Courtway Jones

An original re-telling of the Arthurian legend, marred by too simplistic dialogue and a meandering ending. Courtway Jones has taken the famous Mallory texts and brought something completely original to them: a narrator, Pelleas, son of the Picts, who tells of his growing up years as a giant among the Picts and the conflicts between the Gaels and everyone else on the British Isles. Gawain and Agravaine and their brothers are central characters in Pelleas' boyhood, bringing them to life early on in the narrative. Then up shows Myrddin as that symbol of magic, a blacksmith. These were the areas in which Jones certainly did her research and knew how smiths were seen in the ancient world, and how the Picts/Gaels/Romans were occupants of the British Isles, along with the Saxons and the Jutes, during the probable time of the historical Arthur.

And the story works very well through most of its length: Arthur is raised by Myrddin, his wet-nurse is a commoner named Anna who is rescued from slavery by the company, and discussions of war, land-holding, and Druidry are examined well as part of the story.

But after Arthur is crowned King and Pelleas sets off on his own, probably the final 40 pages or so, the tale meanders into and then I went here and did this, and then I had this battle, and then this knight made me angry, and then . . . "till I finally ended reading the book. And the dialogue brings the whole soaring narration down to a thud. The sentences are simple, serve to show that the characters talk amongst themselves, and I didn't find much engaging in them as part of the story.

Still, for originality in bringing a new twist to an old and loved story, I do salute the author's abilities."… (más)

This is the second in a trilogy about King Arthur. This installment follows the life of Morgan l Fey, Arthur’s half sister. For some reason I didn't find Morgan as enthralling as Pelleas (In the Shadow of the Oak King). Her story really reminded me of Irene Radford's series which is from the point of view of Merlin's daughter. Don't get me wrong I still thought it was good, but I like the first book better.

To see the full review, see my blog at rel="nofollow" target="_top">http://adventuresofabibliophile.blogspot.com/2013/10/witch-of-north-by-courtway-...
… (más)

This is the third in a trilogy about King Arthur. This installment follows the life of Mordred, Arthur's bastard son. Although in this series he is the son of Morgause (Arthur’s aunt) not Morgan (Arthur’s half sister). This was the most boring of the three. It took me forever to read it because the story didn’t move a long, Mordred came to Camelot was hurt that Arthur didn’t acknowledge him and spent a lot of time being a Knight and blah blah blah. There was no movement, the story got facts from the previous books wrong, the timelines were all screwy! I couldn’t wait to get this one over with.… (más)