortunately, his newest, By Force Alone, didn’t rise to the same level. No, I’m sorry to say I could only see my way to giving it 4.5 stars thanks to being merely “excellent” as opposed to “great.” Slacker.

By Force Alone is an Arthurian tale, though that is a bit deceptive. Camelot this ain’t (though the musical makes an appearance or two). Think of Malory filtered through a mash-up of John Boorman’s Excalibur co-directed/written by Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino. And with a whole lotta cameos and Easter eggs. It’s dark, vulgar, gritty, funny, thoughtful, profane, biting, densely referential, bloody, and makes more than a few sharp social criticisms.

The general conceit is of knighthood being a gang/mob-style operation, complete with drug-dealing, protection-rackets, prostitution, hit jobs, family bosses, gang wars, and young people trying to become “made men.” The novel opens pre-Arthur, with Uther, sort of a major/minor warlord taking advantage of the vacuum left by the departed Romans. We’re introduced to Uther when he deposes Vortigern (himself an usurper) from his throne, which Vortigern tells us he “had schemed for . . . killed for . . . it is his by force alone.” Which is exactly how Uther takes it from him, killing Vortigern before “wip [ing] the blade clean and tak [ing] his place on the throne.” Uther moves on to brutally consolidate and gain territory, “what’s his by right and force alone,” eventually helped by Merlin, who in Tidhar’s version is a fae creature who feeds off of power and its use. Merlin is the one who shapeshifts Uther into the semblance of Gorlois, King of Cornwall, so he can rape Gorlois’ queen, Igraine. This, as Tidhar tells us several times in the next few pages, “is how the boy’s conceived”: “The one who would be king. This how they tell the story . . . this is how a nation is born.”

The events soon pick up in Londinium, with fifteen-year-old Arthur running a small street gang and protection racket with his half-brother Kay. If you were thinking the brutal, bloody tone would shift with the arrival of the “once and future king,” Tidhar quickly disabuses you of that, with Arthur describing his foster father (to Kay no less) as:

A fat old ogre with bad teeth who smell of rot. His pisser’s riddled with the clap . . . He takes a cut from everything he can: the whores, the brick trade, grain, protection, the cutthroat gangs, the rub-and-tug emporium. Lord of Londinium he styles himself, but he is nothing more than a jumped-up rent boy who use to low fat merchants for his supper.

Arthur though has big plans in mind, and so we watch as he pulls off a major drug heist and then rises up from the streets to gang boss and eventually to Londinium’s boss, at which point he wages war against the other families, er, kings and knights. Soon all the other expected names are making appearances: Lancelot, Guinevere, Galahad, Gawain, Nimue, and others. They’re all here, if in somewhat unexpected form: Guinevere runs her own gang of lethal outlaws, Lancelot is a Nubian martial arts master trained by a Joseph of Arimethea who channels Erich Von Daniken, Nimue is a fae gunrunner, Gawain arrives via a detour through Roadside Picnic. And so it goes. Tidhar rounds up all the usual suspects and sets them to putting into play all the usual elements of Arthuriana: building Camelot, having an affair, gaining Excalibur, seeking the Grail, though similar to the characters themselves the events are more than a little warped from their usual form. Tidhar doesn’t simply twist the basic Arthurian plotline though; he adds his own brand of wild inventiveness: the fae, Fairyland, a decapitated head prophesying Arthur’s death, leprechauns, aliens performing a perpetual interrogation by killing and reanimating the human they’ve caught, and more.

Along the way, Tidhar drops in numerous references/allusions/inside jokes, of which I’m sure I caught only some of. There are the aforementioned Camelot and Roadside Picnic references. But also The Godfather, Bladerunner (one of my favorites), Beowulf, Trainspotting, Monty Python, Close Encounters (I think), Oppenheimer, Macbeth, zombie films, and for good measure a heaping amount of T.S. Eliot. Amongst others I’m sure. And who doesn’t like the frisson of recognition with a good allusion?

It’s all gritty, bloody, wild fun. But Tidhar isn’t interested in simply subverting the Matter of Britain by dirtying it up — that would be too simplistic and mundane for an author of his caliber. The title, which runs as a constant refrain throughout, calls out one of the major themes — not just the will to power but the way to power, which is almost always sordid, ugly, and bloody. Or as Tidhar tells us: “There is no magic to being a king. There’s no birthright but the one that is bought with blood.” Which leads to another theme — the way we refuse to face that, the way we paper it over, gild it, lay gauzy streamers of glory over it:

So he murdered the other man? This Vortigern? For power?
“It’s not like that, don’t you ever listen?”
He explains about Igraine, Uther’s love for her . . .
He raped her? . . .
“No, it wasn’t like that, it wasn’t”
They just don’t understand. He wants to convey . . . the glory of it all! The, the fucking chivalry! . . . They make him question everything, as though it’s all so awful . . . just a simple tale of violence and greed.

And if we don’t want to look at the reality, or are in need of rationalization, then it helps to have a convenient distraction or scapegoat. An Other. In the historic time period of By Force Alone, those are the Angles and Saxons, against whom Merlin and Arthur whip up a fierce xenophobia (it doesn’t take long for nationalism to rear its ugly head in this newly unified country):

• “Angles and Saxons, coming over here to fight and pillage and, and rape!”
• “Foreigners come. Angles and Saxons . . . They want our land. They want our wealth. They want our women and our fields and our mines.”
• “The Anglo-Saxon tribes.. With their guttural Anglisc . . . taking up land, making native-born babies . . They speak not the native tongues. They maintain their own strange customs.”

Impossible to read these exhortations and not hear their modern echoes, in Arthur’s England with Brexit or here in America. Or, as Tidhar explains in the afterward, in the way the Arthur story was repopularized in the Victorian era, tied directly to the imperialism/colonialism of the British Empire. Especially as Merlin later muses on how ridiculous the idea of ownership of land is, pointing out his lack of belief in his own bs, and how he’s merely exploiting the “regular” folks to propel his chosen one to power, all for his own hunger (literal for Merlin, metaphoric for others).

Tidhar highlights this brutal, soulless hypocrisy of those in power in the set up for the final battle between Mordred and Arthur, focusing far less time on the two main players than on the lowly grunts in a series of moving scenes as they prepare to march. The absurdity of xenophobia and nationalism is also made clear by a series of references to the future, as when Guinevere has a vision of how one day “all of this land will speak in Anglisc” or when Pellinore tells Merlin, “The Angles and Saxons are here to stay, dear Merlin. And so are we. In time they will forget they ever came here as invaders. They’ll tell this story and think it is about themselves.” An idea Tidhar carries into the afterward, when he points out the irony of how several of the greatest contributors to the Arthurian legends, the Matter of Britain, were not even English, such as Chretien de Troyes and Wolfram von Eschenback.

Wildly referential and inventive, crazily fun, topical, bleakly grim but with a hopeful rebuttal, By Force Alone continues the strong run that has made Tidhar one of my don’t-miss-a-book authors.

I'm a big fan of Arthuriana. I've read multiple takes on the myth and I've read a fair number of the original stories - Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wace, Chretien de Troyes, von Eschenbach.

The book was reasonably entertaining. It's sort of a mildly grimdark look at Arthur- what if he was raised in a London whorehouse and was essentially a gangster fighting for new territory? What if Lancelot was Jewish and knew kung fu? What if Guenivere was a bandit?

That was fun, sure. It just wasn't as original as perhaps the author thought it was? At least to me. It's pretty clear that most stories, legends, myths, are propaganda trying to promote a political point of view- that's part of the purpose that stories have always served. And the Arthur myth is no different than most. It was used to push the sovereignty of England, it was used to promote the chivalry culture, it was used to justify conquest. So reading about Arthur as just another strongarm trying to gain and hold all he could wasn't shocking or even surprising. The myth itself is plenty dark, what with Arthur having been conceived through rape and Arthur ordering the murder of all infants born within a certain time frame because of a prophecy, what with Elaine killing herself because Lancelot didn't love her. Tidhar has written about teaching a class on Arthuriana and how that introduced him to the story behind the story. But this particular story misses a lot of opportunities.

In this story Gawain isn't related to Agravain or any of the rest of his family. He's a scrapper in a land that's been infected by an alien energy given off by a comet, a little like Roadside Picnic. The grail/alien/comet thing was... different. It reminded me a lot of Vandermeer's Area X trilogy, where nothing is as it seems and nothing can even be understood.

But Gawain. Why waste him in the scrapper role and isolate him from his family? Lot's children are a huge opportunity if you're trying to write Arthur as a crime story. What about the old enmity between Lot and Arthur and how it was overcome? What about Gawain hating Lancelot because of the role that Lancelot played in Gawain's brother Gareth's death, which affected the outcome of the final battle between Arthur and Mordred? That's some serious grief, vengeance and bitterness right there- seems like it would fit right in with an Arthur/mafia story.

The love affair between Lancelot and Guenivere was wasted too. Lots of naming of characters and things that were superficially interesting, but that had no depth to them to make you care about what happened to the characters. In fact, we're probably supposed to find them pretty appalling. At the very end, the author suddenly tries to get all sentimental about knights going to their last battle, but up until then these very knights had been raping, pillaging, and just generally being horrible people, so sentimentality just wasn't what I felt about them.

It wasn't as dark as it thought it was, and didn't say anything about the story that isn't baked right in there. There are a lot of Arthur books out there and I don't think this one will stand the test of time. I'm still not sure how I feel about Tidhar as an author. Osama was a punch in the gut, but this one did not pull my heartstrings.

This was such a novel take on the Arthurian legend, complete with crime gangs and bosses, magic, shapeshifting and lots of swearing. The book is split into parts, each of which focuses on a different aspect of the legend, so we begin with Uther and Merlin and move on from there. I really enjoyed the tone of the narrative, which is wry and irreverent. The notion of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as a mob gang worked really well and felt more authentic than the romanticised version we have had before. I thought that Merlin was particularly interesting, as was Lancelot and I loved the portrayal of Guinevere as a warrior and gang leader. There is a lot of commentary about the acquisition of land and the nature of nationhood, which is fascinating and culturally relevant and overall, I really enjoyed this book.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is the funnest retelling of the Arthurian tale that I have ever come across. It felt like Guy Ritchie meets Monty Python in a good way. Also brownie points for noting that some Knights of the Round Table were brown and not English. It's King Arthur for our chaotic times.

All the characters were gorgeously unlikeable and Tidhar has created the least wet Guinevere in existence, I would love to be part of her gang.

I loved the segment that was observed by Cath Pulug and am ashamed that I have never come across this lovely mercat monster before.

Spin offs from this would be great. Finn Macool begs to be retold in this style.

An Arthurian retelling that is modern is every way except the setting. Starting with Uther Pendragon and a comet, Tidhar creates a clear eyed look at the beloved myths and the reality that the only difference between a king and a gangster is a crown. Peppered with allusions to popular culture ("I want to believe" says one character while looking wistfully at the sky; Quoth Guinevere "The game is the game") and yet more faithful to the era than most adaptions. A great gift for fans of King Arthur, or those who are looking for a great fantasy ride.

If you think of the movie Camelot when you think of King Arthur, this book may shake you up a bit. This Arthur is a low-level gangster who becomes the Godfather. It is a nasty, brutish retell that incorporates all the Arthurian legends into one saga of war and history. It is awesome.

This world is not won by men and women singing as they wander the picturesque castle. This is a tale of winning because they want it the most. Because they will do anything and betray anyone. Because they are willing to take it By Force Alone.

This is a pretty crazy retelling of the Arthurian cycle. All of our old friends are there, just not in the custom we're used to. The Knights of the Round Table are basically a street gang that seizes and consolidates power in a Dark Age, very diminished Britain, after the Romans have left and just as the Angles and Saxons are moving in. Guinevere leads a gang of highway(wo)men. Lancelot is a Judean ninja. Merlin is part fae/part human with the form of an adolescent boy. Galahad is decidedly un-pure. And so on.

No chivalry. No puissance. No courtly love. The primary motivation for Arthur, Merlin, Guinevere, et al, is power, with a side of wealth.

So a large part of the fun is seeing how Tidhar brings all of the characters onstage, and how she incorporates all of the strands of the story - Grail, Questing Beast, Lady of the Lake, etc.

Her language is sharp, the action moves right along, and the characters are just likeable enough for there to some emotional attachment and sadness as the saga rolls to its conclusion. Recommended.

A retelling of Arthurian legend for the 21st Century -- one that should go up there w/ Malory and T. H. White and Robert Lancelyn Green as a quintessential Arthur story. This one is more brutal, stranger, somehow both more true to reality and far weirder/magical. There's a great speculative twist on the Grail, while the reality of the scrapping English 'kings' is clarified into essentially being warring gangs/crime families.
I loved it, even as I knew how it would ultimately end (we all do, after all). You get power by force alone; the king is dead, long live Arthur-king.

In By Force Alone, Lavie Tidhar takes an ax to the Arthurian Legend and hacks it into pieces. Pieces that he then weaves into a bloody mess of gory awesome.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, I had the chance to read the book prior to its release on the 11th of August 2020. And let me tell you, it is not for the faint of heart. By Force Alone demands a lot from the reader, but what I think you need to do, above all, to go through this book is to keep an open mind.

It is a wild ride, a breathless read that, combined with Tidhar’s rhythmic writing, left me frustrated but wanting to know more. At points, it felt like a montage of the Arthurian Legend from a Guy Ritchie's movie. Uther is a bloodthirsty rapist, Arthur is an ambitious gutter rat, Merlin’s a power-addicted weasel, Guinevere is a bandit, Lancelot is a kungfu master. And at some point, when you add all the other characters, your head can’t help but throb.

By Force Alone generally follows the outline of the Arthurian Legend, but everything in between has been made ten times darker, violent, and bloody. The book is suitable for a specific type of readership that's not squeamish and likes a bit of gore and grime. It's admirable, pulling something like that off.

The ton of underdeveloped characters I could hardly care about and how plot-driven everything was made me reduce my final rating. But given how much I hate plot-driven stories, it was an exciting plot-driven story. The fact that so many of the characters shared the same characteristics, ambitions, and cravings drove the point home and painted a great picture of a dark, cut-throat reality.

I'd definitely recommend the book but to a specific sort of readership. If you're hoping to find a noble and romantic or an adventurous retelling of the Arthurian Legend, start digging your hopes a grave. This is a dark, a very dark and twisted spin of the story that's both absurd to hilarity and disturbing to the core.

By Force Alone is a retelling of King Arthur where he's a drug dealing brigand on the quest for power. I kept expecting pants dropped low and drive bys on every page, but there was only longswords and hose. This rambling tale was refreshing and delightful.

I seriously thought I had read every take there was to be had on the King Arthur legend. I'm drawn to it and lovingly devour every telling I find. This one utterly blew me away. It was totally unexpected. And I loved every single bit of it. While it still has fantasy elements, it thrusts a stark grittiness into the story that makes feel real and raw and more in line with what you might expect from men in power/as well as the other characters in the time and setting.

I particularly enjoyed this imagining of Merlin, though in fairness he is typically my favorite. I was also really struck by the Lancelot/Author/Guinevere dynamic. Guinevere was pretty awesome in her own right.

The writing itself also has a crispness to the style, in both the language and the rhythm of the sentences. The pace moves quickly, also adding to tone. It all plays together in a perfect orchestration to bring you a gripping retelling of a much love legend, like none you've read before.

This was not what I was expecting from a retelling of the Arthurian Legend. The story isn’t bad, I just could not get into it as much as I would have liked. This retelling is done like a mob movie with Arthur going from a street urchin to gang leader. The language is a bit more crude and Lancelot is a martial artist assassin/ treasure hunter. I did enjoy sassy Merlin and Guinevere as a highwaywoman leading a band of lady robbers. The Arthur in this story is the wonder of a brother, leader of thieves and a drug dealer. There is a lot of weird things happening in this and honestly I just can’t cover them all. My other hang up with this book is the treatment of women as either wrenches, whores, or seductresses (seriously, come on). This is definitely a unique reimagining if the Arthur Legend and I would say definitely give it a go. It just wasn’t for me though.

I wanted to like this book. It seemed like it was right up my alley. However, once I started reading I found it hard to continue because the characters are so unlikeable I didn't care what happened to them. So I can't say it was a pleasant reading.
The plot was slow, but what bothered me more were the characters. I don't mean I wanted morally good characters, just that they didn't give you a reason to care about them.

By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've been a fan of Tidhar for some time now, picking up book after book not even giving a peso for the contents, sure that I would be amazed and thrown into a thoughtful tailspin with whatever I encountered.

So what did I see?

An unapologetic retelling of the Arthurian Legend. :)

"Wait!" -- you say -- "Hasn't the Arthurian Legend been done like a million times?"

And I would say, "Yep! And I've read a ton of them, and THIS one not only builds on the twisty-strides of the others, but it subverts them all. Nastily."

Whoah. But how?

Keep in mind, this is a satire wrapped up in the plausible example of post-Roman occupied London full of thugs and jerks and all kinds of nasties wrapped up in their own legends and they're NOT the nice kinds of legends. Indeed, it reads like a whos-who of modern politics.

By Force Alone glorifies the truncheon.

Practically no one is particularly likable. Some may have redeeming qualities, but damn, the way things pan out, following all the standard events of the Arthurian Legend including all the magic and the inception and his death, this particular retelling is pretty damning. :)

Very enjoyable! A must-read for fans of the genre! (Or anyone that thinks that M. Z. Bradley's work was too tame.) :)