This is just wonderful - sad and touching and hopeful all at once. The part where Arthur spends time with the geese, and also his quiet wait through the night staring down at his kingdom are both excellently done, but credit here also has to go to the illustrator. Trevor Stubley's drawings are fantastic, and are frequently as effective as the text - the double page of an ancient Arthur trying to hold back a rain of spears is just painfully good.

It's an odd mixture, this little book - a fitting end to the series I think, though it's been a long while since I read the first four books. It's quirky and funny and horrifying, it's tragic and sad and extremely referential both for historical and current events ("current" being at the time of writing, i.e. during WW2). And it manages to be all these things without coming over-strained, though I admit that Merlyn walks a very fine line here and I'm on the cusp of thinking that White has tried a little too hard with him. Still, overall it's well worth reading, and is certainly compulsively readable.