Heartstone by C. J. Sansom

Title:  Heartstone
Author:  C. J. Sansom
Pages:   634
Genre:  Historical Mystery
Series:  Shardlake, Book 5

Synopsis:  Summer, 1545. England is at war. Henry VIII's invasion of France has gone badly wrong, and a massive French fleet is preparing to sail across the Channel. As the English fleet gathers at Portsmouth, the country raises the largest militia army it has ever seen. The King has debased the currency to pay for the war, and England is in the grip of soaring inflation and economic crisis.

Meanwhile Matthew Shardlake is given an intriguing legal case by an old servant of Queen Catherine Parr. Asked to investigate claims of 'monstrous wrongs' committed against a young ward of the court, which have already involved one mysterious death, Shardlake and his assistant Barak journey to Portsmouth. Once arrived, Shardlake and Barak find themselves in a city preparing to become a war zone; and Shardlake takes the opportunity to also investigate the mysterious past of Ellen Fettipace, a young woman incarcerated in the Bedlam.

The emerging mysteries around the young ward, and the events that destroyed Ellen's family nineteen years before, involve Shardlake in reunions both with an old friend and an old enemy close to the throne. Events will converge on board one of the King's great warships, primed for battle in Portsmouth harbour: the Mary Rose...

Review:  I love these books.  Matthew Shardlake is such an interesting and likable character.  This was a great mystery.  I had no idea what had happened in either of the cases being investigated and when the answer was revealed, I was completely surprised.  I love when that happens!

The historical portions of these books are always very detailed and it's obvious that much time and research went into making them as realistic as possible.  How the common man lived in these times is horrendous and wartime is even worse.

Some of the previous stories were more exciting, but this one was very good.  I can't wait to get the next (and I'm afraid the last) book of this series.

Rating:  10 / 10

The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Title:  Firebrand
Author:  Marion Zimmer Bradley
Pages:  605
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Series:  None

Synopsis:  Blending archaeological fact and legend, the myths of the gods and the feats of heroes, Marion Zimmer Bradley breathes new life into the classic tale of the Trojan War - reinventing larger-than-life figures as living people engaged in a desperate struggle that dooms both the victors and the vanquished, their fate seen through the eyes of Kassandra - priestess, princess, and passionate woman with the spirit of a warrior.

Review:  Ms. Bradley is at her best in a novel like this one.  From King Priam to Helen of Troy, from Agamemnon to Odysseus, all of the characters are so life-like and so realistic.  It's like you are there in Troy when the Gods and men brought down the greatest city of the time.

Akhilles is no hero.  He is a spoiled, rotten, horrible person.  Helen of Troy is a women whose fate had been decreed by the Gods.  She is their pawn in the great game to destroy Troy.  Kassandra, the main character, has had visions of blood, fire and death from the time she was a very young girl.  Her 'gift of sight' was tempered with a curse -- no one who heard her prophecies would believe them.

The novel does not end in Troy.  It continues on into Mycenae and beyond, following Kassandra and her story.

Exciting and enchanting, with plenty of gory war scenes, this book is nearly impossible to put down.  In the author's postscript, she mentions that The Iliad makes no mention of Kassandra's fate.  She goes on to say:

"However, tablet #803 in the Archaeological Museum in Athens reads as follows:

ZEUS OF DODONA, GIVE HEED TO THIS GIFT

I SEND YOU FROM ME AND MY FAMILY -

AGATHON SON OF EKHEPHYLOS,

THE ZAKYNTHIAN FAMILY,

CONSULS OF THE MOLOSSIANS AND THEIR ALLIES,

DESCENDED FOR 30 GENERATIONS

FROM KASSANDRA OF TROY"

I do not know if the tablet actually exists or not.  After reading this novel, I hope that Kassandra did indeed survive to have a family after the fall of Troy.

Rating:  10 / 10

Revelation by C. J. Sansom

Title:  Revelation
Author:  C. J. Sansom
Pages:  550
Genre:  Historical Fiction / Mystery
Series:  Shardlake, Book 4

Synopsis:  In Revelation, Sansom’s newest book in the series, the year is 1543 and King Henry VIII is wooing Lady Catherine Parr, a woman sympathetic to reform, whom he wants for his sixth wife— much to the dismay of Archbishop Cranmer and the embattled Protestant faction at court. Meanwhile, Matthew Shardlake is working to defend a teenage boy, a religious fanatic who is being held in the infamous Bedlam hospital for the insane. When an old friend of Shardlake’s is murdered, he vows to bring the killer to justice. His search leads him back to Bedlam but also to Catherine Parr—and the dark prophecies of the Book of Revelation. As Bishop Bonner prepares to purge London of Protestants, Shardlake, with his assistant Jack Barak, uncovers a series of horrific murders that shake them all to the core.

Review:  These are some of the best historical fiction out there.  I believe I like this author as well as I do Sharon Penman and that is saying something.  Plus, his main character, Matthew Shardlake, is wonderful.  A lawyer by trade, Matthew finds himself embroiled in mysteries and politics (usually at the same time).

This story, mainly about the search for a serial killer, is chilling and full of adventure.  The descriptions of life in London in 1543 are realistic (and sometimes disgusting).  At the end, the Historical Note shows just how much research went into making this book as true to the times as possible.

I have one more Shardlake book to read and then there is another one I don't have.  After that, there seem to be no more coming.  I'll miss them.  This author has two other novels, both set in the 1940's, and perhaps I'll give them a try, but I won't love them like I've loved these books set in the early Renaissance in England.

Rating:  10 / 10

The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton

Title:  The Great Train Robbery
Author:  Michael Crichton
Pages:  281
Genre:  Thriller
Publisher:  Ballantine, 1975
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis:  In teeming Victorian London, where lavish wealth and appalling poverty live side by side, Edward Pierce charms the most prominent of the well-to-do as he cunningly orchestrates the crime of the century. Who would suspect that a gentleman of breeding could mastermind the daring theft of a fortune in gold? Who could predict the consequences of making the extraordinary robbery aboard the pride of England's industrial era, the mighty steam locomotive? Based on fact, as lively as legend, and studded with all the suspense and style of a modern fiction master, here is a classic caper novel set a decade before the age of dynamite--yet nonetheless explosive....

Review:  This book is based on real events.  It's full of great little details about what it was like, living in Victorian London.  It's written like a historical account, except that it's also very approachable and exciting.

I had too much going on this week to give this book the full attention it deserves, but it is a fast read with plenty of great characters, most of which are based on true people.

Rating:  7 / 10

Sovereign by C. J. Sansom

Title:  Sovereign
Author:  C. J. Sansom
Pages:  660
Genre:  Historical Fiction / Mystery
Publisher:  Pan Books, 2007
Series:  Shardlake, Book 3

Synopsis:  Autumn, 1541.  King Henry VIII has set out on a spectacular Progress to the North to attend an extravagant submission by his rebellious subjects in York.

Already in the city are lawyer Matthew Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak.  As well as legal work processing local petitions to the King, Shardlake has reluctantly undertaken a special mission for Archbishop Cranmer - to ensure the welfare of an important but dangerous conspirator who is to be returned to London for interrogation.

But the murder of a York glazier involves Shardlake in deeper mysteries, connected not only to the prisoner in York Castle but to the royal family itself.  And when Shardlake and Barak stumble upon a cache of secret documents which could threaten the Tudor throne, a chain of events unfolds that will lead to Shardlake facing the most terrifying fate of the age...

What is still true - astonishingly, in the twenty-first century - is that Queen Elizabeth II retains the title Henry VIII took for himself: Supreme Head of the Church of England, Defender of the Faith and - in theory at least - God's chosen representative in England.

Review:  This book was even better than the first two.  Thomas Cromwell is dead, executed by King Henry VIII.  Matthew Shardlake has been trying desperately, ever since the fiasco with the Greek Fire in the last book, to stay out of politics.  It's now the next year and Archbishop Cranmer has called on Shardlake to help keep an important prisoner alive.

In York, Shardlake's life is in danger at every turn.  The Northerners hate the Southerners who have come with the King on his Progress.  Shardlake has enemies now that his old benefactor Cromwell is gone.  And then he comes across papers that may document that the King is not the rightful heir to the throne.  At no point in the story did I realize who was after Shardlake.  I thought I knew, but I was far off base.  I love these stories and how the mystery stays a mystery until the bitter end.

York was even more pathetic and awful than London.  The prisoner Shardlake must keep alive was kept in such awful conditions that I cannot understand how anyone ever made it to trial (or to their execution).  At one point, Shardlake himself winds up in the Tower of London and the description of that scary and horrible place was enough to give me the shivers.  King Henry VIII is even worse 'in person' than I'd expected.

The Historical Note at the end of this novel was eye-opening and I was pleased to see how much of the background of this story was true, or at least as close to that as it can be.  The quote I chose from this book came from there and, after reading the novel, it chilled me.

Rating:  9.5 / 10

The Magic Cup by Andrew M. Greeley

Title:  The Magic Cup
Author:  Andrew M. Greeley
Pages:  285
Genre:  Historical Fantasy
Publisher:  TOR, 1979
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis:  In this novel of legendary Ireland, Andrew Greeley takes you back to a long-ago time of mists and magic, faith and love.  Here you will meet Cormac MacDermot, the young king destined to lead Ireland out of paganism to Christianity; his aged father, now on the throne; and the seductive witch-queen who holds the country in thrall.  Here also is the lovely slave girl Brigid.  As light-footed as an Irish pixie, she will help Cormac seek the magic cup that will confirm his right to be High King of Ireland.

Over mountain and river they will journey, beset by perils.  But when their enemies capture Brigid, and Cormac strives to save her, he will see that the little slave girl is a great deal more than she seems.

Review:  This book is a version of the Irish legend of the quest for the Holy Grail.  I honestly love historical fiction, especially from this time period, but this book was a bit of a disappointment.  It had plenty of realistic historical backdrop.  It just also seemed to drag on and on and on in some places.  The perils were many.......too many.  It got to the point where I wondered if the quest would ever end.

It was also a little like reading a torrid romance novel set in ancient Ireland.  Since I have very little patience for romance of any kind, this set my teeth on edge.  It was almost a bodice-ripper and almost a sweet love story, but didn't manage to really be either one.  It came across as just plain silly for the most part.

Rating:  3.5 / 10

The War Hound and the World's Pain by Michael Moorcock

Title:  The War Hound and the World's Pain
Author:  Michael Moorcock
Pages:  207
Genre:  Historical Fantasy
Publisher:  Pocket Books, 1982
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis:  The time is The Thirty Years War, and the whole of Europe is in devastation, Graf Ulrich von Bek, killer, survivor and mercenary captain of fearful repute, deserts his soldiers after an outbreak of plague and finds himself traveling through a dense forest, at the heart of which there stands an empty but unplundered castle. He takes refuge there.

But this is no shelter, for the lord of the castle is Satan himself. Von Bek has been granted entrance so that the Devil may offer him a most unusual bargain. Lucifer will relinquish his claim on von Bek's lost soul, but the price is success in a quest that Lucifer himself cannot undertake. The Devil wishes to be reconciled with God, and to prove his sincerity to Heaven needs the Cure for the World's Pain.

But even among the damned there are those who fear change. And even as von Bek accepts his quest, Hell raises in rebellion to stop him.

Review:  This book opens in the year 1631 in Germany.  It is a bloody, horrible time.  Ulrich is not much of a hero, being neither especially good or honest, but he has to complete the quest for the Holy Grail.  Lucifer has promised he will release Ulrich's soul in exchange for the successful completion of the quest.

Between the mages and demons and Lucifer himself, this is one of the oddest historical fantasy books I've ever read.  That doesn't mean I didn't like it.  I did.  It was a fast-paced read with plenty of action and even a little romance.

Unfortunately, it's sequel (The City in the Autumn Stars) could not hold up.  I ended up giving up on that one in less than 30 pages.  Since the sequel is actually about Ulrich's ancestors, this is really a stand-alone story and, in my opinion, should be read as such.  While it is not this author's best work, it's quite good and easily finished in a day.

Rating:  5 / 10

Prince of Darkness by Sharon Kay Penman

Title:  Prince of Darkness
Author:  Sharon Kay Penman
Pages:  327
Genre:  Historical Fiction / Mystery
Publisher:  Berkley, 2006
Series:  Justin de Quincy, Book 4

Justin's hesitation was barely noticeable. "I serve at the queen's pleasure," he said.

Synopsis: Justin de Quincy hastens to Paris at the request of his former lover only to discover that she was acting on behalf of his nemesis, Prince John. The prince has been implicated in a plot to kill his brother, King Richard, and wants Justin to prove the incriminating document false.

Realizing that John's suspected treachery may also risk the welfare of the woman he serves, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Justin reluctantly agrees to help. But his investigation unravels a sinister conspiracy that might change the course of English history.

Review:  Ever since reading this author's 900+ page book The Sunne in Splendour years ago, I've known she was one of the foremost writers of historical fiction set in the Medieval period.  I read book three of this series way back in 2008 and was a little afraid I'd be lost.  But, these stories are so easy to get into and the characters so memorable, that I had no trouble at all.

Justin de Quincy is the 'Queen's man'.  The Queen being Eleanor of Aquitaine.  Her son, Richard the Lionheart, is the King of England (although he's being held for ransom).  Another of her sons, John, wants to be sitting on that same throne.  The conspiracy and mystery surrounding the false accusations against John and the murder of an innocent woman take Justin to well over a dozen places and into danger and intrigue at the highest levels.

My favorite part of reading Ms. Penman's work is knowing that the majority of the characters were real and the places existed as she describes them.  Her research alone must be incredibly time consuming.  I learn so much about this time period from her books and since I truly love this era, it's always a pleasure.  And she takes such care with her writing, it seems these people live and breathe and love on her pages.

Rating:  9.5 / 10

Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom

Title:  Dark Fire
Author:  C. J. Sansom
Pages:  503
Genre:  Mystery, Historical
Publisher:  Viking, 2004

Synopsis:  It is 1540, and Matthew Shardlake, the lawyer renowned as "the sharpest hunchback in the courts of England," is pressed to help a friend’s young niece who is charged with murder. Despite threats of torture and death by the rack, the girl is inexplicably silent. Shardlake is about to lose her case when he is suddenly granted a reprieve—one that will ensnare him in the dangerous schemes of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s feared vicar-general.

In exchange for two more weeks to investigate the murder, Shardlake accepts Cromwell’s dangerous assignment to find a lost cache of "dark fire," a legendary weapon of mass destruction. Cromwell, out of favor since Henry’s disastrous marriage to Anne of Cleves, is relying on Shardlake to save his position at court, which is rife with treasonous conspiracies.

Review:  Another delicious mystery starring Dr. Shardlake.  This one is set in London itself and surrounds a missing recipe for Greek Fire and a string of murders, with an equally important story about a young girl accused of a murder she did not commit.  If possible, the city is even more horrible and sad and disgusting than the monastery was.  The justice system seems so completely unfair and random, I'm surprised anyone survived the time period.  I had some inkling of who had framed Elizabeth and who was spying on our heroes, but for the most part I had no idea who was actually to blame for what.  Great stuff.

Dr. Shardlake has a new assistant, Barak, who is low-class, foul-mouthed and generally completely enjoyable.  I liked this book just as well as I did the last one, maybe even a bit more because of the addition of Barak.  The Moorish monk, Guy, from the last story, has become an apothecary in London and one of Dr. Shardlake's most trusted friends.  His dry wit and intelligent insights are another refreshing plus for this tale.

But, I think I'll stop now and read the other two another time.  Don't want to get too much of a good thing and get bored with it.

Rating:  8.5 / 10

Dissolution by C.J. Sansom

Title:  Dissolution
Author:  C. J. Sansom
Pages:  390
Genre:  Mystery, Historical
Publisher:  Viking, 2003

The Bible says God made man in his image but I think we make and remake him, in whatever image happens to suit our shifting needs.

Synopsis:  It is the winter of 1537 and England is divided into those faithful to the Catholic Church and those loyal to the King and the newly established Church of England. Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's feared vicar-general, crusades against the old Church with savage new laws, rigged trials, and a vast network of informers. Queen Anne Boleyn has been beheaded and monasteries are being dissolved-their treasures pillaged and their lands eyed greedily by courtiers and country gentry. But having put down one people's rebellion, Cromwell fears another might topple the realm. So, when one of his commissioners is murdered in the monastery at Scarnsea on the south coast of England, he enlists his fellow reformer, Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer renowned as "the sharpest hunchback in the courts of England," to head the inquiry.

When Shardlake and his young clerk and protégé, Mark Poer, arrive at Scarnsea, the two are greeted with thinly veiled hostility and suspicion as their investigation quickly uncovers evidence of sexual misconduct, embezzlement, and treason. While the community of brothers is revealed to be far less pious than they would seem, Shardlake himself is shocked to discover truths about Cromwell that undermine his own beliefs and threaten to cost him his faith, and even his life. But when a novice is poisoned and a year-old corpse dredged up from a nearby pond, Shardlake must act quickly to prevent the killer from murdering again.

Review:  I have always been in love with the Middle Ages.  I love stories about the Black Plague, monasteries, kings, queens, Knights Templar, and King Arthur.  This book reminds me a little of the Eleanor of Aquitaine series by Sharon Kay Penman, but only because they, too, are mysteries set in the Medieval Period, although the Penman books are set about 400 years earlier.  I even had a few flashbacks to that old Sean Connery movie, The Name of the Rose, but mostly because it, too, was a mystery set in a monastery.

Dr. Shardlake is an unusual hero.  A lawyer, a hunchback, and stout believer in the Reformation, he is investigating a murder on behalf of Thomas Cromwell.  He is not always a completely likable man, but he is honest and honorable, if perhaps a little blind when it comes to seeing what his benefactor Cromwell is really like.

I was so sure I knew who'd done it.  Absolutely positive.  It had to be Prior Mortimus, who was so hateful and mean and obviously hiding something.  I was wrong.  I never would have guessed the answer to the chain of murders at the Monastery of St. Donatus the Ascendant of Scarnsea.  That in itself made the book good.  But, along with that, the story was well told and the descriptions of Medieval life are terribly, yet also beautifully, realistic.

I have three more of these books.  I'm not going to read them all at once.  I'd get burnt out.  But, I think I will read another one.  I'm not ready to wave farewell to Dr. Shardlake just yet.

Rating:  8 / 10

A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin

Title: A Murderous Procession
Author: Ariana Franklin
Format: PB
Pages: 374
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Berkley, 2011
ISBN-13:  978-0425238868 
Series: Mistress of the Art of Death, Book 4

Favorite Quote:  "D'ye ken that?  By all that's holy, it's the peeps.  The peeps.  I've come home."

Synopsis:  In 1176, King Henry II sends his daughter Joanna to Palermo to marry his cousin, the king of Sicily. Henry chooses Adelia Aguilar, his Mistress of the Art of Death, to travel with the princess and safeguard her health. But when people in the wedding procession are murdered, Adelia and Rowley must discover the killer's identity and whether he... more » is stalking the princess or Adelia herself.

Review:  I'm so sad.  This is the last book.  Maybe there will be a new one some day.  I really, really enjoyed this series.

Rating:  9 / 10

Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin

Title: Grave Goods
Author: Ariana Franklin
Format: PB
Pages: 529
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Berkley, 2010
ISBN-13:  978-0425232330 
Series: Mistress of the Art of Death, Book 3

Favorite Quotes:  Lord, how I hate Avalon.  To beautiful, too terrible.  Once and future kings -- you can keep them.

"Excalibur."  In his reverence, Roetger began to sob.  "What else?  Where else?  Are we not in Avalon?"

Synopsis:  Set in 1176, Franklin's excellent third Mistress of the Art of Death novel (after The Serpent's Tale) finds Adelia Aguilar, a qualified doctor from the School of Medicine in Salerno, in the holy town of Glastonbury, where Henry II has sent her to inspect two sets of bones rumored to be those of Arthur and Guinevere. — Henry is hoping that... more » an unequivocally dead Arthur will discourage the rebellious Welsh. The bones have been uncovered by the few monks, under the saintly Abbot Sigward, who remain after a terrible and mysterious fire devastated the town and abbey. Adelia's party includes her loyal Arabian attendant, Mansur, whose willingness to play the role of doctor allows Adelia to be his translator and practice the profession she loves; and Gyltha, Mansur's lover and the caretaker of Adelia's small daughter, Allie.

Review:  It just gets better and better.  This story is about trying to find whether a particular set of bones might belong to the long-dead King Arthur.  I loved it!

Rating:  10 / 10

The Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin

Title: The Serpent's Tale
Author: Ariana Franklin
Format: PB
Pages: 382
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Berkley, 2009
ISBN-13:  978-0425225745 
Series: Mistress of the Art of Death, Book 2

Favorite Quote:  Oh, God, a stupid man - the most dangerous animal of them all.

Synopsis:  When King Henry II’s mistress is found poisoned, suspicion falls on his estranged queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. The king orders Adelia Aguilar, expert in the science of death, to investigate—and hopefully stave off civil war. A reluctant Adelia finds herself once again in the company of Rowley Picot, the new Bishop of St. Albans and her baby's father. Their discoveries into the crime are shocking -- and omens of greater danger to come.

Review:  These books really are an awful lot of fun.  Mystery and intrigue set in a time that I have always adored reading about.  Plenty of humor and excitement and I still couldn't figure out whodunit until the very ending.  I'm already starting the next one and cannot wait.  I believe I liked this one even more than the last.

Rating:  9 / 10

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

Title:  Mistress of the Art of Death
Author:  Ariana Franklin
Format: PB
Pages: 400
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Berkley, 2008
ISBN-13:  978-0425219256 
Series: Mistress of the Art of Death, Book 1

Favorite Quote:  Henry Plantagenet, King of England, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, Count of Anjou, hoisted himself up on the refectory table, letting his legs dangle, and looked around.

Synopsis:  A chilling, mesmerizing novel that combines the best of modern forensic thrillers with the detail and drama of historical fiction. In medieval Cambridge, England, four children have been murdered. The crimes are immediately blamed on the town's Jewish community, taken as evidence that Jews sacrifice Christian children in blasphemous ceremoni... more »es. To save them from the rioting mob, the king places the Cambridge Jews under his protection and hides them in a castle fortress. King Henry I is no friend of the Jews-or anyone, really-but he is invested in their fate. Without the taxes received from Jewish merchants, his treasuries would go bankrupt. Hoping scientific investigation will exonerate the Jews, Henry calls on his cousin the King of Sicily-whose subjects include the best medical experts in Europe-and asks for his finest "master of the art of death," an early version of the medical examiner. The Italian doctor chosen for the task is a young prodigy from the University of Salerno. But her name is Adelia-the king has been sent a mistress of the art of death. Adelia and her companions-Simon, a Jew, and Mansur, a Moor-travel to England to unravel the mystery of the Cambridge murders, which turn out to be the work of a serial killer, most likely one who has been on Crusade with the king. In a backward and superstitious country like England, Adelia must conceal her true identity as a doctor in order to avoid accusations of witchcraft. Along the way, she is assisted by Sir Rowley Picot, one of the king's tax collectors, a man with a personal stake in the investigation. Rowley may be a needed friend, or the fiend for whom they are searching. As Adelia's investigation takes her into Cambridge's shadowy river paths and behind the closed doors of its churches and nunneries, the hunt intensifies and the killer prepares to strike again . .

Review:  And another new author I simply love.  I've already begun book two.  While there is some expected things, what I never expected was the ending, when the real killer was revealed.  There are some parts that are a little too obvious and sweet, but all in all this is a fine novel.

Rating:  8.5 / 10

The Prince and the Pilgrim by Mary Stewart

Title: The Prince and the Pilgrim
Author: Mary Stewart
Format: HC
Pages: 283
Genre: Fantasy / Historical Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow, 1996
ISBN-13:     978-0688145385 
Series: Stand Alone

Favorite Quote:  For this was not only the former Queen of Rheged, and Arthur's own sister, but also from all accounts a notable witch, whom men feared, and called Queen Morgan the sorceress, Morgan le Fay.

Synopsis:  The bestselling author of the acclaimed Merlin Trilogy returns to the magical world of King Arthur and Camelot--to tell a story of daring adventure, unexpected love, and unsurpassed enchantment. . . . 

— ALEXANDER THE FATHERLESS — Eager, burning, and young, Alexander has come of age to take vengeance on the treacherous King of Cornwall who murdered his father. He sets off toward Camelot to seek justice from King Arthur, only to be diverted by the beautiful and sensual Morgan le Fay, Arthur's sister. Using her wiles and her enchantments, Morgan persuades the young prince to attempt a theft of the Holy Grail. He is unaware her motives are of the darkest nature. . . .

— ALICE THE PRETTY PILGRIM — Motherless daughter of a royal duke, Alice has lived a life of lively adventure, accompanying her father on his yearly pilgrimages. Now, on her father's final visit to Jerusalem, she comes under the protection of a young prince whose brothers were murdered, a prince who is in possession of an enchanted silver cup believed to be the mysterious Holy Grail itself.

Thus the stage is set for two young seekers to meet--and to find not what they are searching for but, instead, the greatest treasure of all . . . love.

Review:  This story was set in Arthur's Britain, but the King himself was only mentioned.  This is a great side-story though and full of adventure and romance.  It was a super-fast and enthralling read.  I enjoyed it completely and am sad that this is the last book by this author that I own.  I will certainly remedy that in the future.

Rating:  10 / 10

The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart

Title: The Wicked Day
Author: Mary Stewart
Format: PB
Pages: 358
Genre: Fantasy / Historical Fiction
Publisher: Fawcett, 1984
ISBN-13:    978-0449205198
Series: Merlin, Book 4

Favorite Quotes:  So died Morgause, witch-queen of Lothian and Orkney, leaving by her death and its manner another hellbrew of trouble for her hated brother.

It was war.  This was the day.  This was the wicked day of destiny.

Synopsis:  The Wicked Day is the gripping story of Mordred, bastard son of King Arthur by incest with his half-sister Morgause, witch-queen of Lothian and Orkney. Morgause sent the child to the Orkney Islands to be reared there in secret, in the hope that one day he would become, as Merlin the Enchanter had prophesied, the doom of her hated half-brother.

When Mordred is taken from his rude life as a fisherboy in the islands and suddenly thrust into the full panoply of the High King Arthur's court, he learns of his true parentage and rises to a position of trust in his father's kingdom. But, as the plots and counterplots of the last part of Arthur's reign unfold, Mordred is drawn into the tangled web of tragedy that is the climactic drama of the Arthurian legend.

The Wicked Day breathtakingly displays Mary Stewart's extraordinary gift for bringing the obscure past to life. Her characters are unforgettable: the young Mordred, whose close bond with his father arouses dire jealousies in the High Court at Camelot; his malevolent mother; her four unruly sons by King Lot; King Arthur himself, his Queen Guinevere, his trusted friend Bedwyr; and the warring factions that seek to bring down the bastions of Arthur's new confederation of Britain.

As she did in her earlier Arthurian novels, Mary Stewart challenges the accepted legends in this stirring and danger-ridden tale. Was Mordred in truth a traitor--or the victim of implacable fate? Mary Stewart's view brings tremendous emotional impact to the drama, as Merlin's prophecy hangs broodingly over each moment and the action plays itself out inexorably to the final, wicked day . . .

Review:  I'm so glad to see Mordred portrayed not as some chillingly insane and evil villain.  It's refreshing to find an author who sees that sometimes destiny forces you to do things you'd rather not.  Both Mordred and Arthur are dead now, the Saxons are in Britain, and there is only one more book left by this author about this topic.  I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm looking forward to perhaps a more happy ending.

I liked this book, very nearly as well as any of them but not quite.  I didn't like knowing that Arthur was going to die.

Rating:  9 / 10

The Last Enchantment by Mary Stewart

Title: The Last Enchantment
Author: Mary Stewart
Format: PB
Pages: 471
Genre: Fantasy / Historical Fiction
Publisher: Fawcett, 1979
ISBN-13:     978-0449242070
Series: Merlin, Book 3

Favorite Quote:  I cried out:  "Stay for me, for God's sake!  I'm no ghost!  Stay!  Help me out of here!  Stilicho, stay!"

Synopsis (PBS):  The richest of the three...mighty...climactic...action and suspense constant, even harrowing."-- The Wall Street Journal — Arthur is King! But while unchallenged on the battlefield, sinister powers plot to destroy him in his own Camelot. When the rose-gold witch Morgause, Arthur's half-sister, ensnares him into an incestuous liaiso... more »n--and bears his son, Mordred, to use to her own evil ends--a fatal web of love, betrayal and bloody vengeance is woven.

Review:  I really like these books.  Morgause is delicously evil.  Guinevere is honorable and not written like she ruined King Arthur's life.  Merlin is at his decline, which I hated to see, but his legacy is passed on to Nimue (who also is not evil in the least in this version of the tale).  Mordred is barely met, but seems innocent enough at this point, although I know he will be the end for Arthur at some point, probably in the next book which I am starting today. 

While I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the last two books of this series, this is a very satisfying and believable tale of King Arthur, Merlin and Camelot.

Rating:  9.5 / 10

The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart

Title:  The Hollow Hills
Author:  Mary Stewart
Format: PB
Pages:  436
Genre: Fantasy / Historical Fiction
Publisher: Fawcett Crest, 1974
ISBN-13:     978-0449020890
Series: Merlin, Book 2 

Favorite Quote:  It had come by water and by land and lay waiting now for this, to bring Arthur his kingdom, and keep and hold it, and afterwards go from men's sight for ever....

Synopsis (PBS):  A novel that recreates the suspense and excitement of an ancient legend--how Merlin, the enchanter, helped Arthur become king of all Britain. — Once again, as she did in her international best seller The Crystal Cave, Mary Stewart uses Arthurian legend to tell a spellbinding story. — The Hollow Hills takes place in a fifth-century Britain fraught with superstition and fear, where no life is safe, no law is stable, and where a king risks accusations of murder and adultery to get himself an heir. For his own safety, the boy Arthur, rejected as a bastard by his father, is long kept ignorant of his parentage.

Dangerous rides through the deep forest of England and Wales, sudden battles amidst brooding mountains, and retreats into secret hollows in the hills provide the background for this tale of Arthur's growth into manhood and his discovery of the strange sword that was to test his claim to power.

Behind and around Arthur always is the mysterious, strong, yet vulnerable figure of Merlin, who see and knows so much but who, like Arthur, must also suffer for the sake of a nation being born. In this world of embattled kings and courtiers, hurried journeys, whispered anxieties, and sudden death, we watch Merlin and Arthur follow their common destiny.

Merlin is the narrator, and his prophetic voice communicates not only the bristling atmosphere of the ancient setting but also the profound relevance of this age-old tale to our own time.

Review:  Oh, so good.  I am thoroughly loving this series.  Merlin and Arthur are wonderful.  Uther is a flawed but genuinely good King.  This retelling of the finding of the sword in the stone is original and believable.  I just loved it.

Rating:  10 / 10

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart

Title:  The Crystal Cave
Author:  Mary Stewart
Format: HC
Pages:  519
Genre: Fantasy / Historical Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow, 1970
ISBN-13:    Pre ISBN
Series: Merlin, Book 1

Favorite Quote:  Do you think Uthur is a King, Cadel?  He's but a regent for him who went before and for him who comes after, the past and future King.

Synopsis (PBS):  A big novel of sheer enchantment, this is the story, told by himself, of Merlin, man of magic and eventual guardian of King Arthur.... — Almost everyone knows Merlin as the dark brooding figure mysteriously associated with Camelot and King Arthur's court. — But who, really, was Merlin? Was he the enchanter of fairy tales, the magician in the black robe and pointed hat and wand? Or was he the king and prophet of old legends of Brittany and Wales? How did a man reputed to be the bastard son of the Prince of Darkness, and condemned to death as a child of the Devil, become the chief architect of the first united Britain?

Mary Stewart's answers to these provocative questions form a spell-binding novel that catapults the reader into fifth-century Britain- a land uncertainly emerging from Roman rule and divided by conflicting loyalties, political and spiritual; a land riddled with rumor real and planted, and spear-alert with superstitious fear.

Into this strange world was born Merlin, bastard son of Niniane, daughter of the King of South Wales, and an unknown father. The novel opens in Wales when Merlin is seven, and closes in Cornwall, at Tintagel, with the begetting of Arthur.

Mary Stewart is one of the most widely read novelists writing today. Her great gift as a story-teller, her enviable flair for making places and action come alive have never been more clearly defined than in The Crystal Cave.

This is not a story to be read once, however eagerly, and forgotten. Its imaginative truth will stand the test of time.

Review:  One of the best Merlin stories I've ever read.  I applaud the fact that it is both believable and magical.  The characters are fabulous.  Old Britain is described in almost painful detail.  It is really almost perfect, although I admit I'm a sucker for anything related to Merlin and King Arthur.

Rating:  10 / 10

The Veil by Diane Noble

Title:  The Veil
Author:  Diane Noble
Format: PB
Pages: 377
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: WaterBrook, 1998
ISBN-13:  978-1578560141
Series: Stand Alone

Favorite Quote:  "Justice has to be seen to, Hannah.  One way or another."

Synopsis (PBS):  A shroud of secrecy cloaks a new nineteenth-century sect known simply as the Saints. But that veil is about to be drawn away. Amidst the majestic beauty of 1857 Utah, the members of one secluded religious group claim to want nothing more than to practice their beliefs without persecution. Yet among them are many who engage in secret vows and brutal acts of atonement…all in the name of God.

But one young woman, Hannah McClary, dares to question the truth behind the shroud. Soon Hannah and the young man she loves–Lucas Knight, who has been trained from childhood to kill on behalf of the Church–find themselves fighting for their very lives.

As a group of unwary pioneer families marches into Utah toward a tragic confrontation with the Saints at a place called Mountain Meadows, Hannah and Lucas are thrust into the most difficult conflict of all–a battle for truth and justice–even as they are learning for the first time about unconditional love, acceptance, and forgiveness.…

Review:  I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did.  It's got a lot of religious references, but that's to be expected since it is about the Mormons.  It had so much historical information that I really didn't know and it was surprising and horrifying and almost too much to handle in places.  The killing of the pioneer families was terrible.  Thankfully, the book ended on an upbeat note.  It's a good book and it's well worth a read but beware, it's not an easy story in places.

Rating:  6.5 / 10