Pendragon's Banner

December 2, 1996
Camelot is less a romantic kingdom than a lusty and fragmented realm in this spirited retelling of Arthurian legend, the second novel in Hollick's projected trilogy (The Kingmaker). Over the years, Arthur Pendragon and Gwenhwyfar have accumulated a vast array of estranged relatives, rivals and half-mad adversaries. Among the most formidable of their enemies are Winifred, Arthur's embittered ex-wife, who's plotting to ensconce her son, Cedric, as heir to the throne, and Morgause, a manipulative priestess who wants to consolidate her power in the north to become queen of the realm. Hollick manipulates a large cast of characters with a deft hand. She is most successful in depicting Arthur and Gwenhwyfar not as a newly married couple but as parents who grieve as their three sons are endangered by many calamities. In an author's note, Hollick writes: "Arthur Pendragon, to those people who study him, is a very personal and passionately viewed character. We all have our own ideas, insist ours is the correct one, and argue like mad with anyone who disagrees!" Hollick's interpretation is bold, affecting and well worth fighting to defend.

July 20, 2009
This colorful second installment of Hollick's King Arthur trilogy (following The Kingmaker
) continues the bloody legend as the young king of Britain tries to keep his throne amid traitors, rivals and deadly treachery. This is a period of savage brutality, deceit, feud, greed and lust for power, with Arthur, the Pendragon, as merciless and cunning as his challengers. Arthur is 24, married to his second wife, the beautiful Gwenhwyfar. His hostile first wife, Winifred, schemes to unseat Arthur and put her own son on the throne, but other women are also pregnant by Arthur, and familial royal murder plots abound. When Arthur is not bedding his wife, mistress, prostitutes or female spies, he is busy chopping up foes with sword and battle-ax, while doing his own scheming to outwit and destroy his arch enemy, Morgause, who harbors a bitter hatred for Arthur and his family and is the only enemy Arthur fears. Refreshingly, Hollick's Arthur is no Hollywood hero; he's a vicious opportunist, devious and manipulative, a lusty master of expedient decision and action.