Post by himiko on Sept 16, 2017 18:43:06 GMT
I recently picked up this book as an attempt at reading more books on the huge Arthurian booklist 
This one came highly recommended, but was a little harder to get hold of than some of the others on the list. Thankfully it was definitely worth it, IMO.
Essentially, the book purports to take place within/alongside Mallory's La Morte d'Arthur, so the setting is very much in the quasi-mediaeval, magic-is-definitely-real vein, rather than attempting for a historically realistic background as with some other versions. The central plot point - Guinevere hosts a dinner for several of Arthur's knights, at which one such knight is poisoned and the queen herself is accused of the deed by relatives of the deceased - does apparently appear in LMdA. In Idylls of the Queen, we see Sir Kay (Arthur's foster brother and short tempered Seneschal) decides to save the Queen from her impending trial by finding the real killer. He's aided in this by Mordred - mostly because the two of them are the only ones able to stand the other for a prolonged period of time. Other prominent characters include Nimue (Merlin's former apprentice and the Lady of the Lake) and Morgan le Fay, as well as Mordred's half brothers. Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot and Merlin have little-to-no "screentime" each, but all of them have their presences felt in the plot. In the end, finding out who killed the knight is less the point of the book than seeing Kay and Mordred (each "outsiders" in the Round Table fellowship) as well as some of the other characters traditionally relegated to the side or to villiany giving their own take on the Arthurian legend, on the actions of some of it's major players, and on the darker sides of some of the aspects of chivalry and our so called heroes.
Basically, Kay and Mordred team up to solve crime and snark at everyone.
This one came highly recommended, but was a little harder to get hold of than some of the others on the list. Thankfully it was definitely worth it, IMO.Essentially, the book purports to take place within/alongside Mallory's La Morte d'Arthur, so the setting is very much in the quasi-mediaeval, magic-is-definitely-real vein, rather than attempting for a historically realistic background as with some other versions. The central plot point - Guinevere hosts a dinner for several of Arthur's knights, at which one such knight is poisoned and the queen herself is accused of the deed by relatives of the deceased - does apparently appear in LMdA. In Idylls of the Queen, we see Sir Kay (Arthur's foster brother and short tempered Seneschal) decides to save the Queen from her impending trial by finding the real killer. He's aided in this by Mordred - mostly because the two of them are the only ones able to stand the other for a prolonged period of time. Other prominent characters include Nimue (Merlin's former apprentice and the Lady of the Lake) and Morgan le Fay, as well as Mordred's half brothers. Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot and Merlin have little-to-no "screentime" each, but all of them have their presences felt in the plot. In the end, finding out who killed the knight is less the point of the book than seeing Kay and Mordred (each "outsiders" in the Round Table fellowship) as well as some of the other characters traditionally relegated to the side or to villiany giving their own take on the Arthurian legend, on the actions of some of it's major players, and on the darker sides of some of the aspects of chivalry and our so called heroes.
Basically, Kay and Mordred team up to solve crime and snark at everyone.
