An Arthurian Education

A Reader's Respite's Official Guide to Arthurian Interpretations that are totally worth your time.....

now this is what we call cover art

Le Morte D'Arthur, by Sir Thomas Malory.  Completed in 1470 this compilation of Arthurian tales is pretty much definitive.  Unless you are a purist, we recommend you skip the original Middle English version.  There's only so much

"So torne we vnto sir Lamorak that rode toward Arthurs courte / and sire Tristrams wyf and Kehydyus took a vessel and sailed in to Bretayne vnto kynge Howel where he was welcome"

one can take without wanting to throw oneself on an actual sword to end the agony.

The Constitutional Peasant

Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  Okay, so it's not a book.  Get over it.  It's a legend in it's own right and if you've never seen it, you are depriving yourself of the unique experience of laughing so hard that you pee your pants.  Grab and pair of diapers and rent it.

The Once and Future King, by T.H. White.  Drawing heavily from Malory's definitive text, The Once and Future King was once required reading for all high school students.  There's a reason for that.

Walt Disney's The Sword and the Stone.  Scoff if you will, but ol' Walt introduced many-a-generation to the legend of Arthur.  And he gave us Mim.  We seriously love Mim.

 

The queen of Camelot herself, Mary Stewart

Mary Stewart's Arthurian Saga.  Written in the 1970s, Mary Stewart thrilled Camelot fans with her quintet of books.  The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment and The Wicked Day are all still widely available in used bookstores.

Helen Hollick's The Pendragon's Banner Trilogy.  Hollick's hunky, yet very-bad-boy Arthur is a must-read for fans of the legend.  This is a fairly recent release here in the U.S. and one of our favorites.

The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley.  Focusing on the women of Arthurian legend, The Mists of Avalon has garnered an almost cult-like following since it's publication in 1982.  Bradley later collaborated with author Diana L. Paxson and wrote an entire series on the women of Avalon, but none surpass the original.

Twilight of Avalon (planned) Trilogy, by Anna Elliott.  Rounding out a superb field, author Anna Elliott deserves to be included for her portrayal of Trystan and Isolde and their role in Arthurian literature.  Elliott leaves behind the sappy romance in favor of a strong plot, complex characters and an all-around engrossing story.  We fell in love with Twilight of Avalon, the first of the trilogy, and the second installment, Dark Moon of Avalon, hits bookstores today.  Trust us, it's pretty fabulous.

A Satisfying Conclusion to a Superb Trilogy

As we've mentioned before, A Reader's Respite normally doesn't much care for Arthurian literature.  All those funky chicks popping out of lakes waving swords around, wizards zapping spells on people willy-nilly and running around looking for a holy drinking cup just doesn't do it for us.

All of that changed when we discovered Helen Hollick's The Pendragon's Banner Trilogy.  Here we found an author who told the story of Arthur without all the fantasy-magic-mumbo-jumbo.  Here was a woman who endeavored to write Arthur as a real historical figure and succeeded brilliantly.

This month, Sourcebooks is re-releasing the third and final installment of The Pendragon's Banner Trilogy, this one entitled Shadow of the King and we're pleased to report that this finale does complete justice to the previous two novels, The Kingmaking and Pendragon's Banner.

Grounded in a gritty realism, Hollick imagines Arthur as a ruthless King of Britain during the Dark Ages.  He's got more faults than Microsoft's Windows XP, yet Hollick still manages to mold him into an endearing, masculine hero.

Now for all of you die-hard Arthurian fans out there, don't despair....there are still plenty of characters you will be familiar with.  Gwenhwyfar is still Arthur's wife, for example, but don't expect a delicate flower because Hollick's Gwen kicks butt.  Similarly, Morgause is still around and even Merlin makes an appearance in the earlier books.

And while keeping track of the various English, British and Saxon factions that populated England in the Dark Ages was challenging at times, the end result was one of the most satisfying reads A Reader's Respite has enjoyed in quite some time.

If you haven't given these books a try yet, we would heartily recommend them, whether you are an Arthurian fan or not.  It's a transport back in time that will take your breath away.






FTC Disclosure....straight from the publicity department at Sourcebooks.  Thank goodness, or we may have missed out on a rollicking good read!

The Knights of the Round Table (well, sort of)

A Reader's Respite has grown rather smitten with Arthurian literature over the past few years. Or rather, well-written Arthurian literature.

How many ancient legends have persevered so long? There's something magical about the knights of the Round Table and the quest for the Holy Grail.

Let's be honest: did anyone do it better than Monty Python? We think not.

The first historical mention of King Arthur popped up in the 9th century, where Arthur was depicted as a garden-variety soldier in 6th century Britain who bravely fought against those pesky invading Saxons.

Arthur's legend changed dramatically over the centuries (we like to think of it as a Dark Ages version of The Telephone Game) until 1138 A.D., when Geoffrey of Monmoth put pen to paper and came up with Historia Regum Britanniae, or History of the Kings of Britain.

Ol' Geoff was quite the story-teller, no?

Geoffrey's version of King Arthur looks much more familiar to modern-day readers. In it, we find the wizard Merlin, the famous sword Excalibur, and even the mythical isle of Avalon.

Wizards, magic, romance, betrayal and a crazy lady who lives in a lake bestowing legendary swords. What more could a reader ask for?

a little creepy, you've gotta admit

Modern authors have re-written Arthur's tale countless times. There are romance versions, fantasy versions, even sci-fi versions of the legend. Many of these novels turned out trite or tedious at best.

Our favorite re-tellings are those who treat it as pure historical fiction. No magic. No fancy-schmancy romance. We like realism.

Helen Hollick is one of those authors who manage to brilliantly create a real-life Arthur as he may have been. (After all, there is no definitive proof that he did or did not exist.) In 1994, Hollick published the first novel of what came to be called The Pendragon Series, entitled The Kingmaking, which Sourcebooks (God bless their cotton socks) re-released this past March.


Hollick gave us a nitty-gritty, flawed, courageous, even - inadvertently perhaps - sexy Arthur. Perhaps, in our opinion, one of the very best portrayals of this legendary warrior King. We admit it: A Reader's Respite fell a little in love.

Okay, a lot in love. With Hollick's writing and interpretation and even with Arthur himself.

Now comes the re-release of the second installment of the series: Pendragon's Banner. We were delighted to find this novel as gripping as the first. Arthur's character is still as flawed as ever, but Hollick's research of this time period is phenomenal. The realism that permeates the entire story puts her series in a class by itself.



And the best part? There's still a third installment yet to come when Sourcebooks re-releases the third novel in the trilogy, The Shadow of the King, this coming spring.

If you haven't seen this series first, start with the first book. We'd be willing to wager that these books will find a place into your permanent library.

Review: Twilight of Avalon

Twilight of Avalon: A Novel of Trystan & Isolde, by Anna Elliot



For centuries past the Arthurian legend has been passed down from generation to generation. Thankfully, the myriad of variations of the tale have been keeping modern day authors as busy in the retelling as the ancients bards were.

The latest version to hit bookstores is Anna Elliott's Twilight of Avalon, the first of what will eventually be a full trilogy recounting one of the earliest known versions of Arthurian legend, that of Trystan and Isolde.

For those aficionados of the genre, it seems only fair that we give you a brief sketch of Elliott's take on the Arthurian soap opera:

King Arthur is not the chivalrous ideal of courtly love here. In a fit of passion, he allegedly rapes his sister Morgan, a woman steeped in the old religion in a time when the encroaching Christian priests are quick to brand any non-converting woman a witch. The accusation usually sticks. Morgan gives birth to Arthur's son, Mordred who later, as heir to Arthur's throne, betrays his father, steals Arthur's wife Gwynefar and begets a girl-child with his step-mother. The child is named Isolde. Arthur and Mordred meet in one last epic battle for the High Kingship of Britain and end up killing each other off, leaving Britain in chaos and ripe pickings for the encroaching Saxons, while Isolde is married off to the next High King of Britain, Constantine.

And this is where Elliott's story begins. King Constantine is betrayed and murdered, leaving Isolde alone to battle charges of witchcraft, political intrigue, and a mythical past. To do so and save Britain from destruction from within, Isolde turns to a former Saxon slave, Trystan. The unlikely pair develop a tenuous friendship in a time when trust and loyalty are rare commodities in the world.

And A Reader's Respite loved every single word.

Isolde is one of the most real and heroic characters we've encountered in a long time, a woman fighting for what she believes in within the confines of her gender and time. This is not, we repeat, NOT a love story. At this point in time, there is no room for romance or love in Trystan and Isolde's world. This is a world overflowing in violence, plague and survival. Trystan and Isolde's bond is, at this point in the story, a thread of friendship and mutual respect.

And yet this is not a story of despair, it is a story of hope. A rich cast of supporting characters is the icing on the cake here, providing touches of humor just when you least expect it and sharp insights into the psyche of the time period.

"Yes, the plague year. The sign of God's wrath at the great traitor-king." Grim amusement flickered briefly about the corners of Coel's eyes. "Though I confess I've my doubts when anyone - priest or commoner - starts putting words in the Almighty's mouth. I don't know whether God made man in His image, but it's certain man has returned the favor."
Twilight of Avalon, by Anne Elliott

Whether you are a fan of the Arthurian lit or looking for a good introduction to the genre, A Reader's Respite wholeheartedly recommends Twilight of Avalon!






Now A Reader's Respite knows there must be someone out there dying to get their grubby little hands on this book. If you're interested, you know the drill: leave me a comment saying so and we'll draw a random winner to be announced next Thursday, May 28th. International peeps welcome!



Title: Twilight of Avalon: A Novel of Trystan & Isolde
Author: Anna Elliott
ISBN-13: 978-1416589891
448 pages
Publisher: Touchstone
Date: May 5, 2009


Other cool peeps who've read this book:

Devourer of Books
All Booked Up



Historical Tapestry has a great interview with author Anna Elliott
All

Review: The Kingmaking

The Kingmaking, by Helen Hollick











The Down & Dirty


The Kingmaking is Book One of The Pendragon's Banner Trilogy, by Helen Hollick, re-released by Sourcebooks on March 1. An epic undertaking, The Kingmaking is the tale of the mythical King Arthur and his queen Gwynefar, stripped of wizards, magic swords, and mythical ladies rising from lakes. It is the tale of Arthur as he may have been.





The Lit Crit



Many talented writers have spun the tale of Arthur and his knights of the Round Table (Mary Stewart notably comes to mind here), but it took author Helen Hollick to strip away the trappings of myth and magic and write what possibly might be the most compelling account of all.

Little is known of England during that murky time period between the abandonment of Rome and the invasion of the Normans in 1066. Hollick takes advantage of this and drawing from what little is known about the Angle, Jute and Saxon warlords that vied for control of England, she paints a vivid portrait of a divided land populated by a widely diverse population caught between their pagan past and the introduction of Christianity .

Here we are presented with an Arthur who is a product of these dark times, a complex man who is, in turn, both a brilliant strategist with touching compassion for his people and a

Hollick acknowledges the guidance of renowned historical fiction author Sharon Kay Penman in her forward - indeed the book is dedicated to her - and the influence shows. A comprehensive afterword to the novel reveals her meticulous attention to historical detail and provides a most satisfying end to this first novel of the trilogy.

But perhaps her most impressive strength as an author lies in her development of character, specifically the Pendragon himself. If you are looking for a saint-like Arthur, hoodwinked by his golden Guinivere (Gwenhwyfar), you won't find that here. Arthur is a red-blooded man of his times who takes women at his pleasure, lies and cheats as necessary to take what he feels rightfully belongs to him, yet still manages to remain - by and large - a sympathetic character you will cheer for.




Our Recommendation



Fans of Sharon Kay Penman will appreciate Hollick's complex character development, plot pacing, and attention to historical details while any afficianado of Athurian legend should appreciate this original vision of the myth. This is first-rate writing, indeed.

Historical fiction lovers, meet Helen Hollick. Enjoy!







Title: The Kingmaking, Book One of the Pendragon's Banner Trilogy
Author: Helen Hollick
ISBN-13: 978-1402218880
592 pages:
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Date: March 1, 2009


Other blog-stops on the tour:

Harriet Devine's Blog
Lazy Habit's of Thinking
carp(e) libris reviews
Historical Novels.Info
Musings of a Bibliophile
Reading Extravaganza
Medieval Bookworm
Books are my only friends
Peeking Between the Pages
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A Hoyden's Look at Literature
Books Ahoy!
Passages to the Past
The Tome Traveller
S. Krishna's Books
Jennifer's Random Musings
RhiReading