The King at the Edge of the World by Arthur Phillips

Needless to say, a few elements such as the dialogue have been modernized for the reader’s convenience, and I have absolutely no problems with that. ― Arthur Phillips, The King at the Edge of the World History is written by the future, and therefore distorted at its start. Personally, I found The King at the Edge of the World to have excelled in terms of realism, and in more ways than one. After all, if an author begins to subvert history as they please, we, the readers, are left with little to no rules according to which we can understand the world, the characters, what’s possible and what’s at stake. There are many possible approaches an author can take to writing a historical drama, but personally I feel there always needs to be a good dose of reality to it for the plot to be engaging and believable. Wealth of Historical Context in The King at the Edge of the World He is willing to do anything to return home to his family, and this makes him Geoffrey’s most valuable asset in the quest for a truth which might forever remain uncertain. As it happens, he finds the perfect man to help him do the job, a complete outsider in Mahmoud Ezzedine, a Muslim physician who stayed behind after the Ottoman Empire’s previous visit. Ultimately, the question arises: what does King James VI actually believe? The mission falls into the hands of one Geoffrey Belloc, a veteran warrior from England’s religious battles, and he begins to concoct a plan to discover the true nature behind England’s next potential monarch. Though he claims to be a Protestant, he may secretly be a Catholic, and thus threatening to resume the religious wars. The leading candidate, so to speak, happens to be King James VI of Scotland, only some questions are circulating as to his true religious beliefs and intentions. Nevertheless, her potential successors begin to line up one by one in the shadows, eager for their opportunity to try and seize the reigns of power.

The story begins by taking us to the year 1601, a turbulent time when Queen Elizabeth I is clearly dying, even though it is forbidden to even think of a life without her. People’s traditional ambitions, lust for power and hatred for difference never went away, and even the charming renaissance had its fair of death and plotting, as we’re about to see in The King at the Edge of the World by Arthur Phillips. However, as is often the case in history, our knowledge of the period has been curated over time to be more surface-level, and consequently, erroneous. We often picture the Renaissance historical period as being characterized by its grace and elegance, the opulent sense of fashion, and of course, all the artistic achievements it gave birth to.

Arthur Phillips Displays the Crown of Uncertainty