Le Morte d'Marcus Drake. (46)
Dark Jenny by Alex Bledsoe.
Belacrux, Clarent &
Excalibur. Cortana,
Joyeuse, Durendal.
I told you I was going to read the next of these Eddie LaCrosse books right away, didn't I? The first one of these was about Eddie's childhood & about a goddess-- or not--; the second was about Eddie's now & about dragons-- or not-- & this third one was about Eddie's past, & King Arthur. Or, you know, King Marcus Drake, but same difference. This is the Great Experiment story, with a king, a queen, a knight, a wizard, a grim nephew, incest, mistaken identity, rape, rumors of infidelity, all the Arthurian trappings for twenty-five gold pieces a day, plus expenses. This is the least anachronistic of the books so far-- save a sultry doctor in a white coat-- on account of being set on a remote island Camelot. Which I guess makes it Avalon, come to think of it. This is also the most gritty of the batch, to date; or rather, the most..."sword & sorcery" gritty of the bunch. I mean, it reads the most like A Song of Ice & Fire in the violence, & less like some "mean streets" detective fiction. & for the hat trick, it is also the most "whodunit" of the books so far; some of the moving pieces are easy to see coming, some of them rely on narrator fiat, but in the end they all come together to tell a pretty compelling story, once again. Bledsoe is a-okay with me; I've got a galley of the next one, Wake of the Bloody Angel, & I expect I'll crack into it before too long.