To some extent, this is pretty standard fantasy. The dark vs. the light, and let's throw in the grail to spice things up a bit, and hey, have some battles and a pretty lady. Hell. Let's have nine pretty ladies. And some sex. To spice up our hero, he can do magic and he has yellow eyes!On the other hand, there's something unique about this because it actually draws on a lot of medieval myth. Using Arthurian myth isn't all that startling, but I've never seen any of that which also draws on The Song of Roland and weaves the two together. I also detected a hint of Marie de France -- one of Charlemagne's companions is called "Milun".In terms of characters, Roland is interesting, and it's quite interesting to see how his arrogance and sureness from the original poem is a part of his character, while he's still also somewhat likeable. Merlin's involvement in his upbringing is interesting, too, and the way they come together in the end is genuinely touching.Most of the other characters are largely unremarkable. Sarissa is interesting in a way, and yet I didn't get particularly interested in her. Olivier and Turpin are fun, but minor.Not a mega-favourite, and I did actually stall with reading it a couple of times, but it's nice enough if you're interested in the fusion of medieval literature it represents.
