Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #719659 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-07
• Released on: 2003-04-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 208 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 6 Up-Absorbing reading for those who enjoy Arthurian legends. As the story opens, Medraut, the High King's eldest son, is returning to Artos's court, Camlan, after a six-year absence. There he finds Lleu, his frail, sickly half-brother, dying of an illness, and devotes himself to healing him. Born of incest between Artos and his sister Morgause, Medraut can never be High King, although he is outwardly more capable than Lleu. His intense love for his brother is mixed with extreme envy. When the evil Morgause comes to Camlan with her four younger sons, she brings with her a desire to control Lleu. Exploiting Medraut's envy, insecurity, and shame, and using her enchantress's power, she enlists his help. A journey of betrayal, masked as a hunting trip, becomes a time of cruelty, fear, and passion for the half brothers, ending in an intense battle of wills between them. Medraut admits his love for Lleu, who has found the inner strength he needs, and realizes that he can choose not to be bound to his mother's will. The tension of this last section is strongly involving and convincing. The characterizations are complex and finely drawn, as are the familial relationships. Written as if Medraut is telling the story to Morgause, his love-hate feelings for her are powerfully conveyed. A strong debut for a new novelist, and a story well worth reading.
Jane Gardner Connor, South Carolina State Library, Columbia
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 7-12. Fantasy lovers and devotees of Arthurian legends will enjoy Wein's challenging but engrossing novel, which probes the soul of Mordred (or Medraut as Wein names him), the illegitimate son of Artos (presumably Arthur) and Artos' half-sister Morgause. In Wein's sympathetic hands, Medraut is a skillful, well-traveled healer who loves his half-brother Lleu, the legitimate heir to Artos' kingdom. She also portrays Medraut as conflicted enough to succumb to the wiles of Morgause (knowing full well of her cruelty) and as capable of sacrificing Lleu for revenge. Medraut is jealous of Lleu's blameless birthright and the power Lleu wields so thoughtlessly, and he yearns not only for Artos' approval, but also for recognition that he is not responsible for the shame of his parentage. In a gripping climax, both Lleu and Medraut face the demons that haunt them and emerge knowing they will never fear each other again. Chris Sherman

From Kirkus Reviews
A first novel that compares honorably with Sutcliff's books in its lyrical evocation of Arthur's Britain and is also akin to Napoli's The Magic Circle (p. 789) in its contemporary reworking of legendary figures--particularly women. Omitting Merlin and Lancelot, Wein incorporates Welsh lore and names in her story: at Artos's Camlann are his queen, Ginevra, and his three children: twins Goewin and sickly Lleu, Artos's legitimate heir, and their older half-brother Medraut (Mordred), whose narrative is addressed to beautiful, dangerous Morgause--Artos's sister and Medraut's mother--a cruel, fascinating woman whose gentle hands more often harm than heal. Conniving to make Medraut Artos's heir, she torments Lleu with poisons, while Medraut--a gifted, richly complex young man whose deep ambivalence about Lleu governs the story--heals and taunts him, teaches, admires, and envies him and finally takes the lad hostage at Morgause's behest. Lleu, coming into his real strengths, turns tables on his captor; their journey home is one of self-realization and reconciliation--themes emblemized, earlier, in a solstice celebration when the ``Winter Prince''--the Old Year's son-- enables the New Year's birth. The metamorphosis of the relationships is both dynamic and subtle, and Wein's chosen voice is intriguing, since there's no setting for the telling--is Medraut still compelled, even when his loyalties have shifted, to explain himself to Morgause? Goewin, who's as able as her brothers and empathizes with her aunt's thwarted ambition, may have a tale of her own. A mesmerizing, splendidly imagined debut. (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.