Forever King (Gollancz) - Softcover

Molly Cochran, Warren Murphy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1857980948 ISBN 13: 9781857980943

Publisher: Gollancz, 1993

Synopsis

King Arthur has returned, reincarnated as a 10-year-old boy who finds a miraculous cup—a vessel once known as the Holy Grail. With the help of the cup, an alcoholic ex-FBI agent, and a British pensioner who knows more than he admits, Arthur the boy must find a way to become Arthur the King once more.

About this title

About the Author

Molly Cochran has written and ghostwritten 25 novels and nonfiction books, including the Edgar-winning bestseller Grandmaster and The Forever King, recipient of the New York Public Library award for Books of the Teen Age, both co-written with Warren Murphy, and the nonfiction bestseller Dressing Thin. Her most recent novel is Mireille, published by Lake Union Press. Learn more about Molly at www.MollyCochran.com. Warren Murphy is the author of the long-running satirical action/adventure series, The Destroyer, on which the movie Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins was based; the Trace series of detective novels which spawned the television series Murphy’s Law, and a number of other books, stories, and screenplays. His film credits include The Eiger Sanction and Lethal Weapon II. His work has won a dozen national awards, including two Edgars and two Shamuses. Learn more about Warren at www.WarrenMurphy.com or www.DestroyerBooks.com.

From Kirkus Reviews

Arthurian-revival yarn from the authors of High Priest (1989), with dismally unpromising ingredients. Arthur is reincarnated as a ten-year-old Chicago boy; his protector, Galahad, is drunk ex-FBI man Hal Woczniak. The Grail, a magic cup-shaped meteorite that heals at a touch, confers immortality on whoever holds it. For reasons beyond conjecture, this holder turns out to be Saladin (yes, he of Crusades fame). Merlin returns to life, never mind how, having spent centuries as a ghost in vanished Camelot, the latter located, for reasons equally baffling, in Dorset. And most of the action occurs in a present-day England, about which the authors clearly know next to nothing. Millennia ago, escaped slave boy Saladin acquired the magic cup by murdering its kindly Neanderthal keeper, and thus became immortal. Occasionally he loses the cup, so his life is dedicated to keeping it secret. In post-Roman times, Saladin wandered to England, where he became involved in Arthur's experiments with social democracy and accidentally healed the old wizard Merlin of fatal heart failure. Later, when Arthur lay dying of wounds, Saladin not only refused to heal him with the cup but attempted to finish the king off, so Merlin took by force of magic, saved Arthur, then offered him the cup; Arthur refused the cup's awesome power. Later, Saladin recovered the cup and went on to further exploits, while Arthur died and Merlin faded away. Now, in the present, Arthur and Galahad are reunited with Merlin. Saladin, having served time in a mental institution for a series of grotesque murders, breaks out and goes forth to reclaim his cup, which, seemingly by chance, Arthur has acquired along with title to the ruins of Camelot. Given the ingredients, it's no surprise that the doings- -``plot'' is too definite a term--make no sense at all. Neither do the characters offer much appeal. In sum: unmitigated drivel--but it will probably find an audience. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Gollancz
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 1857980948
• ISBN 13: 9781857980943
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464