The Kingmaking (Pendragon's Banner Trilogy, Vol 1)

Arthur Pendragon, chosen as the new leader of the Britons, becomes a pawn in a political triangle, as he is forced to choose between his new kingdom and Gwenhwyfar, the woman he loves

In this first volume of what promises to be a monumental historical trilogy, rookie British author Hollick depicts Arthur's rise from A.D. 450, when he was a 15-year-old boy of hidden parentage, to A.D. 457, when he took his place as the King Arthur of legend. The story combines private emotions and public statecraft as marriages, alliances and enemies are made and unmade to suit the politics of the era. Hollick mixes elements from fifth-century history, myth, early romances, contemporary fantasy and other novels about Arthur, adding her own inventions for good measure. The treatment of Gwenhwyfar and her love for Arthur (depicted here as star-crossed even without Lancelot's help) is especially vivid. Though the novel contains no supernatural aspects, with its exotic setting, passionate characters and epic battles and intrigue, it still should appeal to the fantasy fans to whom most Arthurian adventures are addressed. The language, too, is influenced by genre fantasy, especially in its dramatic descriptions and reliance on archaisms; but this big-hearted novel's historical speculations alone should make it of interest to the non-fantasy reader as well.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

As the rightful son of Uthr Pendragon, Arthur dreams of uniting the warring kings of Britain. Gwenhwyfar's hope, as the only daughter of Cuncedda, the Lion Lord of Gwynedd, is to join Arthur's cause. Hollick's first novel re-creates the uneasy political climate of fifth-century Britain, a land suffering under the rule of the tyrant Vortigern. Stripped of its medieval trappings, the story of Arthur's rise loses none of its legendary power. Most libraries will want to add this well-researched, skillfully constructed trilogy opener to their collections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Making her debut, a new and promising author inaugurates an Arthurian trilogy, Pendragon's Banner, with an account of Arthur's youth and early manhood, periods even more open to speculation than the rest of his career. She covers Arthur's learning of war and intrigue and his relationships with his father, the young Guinevere, and scores of others--some historical, some legendary, and some creations of Hollick's fertile imagination. She gives Arthur a taste for wine, women, and song, and also a slight lack of scruples (the influence of modern psychology shows here), thereby cutting her work out for herself when she has to transform him into a hero-king in the coming books. Meanwhile, however, she has begun with a readable story on a subject with an established audience of enormous size. Roland Green