Subject: THE CHILD QUEEN by Nancy MacKenzie

From: [email-masked] (Evelyn C. Leeper)
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 1994 01:06:31 GMT

THE CHILD QUEEN by Nancy MacKenzie
            Del Rey, ISBN 0-345-38244-7, 1994, 295pp, $4.99
                   A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		    Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper

     I am not normally a reader of Arthurian literature (though I
recently read Tennyson's IDYLLS OF THE KING and Twain's CONNECTICUT
YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT, as well as a time-travel novel in which
a robot goes back to Arthur's Britain), but this is Del Rey's
"Discovery of the Year," so I decided to give it a try.  While it
didn't make me run out and read yet more Arthurian works, it was
engaging and gave a different slant on the legend (at least to me).

     I understand that telling the story from Guinevere's point of view
is not actually new, but I don't recall having read such a version
before.  THE CHILD QUEEN covers the period from Guinevere's birth to
the marriage of Lancelot and Elaine, right before the calling back of
Mordred.  (A sequel, THE HIGH QUEEN, is listed on the inside front
cover as coming out this winter, but THE CHILD QUEEN can be read on its
own.)

     The style is a compromise between the archaic phrasings of Malory
and Tennyson, and the colloquial language of Twain.  There is a fair
amount of "I called Ailsa to me and bade her shake out my blue gown"
but it is just enough to give the story a distant feel without making
it impossible to read.  McKenzie, like every other author in the
Arthurian sub-genre, tells a slightly different story than anyone else
(who of course all disagree with each other anyway).  Is it accurate to
the sources?  I can't completely judge.  It did seem to cover the
clonfict between Christianity and the pre-existing religion, and there
was an attention to the details of living in that period that is often
missing from historical fantasies.  I guess the bottom line is that I
did enjoy reading it, and will probably read the sequel.

%A   MacKenzie, Nancy 
%T   The Child Queen
%I   Del Rey
%C   New York
%D   August 1994
%G   ISBN 0-345-38244-7
%P   295pp
%O   paperback, $4.99
%S   Guinevere
%V   1