I am a big fan of the tales of King Arthur, so when I stumbled across a listing for Joan Upton Hall's Arturo el Rey, a tale of a man who may be King Arthur himself returned to life, I had to read it.

Based in a futuristic America that has been devastated by plague and turned into something similar to scenes in the Mad Max movies, Arturo el Rey tells the story of the man who would be king and his lady, Shanna.

Art Coulter Reyes has seen a lot during his stint in the Marines, but nothing prepared him for the arrival of the plague that causes people to literally melt in front of your eyes into a pool of blood. What was worse than the plague was the horror of trying to eek out an existence in the world post-plague.

With water and food sources contaminated, wild animals lurking around every corner, and gangs of survivors all vying for food, America has turned into the modern Wild West. Art's gang, the Knights, tries to be a civil as possible but every encounter is a fight for their lives. Art knows someone has to bring the people left together so they can all lead a better life, but who could do such a thing? It seems an impossibility.

Hearing of a community where food is plentiful and the people are peaceful, Art leads his gang to the lands of Richard Cranston. While trying to find a way to get a closer look at the community, the Knights stumble upon a beautiful girl and one of Art's men decides he's going to take her as his prize. Art knows Blade has gone too far and the girl must be rescued or they lose their chance of being welcomed into the community. So the only thing Art can do is fight one of his own men to save the girl's life.

Shanna Cranston remembers little of the days of the plague except walking and walking with her father Richard to the farming community she now calls home, Cranston's Compound. The woman Nancy has taken the place of her lost mother and the other inhabitants of the compound have become an extended family.

She's heard from visitors how horrible the outside world is, how people fight over food or just fight to fight, and she knows she should be grateful for the bounty she has and her safety, but it is so boring! What she wouldn't give for a little excitement or adventure now and then.

With her father busy planting crops and overseeing the actions of the compounders, Shanna decides to go on her own little adventure. Jumping the bottomless crevasse that she and her friends had found, she enters the far reaches of the compound land and tastes the freedom of running against the wind in the open air.

Her guard down, Shanna does not hear the group of marauders approach until it is too late. Held by a huge man with a knife, Shanna pleads with the man they call Art to rescue her. He's their leader, but she knows marauders don't care for anyone but their own…yet he's her only chance.

Will this chance meeting turn into a budding romance? Will Art pull his people together and become the man he was destined to be – Arturo el Rey? Will he and Shanna rule together as King and Queen? Well, you'll have to read Ms. Upton Hall's book to find out.

I wish I could say I enjoyed Arturo el Rey, but on the whole I did not. Ms. Upton Hall has a tremendous wealth of ideas presented in the story but it all lacks cohesiveness. This book could have easily been broken into two or even three books and we would have all been better for it. As one single volume you are rushed through the story and end up with the feeling that even though you've read it all, it is still unfinished.

Despite my unhappiness with the storyline, I was glad to find that there were several enjoyable characters in this book. The problem was these characters were not the main characters. I would have loved to spend more time with Nilson and Roberta who are complex and fascinating, but unfortunately Ms. Upton Hall spends a lot of time on Art and Shanna who are shallow and come across as barely human at times.

Even with all of those shortcomings, I do have to recommend this book if you are a fan of post-apocalyptic stories. Ms. Upton Hall does have a scarily plausible future world scenario that is fascinating and while it can't make up for the lack of cohesiveness in the story or the poor main characters, it is still an interesting read. 
 
Reviewed By Sabine Maurier
© October 2007