Gillian Bradshaw (1) (1956–)

This is the second in Gillian Bradshaw's Arthurian trilogy set against a version of Dark Age Britain. In this, the focus is again on the career of Gwalchmai (Hawk of May, name taken from the Welsh version), known as Gawain in the legends, although this time from the POV of a young farmer, Rhys. Rhys is the son of Sion who helped Gwalchmai reach Arthur's camp in book 1. Nine years later, Gwalchmai is riding the countryside in winter, wounded and bedraggled, in search of Elidan a king's sister whom he wronged then realised he loved. Unfortunately, he killed her brother in battle after forgetting he had promised her he wouldn't, and she is from an unforgiving proud family. Sion and his family persuade Gwalchmai to stay with them and recover, and he eventually tells them about her. Rhys, who has always had the ambition to be a warrior, volunteers to become Gwalchmai's servant - at 21, he is far too old to train as a warrior, but as a Christian, he believes he can serve the Light in other ways. At present, an uneasy peace holds, following the defeat of the Saxons at a major battle some time before (in the gap between the two volumes), though Arthur's subject kings continue to cause problems.

The story shows how Rhys settles in at Camlann (Arthur's camp, known as Camelot in legend) and his impression of Gwalchmai's fellow warriors, some of whom, such as Gwalchmai's brother Agravain, abuse servants. Later, Arthur sends them on a mission, with another warrior called Rhuwan, to the court of a subject king whom he knows to be plotting, to find out who are his allies. To Gwalchmai's horror, his own father Lot, his mother Morgawse - the witch whose powers he escaped in book 1 - and his corrupted brother Medraut (Mordred) are present and it is obvious that mother and son are conspiring with the petty king against Arthur. Lot, on the other hand, is a shadow of the man we saw in book 1, and Gwalchmai decides that Morgawse has drained him with her evil sorcery. The situation becomes critical when Rhuwan starts falling under the spell of the smooth talking Medraut and Gwalchmai's reputation as someone who "goes mad" in battle is used against him.

This is a more successful story on the whole than book 1 as it is told through a down-to-earth farmer's viewpoint. We see Gwalchmai's unworldliness and the cynicism and bitterness which stem from his guilt and estrangement from Elidan. The company of Rhys is good for him, and the two men bond as time goes on, even when Medraut tries to prise them apart.

The only part of the story that drags is when they are first at the petty king's court and the situation stagnates for quite a while until Morgawse and Medraut show their hand. After that, it becomes fast paced with quite a lot of action. There is also another love story, apart from Gwalchmai's, wound through the later part of the narrative, when Rhys starts to fall for a young servant girl of Morgawse's - with the added twist of her appearing to be false. And, by the end of the novel, the story of Elidan comes to a conclusion and a young character is introduced whom it is obvious will eventually come to Camlann . More ominously, things begin to shape up for the traditional ending of the Arthurian story.



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