Katherine Roberts - Pendragon Legacy: Bk 1 - Sword of Light Book Review

                                                                

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• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Templar Publishing (1 Feb 2012)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 1848773900
• ISBN-13: 978-1848773905

It was great to receive this book in the post. It's always fantastic to receive a book with a fantasy theme - there appear to be fewer published at the moment. However, this is a welcomed new four-book fantasy series, which is set in the Dark Ages (after the death of the legendary King Arthur).

The first book in the series, Sword of Light, follows the adventures of Arthur's Daughter (Rhianna Pendragon). If you ask me, this is a great name for a character. Rhianna sets off on a quest to find Excalibur, the magical famous sword, in order to help restore her father's soul to his body.

It is the darkest hour of the darkest Age. King Arthur is dead, killed by his wicked nephew, Mordred. Saxon invaders rampage across the land and forces of evil are gathering. The path to the throne lies open to Arthur's only remaining flesh and blood - Mordred. But there is one with a better claim than Mordred - Arthur's secret child. Brought by Merlin to enchanted Avalon as a baby and raised there for protection, the king's heir must take up a vital quest: to search for the four magical Lights with the power to restore Arthur's soul to his body. Introducing Rhianna Pendragon: unlikely princess and Camelot's last hope.

When reading a book like this, which takes the essence of a very well established famous tale, it can be difficult to consider something fresh and new. In my opinion, this can be the downfall of any book attempting such a task. However, in this case the author has written a rather safe and comfy tale. In fact so much so, that the author's character and writing style is perhaps less established and prominent than in one of her earlier books, 'Song Quest', which was published by Chicken House.

Nevertheless reading this book was a feast of enjoyment - I loved the story and the many interesting characters. Rhianna is a particularly great spirited example of a young modern day hero. Whilst some of the action battles between the Saxons and the Knights left a little flavour of Tolkien behind.

This is a great fantasy adventure with some interesting story lines. There are three more books to follow - Lance of Truth published in November 2012, the Crown of Dreams and Grail of Stars are all due to be published in 2013. If you like Merlin, then you will love this book .....

Many thanks to Templar for sending out such a beautiful edition of this book.