by Nancy McKenzie
Del Ray, January, 2003.
Hardcover, 510 pages.
ISBN: 0345456483
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One might think that the Arthurian legends had been
told in every way possible by now and that this story
was time for retirement. Nancy McKenzie, author of
Queen of Camelot, proves otherwise in her
brilliantly imagined novel,
Grail Prince. McKenzie
sets her novel in two timelines: during the golden
moments of King Arthur's reign, and during the
years just after his reign came to an end after his death
in a bloody battle. The young Galahad, son of
Sir Lancelot, has been raised by his bitter, vengeful mother,
the beautiful, Elaine, cousin to Queen Guinivere. Jealous of
her cousin, Elaine raises Galahad to despise his father as
an adulterer and man of no honor -- which is far from the truth.
As his dying wish, King Arthur (whom Galahad admires greatly)
asked Galahad to quest to find
the Holy Grail, a magical spear and the sword Excalibur. When these
magical items are together, England will never fall. Galahad sets out
on the quest with his friend Prince Percival. Along the way,
they will encounter love, loss, tragedy, battle and of course
prophecy and magic.
Galahad is a young man with some very strange ideas.
Because of his poisonous upbringing, he has a real
hatred for his estranged father and is obsessed with the idea of staying
chaste in order to be worthy of completing the quest. He's also
developed quite a dislike for women, which is challenged by
Percival's beautiful and spirited sister, Dane. But his adventures
shake up all of Galahad's preconceived notions, and
require him to question all of his beliefs. As much a well-written
coming of age story as an adventure into Camelot,
Grail
Prince is a unique and compelling novel.
Grail Prince is available for purchase on
Amazon.com
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This review was published in the June-July, 2003 of The Internet Writing Journal.
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