Raven Warrior: v. 2 (Tales of Guinevere) - Softcover

Borchardt, Alice

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593050630 ISBN 13: 9780593050637

Publisher: Bantam Press, 2003

Synopsis

Guinevere, Queen of the Dragon People, has become a woman and taken the power offered to her by the Dragon Throne. Now there is no turning back - to protect her beloved homeland from the reviled Saxon raiders, she must strike first. But her chieftains give her a war party of the weakest, the outcasts - for what can this young girl, barely a woman, really know of the art of war. Undeterred but facing her first bloody confrontation with the Saxon raiders, and with only her motley band of ill-equipped fighters at her side, Guinevere calls upon the spirits of the dead to help her - but in summoning the dead, there is a terrible price to pay, one that will change her utterly. Further south, Black Leg - Guinevere's childhood companion and the shape-shifting son of her adoptive father - begins his own life-changing journey. He knows he has much to learn, and even more to prove. His is a quest to become a man - one worthy of the newly-crowned Guinevere, one who will become known and revered as Lancelot, the Raven Warrior. It is a journey that proves more perilous, more terrifying with every step and when he and Guinevere are at last reunited, the consequences of their ordeals will unleash a torrent of anguish and desire. Brilliantly reimagining familiar characters for a new generation of Arthurian readers - evil Merlin, conniving Igraine, complex Lancelot, tainted Arthur and, of course, warrior Guinevere - Alice Borchardt's enthralling and thrillingly original retelling stands as a testament to the power of the imagination.

About this title

Book Description

The second book in the 'Tales of Guinevere' and a thrilling sequel to THE DRAGON QUEEN.

From the Back Cover

Born of the Highlands, along shores washed by northern seas, Guinevere has accepted the power offered to her by the Dragon Throne and been crowned Queen.

Her first duty must be to her homeland and her people, to protect them from the reviled Saxon raiders. Instinct tells her she must strike first or surrender control of the seas, but her chieftains and warlords refuse to accept that their new queen, barely a woman, can know anything of the art of war and offer her an army of misfits and outcasts. Young and untried, Guinevere knows she cannot - must not - fail. Sailing to confront the hated enemy with only this motley band of ill-equipped fighters at her side, she summons the spirits of the dead. But there is a terrible price to pay for their help - a knowledge that will change her utterly.

As Guinevere faces the first great test of her reign, so her childhood companion, Black Leg - the shape-shifting son of her adoptive father - begins his own quest to become a man and warrior worthy of this new queen. In his wanderings, he will endure trials both mental and physical, discover inner strengths and, with the Lady of the Lake, primal passions, each experience more perilous, more terrifying, than the last. And when he and Guinevere are finally reunited, the consequences of both their ordeals will unleash a torrent of anguish and desire. For he is the Raven Warrior, the one who will be called Lancelot .

Set during the dark age when history and myth collide, The Raven Warrior continues Alice Borchardt's breathtaking re-imagining of the timeless tale of a king called Arthur and, of course, of his mercurial queen, Guinevere.

The Dragon Queen:
'Wildly imaginative and astonishingly exhilarating . filled with fresh and unanticipated marvels.' Interzone

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0593050630
• ISBN 13: 9780593050637
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 480