Title Mordred, Bastard Son Series The Chronicles of Mordred Author Douglas Clegg Cover Art --- Publisher Alyson Books - 2006 First Printing Alyson Books - 2006 Category Fantasy Warnings None Main Characters Mordred, Lancelot, Merlin, etc Main Elements Arthurian

Conceived in violence...
Born from royalty...
Raised in exile.

In this brilliant reimagining of the legends of King Arthur, a young monk becomes enthralled by the story that a wounded mysterious prisoner in his care begins to tell. That prisoner is Mordred, the traditional villain of Arthurian legend, and hist story is one of ambition, power and betrayal. "I came into this life during the Beltane Fires," he states, "and I was born to the caverns of the Lady of the Lake, and learned of life in the ancient forest of Broceliande."

Mordred emerges as a heroic and romantic figure, torn between his powerful mother's desire for revenge against Arthur, his own conflicted feelings towards the father who betrayed him, and his passionate love affair with a knight in King Arthur's court. From his birth into his youth, Mordred's soul is forged by the great forces of the Arthurian world - and of the shadow-legend of a father who has sought the death of his only son.

The first book in an epic series, Mordred, Bastard Son, sets the stage for a grand adventure of love, friendship, magick, war, and triumph. In the hands of Bram Stoker Award-winning author Douglas Clegg, here is a fresh and dazzling chapter in the Arthurian canon.

Honestly, I picked this book out of the huge pile of books I owned since I thought I'd be able to make space on my shelf after reading it. I mean Mordred x Lancelot? Plus I'm not into erotica and stuff. I wrong, this book ended up surprising me by being a keeper, I can picture myself re-reading it. Two things drew me in.

One of course was Mordred himself, as teenager trying to figure out his place in the world he was actually an interesting character. His homosexuality is handled in a very positive manner, living amongst a people that accept it, even as he unfortunately falls for his best friend who only has eyes for a girl.

The other was the setting, a druidic Britain, still talking about the Roman occupation and worshiping the old gods, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Keep in mind the "knights in shining armor" is not an accurate retelling of any possible real Arthur that could have existed, so even if the Lancelot bits kind of fly in the face of what we know of the Arthurian story, I didn't mind. There's no one true version of Arthur's story, and thus the same for the characters around him. I love a world where the gods are real and there is magic in everything if you can just see it.

I am very disappointed that the other two books in the trilogy have not, and likely will not, be written (a gap of near 20 years makes that a near certainty, but you never know). This is not a standalone, and while obviously I have a general idea how things will turn out (hint, Mordred will kill his father) we don't know how it comes to work out that way.