Arthurian recs?

[ladyofastolat]

Despite the important role that Arthurian legend has played in my life, I haven't actually read all that many Arthurian novels. Does anyone have any recommendations, especially for books that have appeared on the scene after the early 90s, when most of my previous reading took place? (However, feel free to recommend earlier stuff. I've definitely missed many must-reads. I'm currently 50 pages into my first ever reading of Sword at Sunset, for example - a book I really should have read decades ago. I'm not sure why I didn't, given that I read The Lantern Bearers several times. Anyway...)

I'm open to recommendations for pretty much anything with an Arthurian element, from Arthur the Romano-British warlord to Arthur the high king of an medieval romantic castle; from modern-set fantasies that draw on Arthurian legends (like The Dark is Rising), to the Matter of Britain transposed to space; from retellings of the well-known stories, to stories about original characters who live on the fringes of Arthur's world, observing from the outside. (I always love outsider viewpoints.)

The only things I'm not that keen on are:
- Macho military battle stories, with endless battles waged by paper-thin characters. A few battles are fine, but I want emotions and characters, too.
- Books full of New Age mysticism, although some magic is fine.

I'm also dubious about books that try to convince us that Mordred was just misunderstood. I read one once, and it was okay. I could grudgingly accept it for the duration of the book, but that was all. Having recently had my heart broken all over again by Gillian Bradshaw, I am not currently receptive to this idea.

Comments

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

MY FAVOURITE TOPIC. :) I haven't read the comments (although I will, I'm always up for more recs myself!) so apologies if I end up repeating things. Also, I may end up coming back as I can't remember everything on my shelf off the top of my head ...

Sarah Zettels' Camelot Quartet - Camelot's Shadow, Camelot's Honour, Camelot's Sword and Camelot's Blood. They're all absolutely wonderful and focus on the Orkney brothers and various women in their lives. I love these ridiculously, I find them fascinating and beautiful and I love the way they do the stories.

If you want something that's kind of goofy and fun and yet has some really interesting ideas on Arthurian legend, try Gerald Morris's The Squire Tales. My favourites are Sir Gawain, His Squire and His Lady and The Ballard of Sir Dinadan but they're all interesting and fun and charming. I haven't read the last two, looks like they're going to be a bit depressing because, well the ending of Arthurian legend usually is!

If you're receptive to an interesting Mordred story, Elizabeth Wein's The Winter Prince was very good like this and does different things with the story without vilifying Arthur (which I haaaaaaaaaate.)

The Road to Avalon by Joan Wolff. It was an interesting idea, I really liked the relationship between Arthur and Morgana (Morgan? I can't remember what they called her in this one) and it was just really pretty good.

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh! Exiled from Camelot by Cherith Baldry. It was really exciting and different and made me very happy indeed. It's about Kay and telling a story that I didn't really know (might be made up) and I thought it was excellent.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

That Sarah Zettel series looks very promising. I've got so many books on the list now that I doubt I'll get round to reading all of them before I move on to some other enthusiasm, but I'll put them near the top. I may well try The Road to Avalon, too. Thanks!

I've several times meant to try that Gerald Morris series. We've still got a few copies in stock, but they never really issued at all well, so I'll have to grab them before they get withdrawn.

I have read The Winter Prince - it was the "Mordred is just misunderstood" story that I mentioned. To be honest, I can't remember much about it now, so I could well be being unjust when I say that I just found it "okay." I read it more as a lead-in to the follow-up books set in Ethiopia, which someone had recommended to me, than as a book in its own right. I've still got it, so I may well return to it.