Product Description

A brand new novel from a leading children's author Gwyna is just a small girl, a mouse, when she is bound in service to Myrddin the bard - a traveller and spinner of tales. But Myrddin transfroms her - into a lady goddess, a boy warrior, and a spy. Without Gwyna, Myrddin will not be able to work the most glorious transformation of all - and turn the leader of a raggle-taggle war-band into King Arthur, the greatest hero of all time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62972 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Synopsis
This is a brand new novel from a leading children's author. Gwyna is just a small girl, a mouse, when she is bound in service to Myrddin the bard - a traveller and spinner of tales. But Myrddin transfroms her - into a lady goddess, a boy warrior, and a spy. Without Gwyna, Myrddin will not be able to work the most glorious transformation of all - and turn the leader of a raggle-taggle war-band into King Arthur, the greatest hero of all time.

Customer Reviews

A convincing retelling
It seems impossible to do anything new with the Arthurian myths, but Philip Reeve has done it wonderfully. This is a book about myth-making and the Arthur shown here is a crass, almost repellent hero made immortal by propaganda. It is both chilling and completely absorbing.

Here Lies Arthur
This has just won the CILIP (Childrens Librarians')Carnegie Award for the best children's novel of 2007. A book full of romance, intrigue and life in Medieval times - it would interest adults too - a kind of Arthurian Harry Potter!

Not His Best Materials
The thing about Philip Reeve is that he is really interested in the telling, retelling and fortelling of history. From the Mortal Engines Quartet and the Larklight books this has prooved exceptional material for him. However, the seminal Hungry Ciry books and the jolly Larkight books are one thing, but the writing (or re-evaluation) of this British history is not his best effort. The book is dull at best, but does have some lovely issues which i see the national theatre (in england) taking on and Helen Edmonson doing a fantastic adaptation of for a long running stage play. However, the book isn't up to that on its own. This is a drab unlikely book that really seems to loose it's purpose half way though and doesn't really regain it.

This is not to discredit Reeve's imagination or writing skills... just this seems an odd choice for him, and it's deffinatly an oddly written book.