Customer Reviews

The Arthurian Companion (Pendragon Fiction)

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Phyllis Ann Karr, the author of the excellent "Idylls of the Queen," provides the Arthuriana fan with a well-structured and intelligent encyclopedia, going from earliest myths and legends to the later, polished versions that we usually encounter first.

She covers places and names, characters and events in the assorted legends, in informative but not overdone entries. Several different interpretations of, for example, Morgan le Fay are covered in her entry, coming from the assorted sources. Gaps in information are usually acknowledged by the author, and she provides the reader with speculation as to origins and meanings.

The body of information is mind-bogglingly enormous; I can only speculate how long it took Karr to get it all whipped into a neat, well-written book of only six hundred pages. Her writing is often made lengthy simply by the enormous amount of material to be compressed. In addition, she often says, "I think" or "I found," which oddly is not irritating, but rather creates the feeling that the reader is simply listening to a learned scholar speak out loud. It feels very thorough, filling out every character's background and experiences -- yes, even the insignificant ones.

Like all Green Knight Press books I've purchased, this book has nice sturdy paper, clean text and a strong binding; like most of their books, it also has a great cover.

Any fan of Arthurian lore or fiction must read this book, for the sake of insight into characters large and small in books that you read.