The novel starts with an attack by Arthur and his war-band, and the escape of Gwyna, a servant girl. She is found by Myrddin, a bard who hopes to build Arthur's reputation as a great hero so that he can unite the native British against the Saxons who have occupied the east of the country. Myrddin tells Gwyna to give Arthur Caliburn while pretending to be the Lady of the Lake. When she does that successfully, Myrddin disguises her in boy's clothes so that she can travel with the war-band as his servant.

During her travels, she meets a boy who was brought up as a girl, tricks a holy man, swims in the Roman baths of Aquae Sulis, takes part in a battle, and witnesses Arthur's brutality, piety and immorality, all the while observing her master create the fantastic stories that have made 'King Arthur' one of the most famous men in legend. After Arthur's death she creates some stories herself, conceding that the legend is more important than the mere facts.

• Gwyna/Gwyn: the narrator, a servant girl who serves Myrddin and spends much of the book disguised as a boy
• Myrddin: her master, a Celtic bard, Arthur's adviser
• Arthur, nicknamed the Bear: the leader of a Romano-British war-band
• Gwenhwyfar: a relative of Ambrosius Aurelianus, later Arthur's wife, later likes Bedwyr
• Valerius: defender of Aquae Sulis, Gwenhwyfar's first husband
• Cei: Arthur's half-brother and a friend to Myrddin
• Bedwyr: Gwyn's friend, later Gwenhwyfar's lover, one of the best soldiers
• Medrawt: Bedwyr's older brother, a warrior
• Peredur: son of a famous warrior, raised as a girl by his widowed mother, later Gwyna's lover, childhood name Peri
• Saint Porroc: self-proclaimed holy man, leader of a group of worldly monks
• Maelwas of Dumnonia, overlord of the southern kingdoms

Carnegie judges (librarians) described Here Lies Arthur as enjoyable and thought-provoking, a "page-turner of a novel", adding that "Reeve cleverly makes the story relevant to today by examining the versions of history that are handed down to us, and the ways in which myths are created."^[4]

Beside the 2008 Carnegie Medal^[3] Here Lies Arthur was bronze runner up for the final Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, ages category 9–11 years.^[5] It made the Booktrust Teenage Prize shortlist^[6] and the Manchester Book Award longlist.^[7] in 2008.

Five years after its publication, WorldCat reports that Here Lies Arthur is Reeve's work most widely held in participating libraries.^[8]

On Goodreads, the book has a score of 3.6 out of 5.^[9]

• Philip Reeve
• Philip Reeve at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Carnegie Press Desk: Background on Philip Reeve and Here Lies Arthur