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This is a book of four novellas, each narrated by a different character and each outlining an incident in the life of Gaheris, one of the five Princes of Orkney, sons of King Lot who rebelled against King Arthur. The Serpent Rose and The Rose Knot, the first two novellas have been previously published, and I have read both, but I was glad to revisit them and then continue on to the final two. The Orkney boys are - in birth order - Gawain, Agravaine, Gareth, Gaheris and their half-brother Medraut. Gawain is the most famous, of course, and Gaheris seems unremarkable in comparison, but here Kari Sperring brings out his importance to Arthur, the Round Table and those around him. The Orkney brothers are hot-tempered and argumentative, and Agravaine, in particular, doesn't like Gaheris and takes every opportunity to make that plain. Gaheris, tall and powerful, has the Orkney temper, but we mostly see him overcoming it. Even Arthur remarks that he is a man made for peace in a time of war. Each novella is narrated by a different character, Gaheris himself, Llinos, his brother Gareth's wife, Thorn, a half-magical woman who recounts meeting Gaheris, and Gawain whose account is sad and self-recriminatory. The Sepent Rose recounts the story of Lamorak, his infatuation with Gaheris is a problem and Lamorak's eventual downfall. The Rose Knot tells of Ghaeris and Llinos's brief, illicit relationship, eventually resolved. In the third novella, the half-magical woman, Thorn recounts meeting Gaheris as his brother's squire, and the second time when he comes to her domain in rags and lifts an ancient curse. The final novella, ten years later, has Gawain blaming himself for the consequences of Agravain's rebellion against Arthur. It ends just as the battle of Camlann, Arthur's final battle, is about to begin. Kari Sperring's prose is fluid and elegant, her research into the original sources (recounted at the end) is impeccable. I love this book.
Kari Sperring's prose is clean, elegant and has not one wasted word.
In this novella she returns to the time of King Arthur, to the sons of Lot, the Orkney Royal family, who fight and squabble amongst themselves. The sons are Gawain (Gavin), Agravain (Agrin), Gaheris (Heris), Gareth (Gari), and their half-brother Medraut. In Ms Sperring's last 'Orkney' novella she concentrated on Gaheris and Lamorak, this time it's Gaheris again, but told by Llinos, the wife of Gawain. Gaheris is given the task of escorting Llinos home. He has the best of intentions, but then they enter an enchanted forest and all bets are off. It's a story of love, infidelity and loyalty. Highly recommended.
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.
