Scan barcode
draculaura21's review
adventurous
5.0
I picked up this book because I remember seeing the cover on my brother's bookshelf when I was very young. I tried to read it several times back then, but it was just too difficult for my little mind to wrap around. Now, twenty-something years later, I came into this book cold, not knowing anything about the story or its characters. So when it was finally revealed that this was a King Arthur origin story, it hit me like a friggin' freight train, albeit a very pleasant one.
Throughout most of it, even as far in as 300 pages, I felt like the story was constantly ramping up, similar to how just the very beginning of books feel. The pace and tone was so engrossing and the immersion into the story so complete that I was constantly looking forward to what was coming next. I'm eager to carry on with the series, but I know I need to do myself a favor and just let this one breathe for awhile; to let its dreamsong drift sleepily into the cosmic winds.
Throughout most of it, even as far in as 300 pages, I felt like the story was constantly ramping up, similar to how just the very beginning of books feel. The pace and tone was so engrossing and the immersion into the story so complete that I was constantly looking forward to what was coming next. I'm eager to carry on with the series, but I know I need to do myself a favor and just let this one breathe for awhile; to let its dreamsong drift sleepily into the cosmic winds.
kimcheel's review against another edition
4.0
This was at times a hard book to get through. It was more fantastical than other books in the Arthurian legend. I appreciated all aspects which were given story to in this reselling. I did enjoy it and look forward to finishing the cycle.
mattygroves's review against another edition
5.0
...in whose introduction, some fire gods from the primordial singularity, still upset about the Big Bang, summon a flaming steed from the plasma ocean of the sun, and transform it into a unicorn to thieve energy from the coiled magma-dragon at the roots of the Earth's magnetosphere...
...which is the World Tree, in whose boughs dwells Odin, who, to obtain wisdom about the enigmatic metalworking mortals below, sacrifices his eye...
...which is a fish-egg made of light, and which comes into the possession of the wild and fae child-queen Ygraine, who will one day be the mother of a great king...
This must be the most original Arthurian saga ever told.
...which is the World Tree, in whose boughs dwells Odin, who, to obtain wisdom about the enigmatic metalworking mortals below, sacrifices his eye...
...which is a fish-egg made of light, and which comes into the possession of the wild and fae child-queen Ygraine, who will one day be the mother of a great king...
This must be the most original Arthurian saga ever told.
emurick's review against another edition
3.0
It's a bit hard to get through in places because the language is dense, but the storytelling is beautifully done.
tilikon's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
linwearcamenel's review
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
tmobil's review against another edition
3.0
Favorite Quotes
No story sits by itself, Sometimes stories meet at corners and sometimes they cover one another completely, like stones beneath a river.
People often belittle the place where they were born.
Heaven can be found in the most unlikely corners.
Scenery without solace is meaningless.
This is the greatest gift God can give you: to understand what happened in your life. To have it explained. It is the peace you have been searching for.
...the human spirit knows, deep down that all lives intersect.
Death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed.
Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know.
The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone.
Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to.
Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.
People say they 'find' love, as if it were an object hidden by a rock. But love takes many forms, and it is never the same for any man and woman. What people find then is a certain love. And [he] found a certain love with [her], a grateful love, a deep but quiet love, one that he knew, above all else, was irreplaceable.
Love like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with soaking joy. But sometimes, under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots, keeping itself alive.
Lost love is still love. It takes a different form, that's all. You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it.
There was a pier filled with thousands of people, men and women, fathers and mothers and children--so many children--children from the past and the present, children who had not yet been born, side by side, hand in hand, in caps, in short pants, filling the boardwalk and the rides and the wooden platforms, sitting on each other's shoulders, sitting in each other's laps. They were there, or would be there, becuause of the simple mundane things [he] had done in his life, the accidents he had prevented, the rides he had kept safe, the unnoticed turns he had affected every day. And while their lips did not move, [he] heard their voices, more voices then he could have imagined, and a peace came upon him that he had never known before.
No story sits by itself, Sometimes stories meet at corners and sometimes they cover one another completely, like stones beneath a river.
People often belittle the place where they were born.
Heaven can be found in the most unlikely corners.
Scenery without solace is meaningless.
This is the greatest gift God can give you: to understand what happened in your life. To have it explained. It is the peace you have been searching for.
...the human spirit knows, deep down that all lives intersect.
Death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed.
Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know.
The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone.
Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to.
Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.
People say they 'find' love, as if it were an object hidden by a rock. But love takes many forms, and it is never the same for any man and woman. What people find then is a certain love. And [he] found a certain love with [her], a grateful love, a deep but quiet love, one that he knew, above all else, was irreplaceable.
Love like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with soaking joy. But sometimes, under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots, keeping itself alive.
Lost love is still love. It takes a different form, that's all. You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it.
There was a pier filled with thousands of people, men and women, fathers and mothers and children--so many children--children from the past and the present, children who had not yet been born, side by side, hand in hand, in caps, in short pants, filling the boardwalk and the rides and the wooden platforms, sitting on each other's shoulders, sitting in each other's laps. They were there, or would be there, becuause of the simple mundane things [he] had done in his life, the accidents he had prevented, the rides he had kept safe, the unnoticed turns he had affected every day. And while their lips did not move, [he] heard their voices, more voices then he could have imagined, and a peace came upon him that he had never known before.
storiwa's review against another edition
3.0
2nd time to read this. Fairly different and interesting telling of the myth of Merlin and King Author's family.
courtermomof5's review
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5