Subject: THE HIGH QUEEN by Nancy McKenzie

From: "Evelyn C Leeper" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 1995 17:12:51 GMT

THE HIGH QUEEN by Nancy McKenzie
           Del Rey, ISBN 0-345-38245-5, 1995, 430pp, US$5.99
                   A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		    Copyright 1995 Evelyn C. Leeper

     When Nancy McKenzie's CHILD QUEEN came out, I read it and was favorably
impressed.  Even the fact that at the end of the book there was a blurb
announcing a sequel didn't dent my enthusiasm too much, because THE CHILD
QUEEN stood well on its own.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about
its sequel, THE HIGH QUEEN.

     THE HIGH QUEEN picks up shortly after Guinevere has been rescued from
King Melwas.  If you don't know the story up to this point, you will not
understand much of what is going on in this book.  But even if you are
familiar with the Arthur legend, it won't help: MacKenzie has written her
books from a different perspective than the version I learned as a child.
Mordred is not the villain.  Galahad is not the hero.  Merlin is off-stage
most of the time.  None of the characters act according to their popular
characterizations.  They do, however, act in accordance with what was
related in the first book.  What this means is that you must read THE CHILD
QUEEN before reading this.

     And even then, some of the characterizations don't work.  Characters
change motivation and character rather abruptly when necessary for the plot
(or the legend), and this weakens the story.  I like the way that McKenzie
takes the bare "facts" of the Arthur legend (or perhaps more accurately, the
aspects of it that most versions have in common) and gives them a new
interpretation.  Of course, she is not the first, and suffers by the obvious
comparison to Marion Zimmer Bradley's MISTS OF AVALON.  Bradley's telling
has a darker, more mythic feel to it, while McKenzie's is a more modern
version, with Guineverea more "liberated" queen and characters who mouth
more present-day sentiments than one would probably have heard at the time.

     If you've read the first book, then I can recommend this conclusion.
If you haven't, though, this book will not work for you.  I don't know why
Del Rey didn't release the two pieces as a single volume.  Yes, it would
have been long, but if they had enough faith in THE CHILD QUEEN to label it
their "Del Rey Discovery of the Year," this shouldn't have been a problem.

%T      The High Queen
%A      Nancy McKenzie
%C      New York
%D      March 1995
%I      Del Rey
%O      paperback, US$5.99
%G      ISBN 0-345-38245-5
%P      430pp
%S      Guinevere
%V      2

-- 
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | [email-masked]
"I don't care what may be his politics. I don't care what may be his
religion. I don't care what may be his color. I don't care who he is.
So long as he is honest, he shall be served by me." --Theodore Roosevelt