Taliesin (The Pendragon Cycle, Book 1)

Please, please do not get hung up on the fact that earlier editions of this book included potatoes! This is a powerful fantasy with a lot to say about loyalty, love, purity, and integrity in everyday "real life." One fascinating aspect of the book is Lawhead's ability to weave together stories that you might not have thought of together before--Atlantis, Taliesin, and Arthur all are eventually brought to life against the fading background glory of the Roman Empire. Miracles and magic mingle with nitty-gritty questions of survival, and moral dilemmas are neither ducked nor glossed over. This book is, and will stay, on my keeper shelf as a Christian response to those writers who seem to think fantasy must be tawdry and shocking to be any good.

This book shows Lawhead's superb talent for taking the reader into another world, time and place. Descriptive elements and sense of story were fanatastic. Those familiar with history will find many flaws in the book, however. The major example being the destruction of Atlantis during the late Roman era--which was described many centuries before the setting of the novel by Greek writers. (I also found it curious in the novel that the Romans knew nothing of Atlantis, even though they would have been familiar with Plato...) The connection he tries to make is understandable, but history buffs may find the inconsistencies annoying. Other little things, like English families eating "potatoes" long before the New World was discovered occasionally disrupt this excellent "story." In the end, though, it is just that--a superb re-shaping of several myths, meshed together to form the dawn of Arthurian times. If you approach it as fantasy, it is a great read. Don't use it to cram for your Arthurain Myth 101 Final, though!

If you can say that writing a book is quite simple then creating a myth can be a really tough job. It is difficult to know where to use your fantasy and where to use pure historical facts. I guess for Stephen Lawhead, his job would have been extremely difficult since his competitors have been establishing their fantastic view for centuries now and have created the most world famous legends heard and told. Despite the difficultness, Lawhead has done surprisingly well!! He has put history in its right position! A new legend is born,new characters find their positions next to King Arthur and readers'fantasy advances to a higher level. New tragic and heroic tales shall be sang by all the modern bards.
I hope that the sequels prove to be as thrilling and legendary as this book