An engaging and epic yarn that explores the history behind the magic of Camelot.
In the first volume of a saga chronicling the exploits of a knight of the Round Table, Sir Percival returns to Albion only to find that much has changed.
After 10 fruitless years of searching for the Holy Grail, Sir Percival arrives in Albion alongside his loyal companion and fighting partner, Capussa. Unfortunately, Arthur Pendragon died while the knight was gone, and the rest of Camelot with him. His queen, Guinevere, hides in a monastery, alone but for a few trusted ladies and a network of spies. Albion is ravaged by violence at the hands of the cruel Morgana and the Norse raiders that she employed as sellswords to defeat Arthur. Rather than a witch, Morgana is actually a Roman princess and assassin whom the king in Constantinople sent to Albion so that she could kill a wise man called Melitas. In Albion, Melitas is better known as Merlin, Arthur’s most trusted adviser. While Merlin remains alive, Morgana won’t leave Albion in peace. When Percival learns of the tragedy that has befallen his country, he sets out to find his queen—with whom he always had a special bond—and report to her. He recalls his feelings for the young Guinevere a decade ago (“His days and nights were haunted by her enchanting laugh, mesmerizing smile, and noble soul”). But Morgana refuses to have a knight of the Round Table back in the country, inciting the beaten-down people of Albion to rise up against her iron fist and reclaim their freedom. Another big battle is coming, and soon. O’Keefe (Helius Legacy, 2012) takes elements of Arthurian legend that most readers are familiar with and grounds them in the harsh, historical reality of the time period. The story of heroic Percival and his quest to save the land—and the lady—he loves is suitably epic and full of adventures, not to mention colorful characters. Percival is appropriately noble and easy to root for against the utterly evil Morgana, but the real star here is the knight’s fiery friend, the warrior Capussa, whose sharp sense of humor should make him a favorite of readers. At one point he tells Percival: “Well, now that you’ve decided to start a war, do you mind overly much if I propose a plan to win it?”
An engaging and epic yarn that explores the history behind the magic of Camelot.Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62634-309-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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