Book Description
Product Description
Born of the Highlands, along Pictish shores washed by the icy North Sea, Guinevere, Queen of the Dragon People, has become a woman. She has taken the power offered to her by the Dragon Throne. Now there is no turning back. In order to protect her beloved homeland from the obscene greed of the Saxon raiders, Guinevere knows she must launch an attack. The sub-chiefs refuse to fall in line with her plans (because what does this young thing, barely a woman, know of warfare?) and give her an army of the useless, the outcast, the weakest of their young boys and girls. But the war party must proceed. If it fails, the command of both land and sea will fall to the enemy.
Facing her first battle against the pirates on foreign shores, and backed only by a meager band of ill-equipped fighters, Guinevere calls upon the spirits of the dead to aid her in the attack. Diving into the dark, morbid depths, Guinevere suddenly understands more of hate, love, anger, and revenge than she has ever wanted to. But the power the dead provide comes at a severe price. If she makes it through the raid, she will be a changed woman, in more ways than she can possibly imagine.
Further south, Black Leg, her childhood companion, sets out on his own. It is a quest to become a man—a man, he hopes, who will be worthy of the newly crowned Guinevere. A shapeshifter and the son of Guinevere’s adoptive man-wolf father, Black Leg (soon to be Lancelot) feels he has much to learn—and even more to prove. He discovers both his inner strength and an unmitigated passion when he meets the Lady of the Lake. But the trials of his journey— both mental and physical—turn out to be more perilous with each step. And when Lancelot and Guinevere are finally reunited, the consequences of both their ordeals will unleash a torrent of anguish and desire.
With familiar names brilliantly repositioned for a new generation of Arthurian fans—evil Merlin, conniving Igrane, complex Lancelot, tainted Arthur, and of course, warrior Guinevere—Alice Borchardt’s creation stands as a testament to the power of imagination.
From the Back Cover
Born of the Highlands, along shores washed by northern seas, Guinevere has accepted the power offered to her by the Dragon Throne and been crowned Queen.
Her first task is to protect her people from the reviled Saxon raiders. And she must strike quickly or surrender control of the seas. But her warlords refuse to accept that this young queen can know anything of the art of war and offer her an army of misfits and outcasts. Guinevere knows she cannot - must not - fail. Sailing to confront the hated enemy, she summons the spirits of the dead knowing there is a terrible price to pay for their help.
As Guinevere faces her first great challenge as queen, so Black Leg, her childhood companion, begins his own quest to become a man and warrior. He will endure trials both mental and physical, discover inner strengths and primal passions, each experience more perilous than the last, but these will be as nothing compared to the anguish and desire unleashed when he and Guinevere are reunited. For he is the Raven Warrior, the one who will be called Lancelot...
Set in that dark age when history and myth collide, The Raven Warrior continues Alice Borchardt's bold re-imagining of the story of a king called Arthur and, of course, his mercurial queen, Guinevere.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.