- Genre:fiction
- Sub-genre:Fantasy / Arthurian
- Language:English
- Pages:348
- eBook ISBN:9798317823436
- Paperback ISBN:9798317815554
Book details
Overview
With the exception of Beowulf, the most famous tale in English medieval literature is probably Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In its original telling, it was a tale of impossible challenge, heroic pledge, and steadfast knighthood. It took the listener/reader through Gawain's initial encounter with a mysterious knight in green, his arrival at the castle of Sir Bertilek, a near seduction, and the final, harrowing encounter. Falcon expands that original story. Drawing on Sir Thomas Mallory's great 15th century stories of King Arthur, it adds Gawain's yearlong, fearful expectation of doom and the yearlong revenge machinations of Arthur's half-sister and mortal enemy, Morgan le Fey. It is the same 14th century tale greatly enlarged in meaning; now a story of sorcery and religion, chivalry and will-to-live, self-doubt, and the loss of all. In Falcon, we see the world of Arthur's fellowship, its gatherings and banquets, the colliding melee of Camelot's annual tournament at Pentecost, and the tale telling of knights returned from quests. We see Gawain's nightlong vigil to enter the fellowship of the Round Table and his emerging uncertainty about knighthood's virtue. We see Morgan's slow manipulation of Merlin and use of ancient texts to grow in sorcery, determined to destroy Arthur and the fellowship of the Round Table. Falcon mingles details of the Arthurian Round Table world with modern ideas of self doubt and feminine self-possession, the uncertain link of religion and magic, and the questioning impact of experience. Arthur, born of rape and murder, becomes a questionable chivalric hero. Morgan nurtures an affinity with the falcons of her father's weathering yard. Gawain learns about knighthood's shortcomings and the bothersome confusion of seeing things as they are.
Readers Favorite Review by Richard Prause:
Falcon blends historical fantasy with poetic myth to present a brilliant retelling of the Arthurian legend. Richard Lewis writes in a flowing yet focused style, mixing storytelling with symbolic moments inspired by nature, magic, and religion. The setting moves from battlefields and royal halls to convent walls and wild landscapes, creating a sense of a world shaped by both faith and older beliefs. Arthur, Morgan, and Gawain are presented as complex figures molded by past actions rather than simple ideals. The narrative repeatedly questions whether power can ever be clean or innocent. The book feels closer to a medieval chronicle than a romantic legend, with hard choices and lasting consequences at the center of the story. Fans of thoughtful fantasy, Arthurian stories, or books that explore heroism in new ways will find this one unforgettable.
Description
Falcon begins in the loins of Uther Pendragon, besotted in an instant with the beauty of Igrayne, wife of the Duke of Cornwall. Merlin helps him have his way. Thus, rape and murder become the adulterous origin of Arthur. Morgan, daughter of Igrayne and the Duke, a child of unusual intelligence and curiosity, informed of all this and seeing what evil magic has done to both mother and father, uses the seduction of Merlin and the stay at a convent to make sorcery her own tool of revenge.
While she settles in in the north, growing in enmity and in sorcery, Arthur grows up, draws the sword from the stone, and, largely through a murderous military campaign against the kings of the north, becomes king. He invites young knights to join a chivalric fellowship which he intends to guard women and holy Church. Gawain, with his brothers, comes to Camelot, becomes a knight, taking on and believing in the all-night ceremony's virtue. When, on New Year's Eve, Arthur and the vaunted knights of the Round Table are visited by the intimidating Green Knight, Gawain steps up to rescue Arthur, then rues his rash courage as he begins to see in the reluctance of the other knights a look-the-other-way fly in knighthood's ointment. His doubt grows through the year he must wait before, having bravely given his word, he must present his head to the Green Knight, a year during which Morgan needles Arthur from afar with falcon magic: the shock of the Green Knight's face during Easter Mass, the scary songs of an itinerant troubadour, a horrific conclusion to the Pentecost tournament.
The year of waiting over, Gawain sets out on his obligatory journey. On the way, he has encounters that add to his uncertainty about the whole enterprise. He meets a victim of Arthur's wars, a Welsh widow he stumbles upon. Then he encounters a hermit monk who billets him for the night and gives him food for thought, before mysteriously disappearing. He eventually reaches the castle of Sir Bertilek where he learns he's surprisingly close to the Green Knight's "chapel;" also, where he unexpectedly encounters Morgan le Fay who has a message for him. He survives a determined seduction effort by Lady Bertilek, commits a major knightly faux pas, and finally finds his way to the Chapel of the Green Knight on time.
Falcon is true to the original story in its presentation of the final encounter between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, though not entirely. All happens just the same, but with a new meaning.
Read more