Camelot: The Glowing Warrior

                                         

"It's never like the stories."

Writer: Tim Foley

Format: Audio

Released: February 2022

Series: The Lone Centurion 2.02

Featuring: Rory

Synopsis

Arise Sir Rory! Every new knight must embark upon a quest, and soon Sir Rory (and his noble squire Lancelot) head out to solve the mystery of the Glowing Knight and save a damsel in distress. But are they walking into a trap?

Verdict

The Glowing Warrior was a terrific story to continue the Camelot second series of The Lone Centurion! This was a really fun 64 minutes and exactly what I'd imagined a spinoff series with Rory as the lead character would be. It was fantastic comedy and it really built on what was started in The Once and Future Nurse. The idea of Rory being knighted is marvellous and having him here embarking on a quest was the perfect basis for a story. Lancelot eagerly joining him as his squire was superb and I thought his character was honestly sublime throughout. The relationship between him and Rory was outstanding and has been a real highlight of the series so far, and it was taken to some extremes here with the involvement of Lynn. Her being saved as the damsel in distress was terrific and her thoughts on Lancelot's feelings for Rory were very fun. She didn't hold back in playing on that and using it to her advantage, and it was clear that she was superior to the fun squire. Whether she had any position or status didn't matter, she oozed authority which was very good. The scenes where Lancelot and Beau got stuck in the big was so ridiculous and so good and I honestly don't think it was long enough. I was laughing to myself so much at what I was hearing as Lancelot was willing to die there for Rory as a noble sacrifice, whereas you could tell that Rory was holding in his true thoughts. He'd already given a lot of medical opinions after the Glowing Warrior emerged covered in phosphorus with links of lead around, and finding the fish floating and following the river to the source was very cleverly done. The Christmas setting was a nice addition and it provided a strong and poignant reminder for Rory of what he was doing and what this time of year was traditionally like amongst loved ones. His mentioning of a mission he was bequeathed to and Merlin overhearing as he wanted full and audible confirmation that Rory was the Lone Centurion guarding the Pandorica was brilliant, and given the revelation at the end we seem to have set up quite the finale between knight and magician! Merlin being the one to organise the entire charade quest seemed obvious once it was revealed, but the twist with Lynn actually being Beau's sister was very well done and she was quite apologetic at the end as she had to play along with her love Gareth imprisoned by her brother. The way the story was bookended by her telling the story as a Christmas tradition with Gareth to their family was really lovely, much better than Lancelot's gesture of providing a sock as a stocking! I thought the way Beau was diagnosed with lead poisoning was good and quick, but for me that was all that was required as that wasn't the most important element of the story. This was quirky, fun, fast and just a right old romp which I loved, whilst also setting us up for an epic finale! Overall, a really great listen.

Rating: 9/10