Booklog 51/2019: Kari Sperring: Serpent Rose (A NewCon Press Novella)

[jacey]

This is an Arthurian story which hardly mentions Arthur himself, but concentrates on the four-and-a-half sons of King Lot of Orkney and his queen, Morgause. The sons are Gawain (Gavin), Agravain (Agrin), Gaheris (Heris), Gareth (Gari), and their half-brother Medraut. The teller and lynchpin of the tale is Gaheris, who believes himself to be the least of his father's sons. So he finds it strange (though maybe a little flattering) when the young knight-in-training, Lamorak, seems to hero worship him. He thinks things might cool off when Lamorak is knighted and goes off for a year to be a knight errant, but trouble is on its way when Lamorak catches the eye of Morgause. Gaheris knows what his mother is like and what his hot tempered brothers will do if they find out what's going on, and desperately tries to avert tragedy. What we have here is the story within the story. The Arthurian legend tells it one way, but we see a different story leading to the same ending. Kari Sperring's prose is elegant, her storytelling impeccable, Gaheris is a sympathetic character. I would have been happy to spend more time with him.