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GUENEVERE II The first book in the series (The Queen of the Summer Country) fell midway between courtly and gritty but in this second volume Miles has settled down to a more Malloryesque milieu. Here is Lancelot de Lac in all his tarnished glory, friend of the king but lover to the queen striving to be preux and failing, and here too is his antithesis Mordred with is his scheming mother. Guenevere can't bear it when Lancelot has an affair with another woman, Morgan Le Fay has her illicit relationship with her half-brother Arthur and all about them magic is brewed by the Pagans and the Christians try hard to do what Christians do in novels that swing more to the pagan side. In short it has all the intrigues of a soap opera, the magic of a fantasy and no, it isn't really a historical novel. King Arthur probably existed but not in this sort of setting - that doesn't stop the Matter of Britain being part of our heritage. I preferred this novel to the first in the story as it has a more settled style; this is the Arthurian myth that we are familiar with sans gritty Dark Age realism. Somehow though there was something missing; many of the characters lacked depth and the jewel-like mediaeval dreamworld has been better represented by others. I felt it needed a bit of the courtly splendor and swashbuckling vigor that earlier versions had but at the same time I realise that this is Arthur for a modern audience. The New Age symbolism is a new touch and gives the work a glow of its own. It will be interesting to see what happens in the final volume. |