Customer Reviews

The Hallowed Isle Book Four: The Book of the Stone

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What's in a novel? A great novel has characters that live forever in our imagination, high tension of destiny and free will, gripping emotions, an inspiration that takes us to archetypal heights. The Hallowed Isle is that, and more. Diana Paxson retells the most loved and haunting romance of the Western Soul,the Arthurian cycle. The Sword, the Spear,the Cauldron,and the Stone, the Hallows, are four books that open a fresh understanding of the myth,giving vulnerable human flesh and spirit to the inmortal story.It's a towering book, a masterpiece. Stays inside as a beacon bringing light to our Arthur, our Guendivar, our Merlin,the Lady of the Lake...

I recently purchased The Hallowed Isle (The Book of the Sword, The Book of the Spear, The Book of the Cauldron, & The Book of the Stone. I am a major believer and admirer of King Arthur (Artor)and have read & own many books on him, fiction & non-fiction. I do believe that of all the fiction versions of his story I have read, Diana Paxson's is the best. She actually had me in tears at the end, even though I of course knew the ending already. The book is beautifully and believably written. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it & will eventually read it again. She made Artor a very real person.

I don't even know where to begin. Of all the books I've ever read--and there have been many--involving king arthur, the fall of the roman empire, sub-roman britain, etc...paxson is one of those authors where I can just see the drama as it would unveil on the large screen cinema. Her twist on these characters is fresh and original, her female protagonists strong, intelligent, and unsentimental without outshining the men. Her action sequences are robust, yet she can write a berserker-rage of Oesc (the saxon prince of the second novel), as sensitively as she can write Gueniver's uncertain reluctance to be a queen, or the fledgling, star-crossed and belated love of arthur and his "white phantom". Her keenest strength is her portrayal of traditional "villains"; for with Paxson, they cease to be good or bad, but become complex characters, full of their own ideals and sense of honor within a savage world of changing customs and clashing cultures which so encompasses our own modern era. Three words--READ THESE BOOKS!! YOu will not regret it, i promise.