Ghost King is David Gemmell reimagining the character King Arthur and incorporating his own element, the Stones of Power (called Sipstrassi).  Gemmell points out in the beginning of the book that many of the names and places he mentions did indeed exist but as a storyteller, he molded them to fit his story.

This is a great story about a weakling boy who was the son of a king.  It is about coming of age and what can be done to transform yourself with hard work and training.  All of the odds are against him and all of that hard work and training will be put to the test.  And what story based on King Arthur would be complete without love and trying to become king?

Ghost King is book one of a two part series of the Stones of Power with the second book being Last Sword of Power.  The Jon Shannow trilogy (Wolf in Shadow, The Last Guardian, and Bloodstone) are also Stones of Power books but are not tied into the other two except for the presence of Sipstrassi.  Naturally all are worth reading but I felt it necessary to point out which ones go together to those who are new to these books.

Here is the text from the back of the book:

Chaos and terror stalked the realm. The king had been slain by traitors, and the sword of power had been lost beyond the Circle of Mist. Armies of Saxons, Angles, Jutes, and Brigantes cut a gory swath across the land, led by puppets of the ruthless Witch Queen--whose minions included dark, bloodthirsty creatures and a savage, undead warrior.

All hope lay with young Thuro--in whose veins flowed the blood of kings. He would have to defeat the Witch Queen's monsters and travel to the land of the Mist, there to seek a ghostly army. And the only one who could prepare Thuro to achieve his birthright was the mountain warrior Culain, the one man who knew the queen's deadly secret . . .

The legend of the mystic Stones of Power begins with a tale of blood and glory, of love and betrayal, as a boy must come of age amidst the seemingly impossible quest to become the High King.