# The Pendragon Cycle



## ChristopherPaul (Dec 5, 2006)

Has anyone here read any or all of the books from the five book series of the Pendragon Cycle by Stephen R. Lawhead?

Westminster Bookstore has them listed with Tolkien, Lewis, and Dostoevsky.

_Taliesin: Book One of the Pendragon Cycle_

_Merlin: Book Two of the Pendragon Cycle_

_Arthur: Book Three of the Pendragon Cycle_

_Pendragon: Book Four of the Pendragon Cycle_

_Grail: Book Five of the Pendragon Cycle_​

Thoughts? Recommendations?


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## ADKing (Dec 5, 2006)

Yes! Stephen Lawhead is one of my favorite fiction authors. The Pendragon Cycle is superb. It places Arthur in a more fitting historical setting a Celtic king after the Romans left Britain and before the Saxons invaded. The books also avoid the immorality and intrigue of Lancelot which normally ruins the Arthur story for me. Highly worth reading! His Song of Albion Trilogy is also very good. 

The one caveat I would make is that Lawhead is often advertised as a Christian author. While I am not prepared to make judgments about the man himself, the expression of "Christianity" by some of the characters in the book is somewhat syncretistic (thankfully, however, Merlin is not portrayed as a "wizard"). Notwithstanding--great books.


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## LadyFlynt (Dec 5, 2006)

Oh, cool! Finally an Arthur story without all the feminism or sexual diversions!

Question...can a 10yr boy read these?


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## ADKing (Dec 5, 2006)

LadyFlynt said:


> Question...can a 10yr boy read these?



Probably. I think the reading level is not too high for a mature 10 year old (probably similar to Lord of the Rings). The books do describe a lot of violence since a great deal of Arthur's life (and his predecessors) was devoted to fighting enemies. In addition, Lawhead desribes practices of the druids. This is where my main objection is with him in that some of his characters describe druidism as perparing the way for Christianity as if there were some sort of dim revelationin a heathen religion that would make accepting Christ easier. All that said, it would depend on the maturity of the 10 year old and the discretionof the parents, in my opinion.


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## py3ak (Dec 5, 2006)

I haven't read Lawhead. But the most _human_ of the Arthur narratives is T.H. White's _Once and Future King_ and _The Book of Merlyn_. Howard Pyle has a sanitized narrative. _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_ allows you to look more at a character everyone must love.
And I don't remember any feminism in any of these versions. As far as Lancelot's adultery, like Arthur's incest, it is pivotal to the story. Imagine a Bible with no forbidden tree; David without Bathsheba.


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## LadyFlynt (Dec 5, 2006)

The feminism is in a series I'm certain you gents would have been turned off from reading just by the cover and titles...they focus more on Guenivere as a warrior queen and Arthur is a male chauvanist led around by his pride and manhood...definately feminist and not a recommended read.


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## ADKing (Dec 5, 2006)

py3ak said:


> As far as Lancelot's adultery, like Arthur's incest, it is pivotal to the story. Imagine a Bible with no forbidden tree; David without Bathsheba.



In terms of the Arthur stories in the Thomas Malory tradition, you are correct. However what is so interesting to me about Lawhead is that he attempts to go back beyond Malory historically. To accomplish this he has meticulously researched _Celtic_ mythology and history to describe Arthurian history in a different way. King Arthur was not a knight in shining armor! He fought the Saxons; he was not one himself (against many modern portrayals of him as such: Sword in the Stone, First Knight, Monty Python, etc. These attempt to replicate Malory's Le Morte'de Arthur more or less). Lawhead's books are an attempt to portray a Celtic Arthur, not dependent on the Malory tradition, and in this respect I find it a very interesting series.


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## RamistThomist (Dec 5, 2006)

temporarily breaking my silence:

Skip this series and read Lawhead's Dragon King Saga. The Dragon King Saga is incredible. Pendragon Cycle is okay. the first book is AWESOME, the second book is good; the third book is okay, so on, so forth.

I found in Talesin a neat explanation, not that it was Lawhead's intent, of how the earth can be simultaneously destroyed and renewed at the same time.

I found in Merlin how the Kingdom can advance and contra to most Reformed gnostics, affect life outside the covenant. 

Also, For what it's worth, there is an odd relationship between sectuality, women, and marriage.

This is a typical Lawhead cycle (pick a book, any of his books in any series)
Cute courtship between man and woman.
They get married.
Woman becomes bedroom object and loses personality (nothing graphic or explicit, mainly implied)
Someone dies.
She regains personality.

Still, I would encourage people to critically read Lawhead. He has a lot of interesting suggestions on Kingdom.


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## py3ak (Dec 5, 2006)

Colleen, no, any attempt to represent Guinevere as a warrior queen is insane.
Adam, it's fine to go back beyond Malory --where what you find is then a diminishing of Lancelot and more emphasis on Gawain. But as far as characters that live and breathe, T.H. White is the only one who has brought those to life.


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## LadyFlynt (Dec 5, 2006)

Ruben, believe me, I was sickened by it. I have Malory's...eventually I will read it. My son just finished Green's.


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## py3ak (Dec 5, 2006)

Malory is nice, but not really comparable to T.H. White. White pegs him, when he lists him as a cricket fanatic whose version of cricket was tournaments.


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## turmeric (Dec 5, 2006)

Oh, goodness, the rancid-butter fairies and the hedgehog! White was a good read, though, and I thought his Sir Ector was probably very real.


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## py3ak (Dec 6, 2006)

Ah, Meg, it's not just Sir Ector. It's King Pellinore, and Gawain, and Sir Palomides, and Guenevere herself. Do you realize that he's the only person who makes you understand that these people aged? And the hedgehod worr nice enough.


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## QueenEsther (Dec 6, 2006)

I read the first one back in high school, I think I liked it but I can't remember how much or any specifics about it.


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## ChristopherPaul (Dec 6, 2006)

Good stuff, thanks for the feedback everyone!


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