Title: The Dragon’s Tale
Series: The Arthur Trilogy: Book Two
Author: Harper Fox
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 168 Pages
Category: Historical, Medieval
At a Glance: This author threads the needle of a story in such a way that every paragraph is a new stitch in the whole cloth of what she’s creating, and in the end, it comes together in a beautiful and seamless display of storycraft (like witchcraft but with words).
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: Lance has finally gained his freedom to join his beloved king. It’s the depth of a northern winter, but his heart and his blood are warm with joy as he sets off to the fort of Din Guardi on the coast, where Arthur is locked in negotiation with the ancient powers of the realm – warlords who could help him defend the whole country against the Saxon invaders, if only he can unite them.
But Lance knows such unity may not be possible – or even for the ultimate good of the kingdom. And although his delight at being with Art is boundless, there are other, darker forces at work in the wild dune lands. A deep and delicate balance has been disturbed, and the fort is under siege by a creature out of legend, a monster that ravages villages and leaves a trail of bodies and burned fields in its wake.
The darkest nights of winter are approaching. Arthur, with unendurable weights to bear on shoulders too young for them, only has Lance to befriend him and shield him from the bitterness of battlefield experience and loss. As their bond grows, Lance must find a way to heal the breach between the old world and the new before it devours the man he loves.
Review: It shouldn’t be a big surprise by now that I’m a huge fan of author Harper Fox’s body of work. Just in case, though, I’ll reiterate—and will continue to say it as long as it remains true—Fox turns a phrase like few others. This author threads the needle of a story in such a way that every paragraph is a new stitch in the whole cloth of what she’s creating, and in the end, it comes together in a beautiful and seamless display of storycraft (like witchcraft but with words). Her reimagining of the Arthurian legends, with King Arthur himself, his chief knight, Sir Lancelot, and Guinevere, the woman who would become Arthur’s queen and then go on to have a love affair with Lancelot, is a story well known and widely retold. Fox is placing her own unique and fantastical stamp on this legend, and by trilogy’s end, I’m sure will have remade it into a love story for the ages.
Separated by duty—Lance to his village and Art to his kingdom—The Dragon’s Tale begins where book one left off, through written correspondence, something Lance is improving at as he’s learning both Latin and, indeed, how to read and write. As was the nature of correspondence during the period in which the story is set, readers are introduced to Lance and Arthur’s lengthy separation within the scope of how very long it’s taken these letters to travel between them—not in weeks or months, but in years. And we experience Lance’s incredulity along with him as he laments the prolonged separation, but also, we appreciate his gratitude for having received the letter at all. It’s this sort of subtlety that allows readers to gain a level of empathy for both Arthur and Lance: they are men of duty who want nothing more than to be together, but will each uphold their honor and sacrifice their happiness for the greater good.
Of course, for this conflict there must be a resolution in order for the romantic arc to progress, and Fox does not disappoint her readers in reuniting Lance and Arthur before we have a chance to wallow overlong in the grief of their being parted. The distance Lance must travel, who he meets along the way, and the time it takes for him to get to Din Guardi is charged with the anxiety and uncertainty of what he will find when he finally gets there. Once he arrives, we are then treated not only to his reunion with his beloved Arthur but to everything which must occur in order to fulfill the dream prophesies and to introduce two characters who are integral to the legend: Merlin and Guinevere.
One of the many things I continue to appreciate about this series (and the author’s writing in general) is the confidence with which Fox tells a story. There is an authority to her storytelling that allows me to sink into these books without questioning the veracity of their details, and the commitment to every single element, no matter how seemingly minor, adds to the story’s richness without ever stumbling into overstatement. This trilogy is flourishing under Fox’s clear knowledge of not only these legends but of the shaping of England’s history through its Roman, Celtic, and Germanic influences, as well as the inclusion of a few surprising things such as Old King Coel, which had me grinning from ear to ear because I’ll never be too old to learn something new.
Arthur and Lance are two men woven together by destiny; Guinevere’s introduction into this legend is absolute perfection. I don’t think it’s spoiling anything by mentioning that Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and their quest for the Holy Grail is the backbone of their mythology, and its introduction here is nothing short of inspired fantasy and imagination. Merlin, Arthur’s magician advisor, plays a brief but significant role in the events of this second installment of the trilogy, and I doubt that we’ve seen the last of him.
When you’re in the mood to get lost in another place and time, when magic and mysticism held sway over the course of fate, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend delving into this world and losing yourself in its beauty.
You can buy The Dragon’s Tale here:
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