pick3.5 Stars • Taliesin, the first book in Stephen R. Lawhead‘s Pendragon Cycle, blends Arthurian legend with Atlantis myth. Charis, an Atlantean princess, survives her homeland‘s destruction and meets Taliesin, a prophetic Celtic bard, in post-Roman Britain. Their romance, set against cultural upheaval, births Merlin and sets the stage for Arthur‘s rise.
#Taliesin #ThePendragonCycle #StephenRLawhead #Bookish #suvataReads
pickIt took me a while to get into this one, and I eventually needed to enlist the aid of the audiobook, which was helpful in getting a sense for the Welsh pronunciations anyway, but in the end, I quite enjoyed this novel. It's definitely dated, written in 1976 with gender roles to match, but the mythology and the emotional truth of the relationships makes up for some of my grouchy feelings about the importance of learning homemaking for a teen girl.
#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView
1. To paraphrase Homer Simpson, we paid our taxes over a year ago. (Seriously, though, our taxes for this year are long done.)
2. Wales. (I assume it will be about more once I get into it, but for now, it's very much just about Wales and how American teens in the mid-1970s feel about living there.)
pickFantastic and non-biased. The author made a clear effort to provide evidence-based accounts of the murders. I wish more authors would follow his lead.
pickAfter the death of his wife, David Morgan uproots his 3 kids from their home in America and moves them to the tiny coastal village of Borth, Wales (pictured). The move is hardest on the middle child who hates his new home until he finds an ancient artifact that connects him through time to the bard, Taliesin.
I loved this middle-grades fantasy, especially the subtlety of the magic involved, which takes a back seat to the family relationships.
Miracle Max is the Jack of Clubs in the Princess Bride deck that I‘ve been using for bookmarks, so every time I open my book I think (say it with me now) “Have fun storming the castle!”
Someone should tell Peter that this is where you have to be in a middle-grades fantasy for the plot to kick in.
#Starting this gift from a friend.
It feels exactly like the kind of middle-grades fantasy that I read all the time as a kid and reread as comfort food in college.
Major Susan Cooper vibes, if you get my drift.
Here we go, already. So many good little tid bits in these books. #sarahwoodbury is a genius like that.
#thelastpendragon #taliesin
