Customer Reviews

Mordred, Bastard Son (Mordred Trilogy)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

With the help of the mighty sword Excalibur stolen from the Lady of the Lake, King Arthur has forged a mighty empire. Centered in the mighty Castle of Tintagel, his power is unsurpassed throughout Britannia. But Arthur's supremacy is threatened, the divination of the prophet-wanderer Merlin tells of a great tragedy that will befall the King.

Mordred, born bastard and heathen of an incestuous coupling of the bloodline pun-Dragon and the bloodline of the Fay, conceived from the brutal rape of Arthur's half sister Morgan LeFay, will be the instrument of the King's great unmaking, perhaps even the greatest unraveling of all. Fearing for their lives, the pregnant Morgan escapes Tintagel with Merlin, finding sanctity on the Isle of Glass where Mordred is safely born.

From birth, Mordred is sheltered by his aunt Morgause and great aunt Viviane, as they gather around this great son of a King, steadily casting their prayers to "the will of life," offering up to him the blessings from the Great Lady of the Lake. As Mordred grows older, he learns the secrets of the earth and lakes, and trains with Merlin in the Eastern Arts of necromancy and war.

He learns of the elements, the energies of the forest, and the "magick" of the faerie realm that invade the mind through scent and the invisible boundaries existing in the world "unseen by men." It's a bucolic and tempered existence, but Mordred knows he is different: When he becomes physically attracted to his best friend Lukat, Viviane tells him he is like the "soldier-mages," those who love other men, "as some fear in this world who know not of such love."

Mordred is consumed with adolescent sexual urges when one day, at the edge the desolate territory, he spies a wild hermit swimming naked in the Lake of Glass. Little does he know this man is the greatest betrayer; Viviane warns him to say away from this knight, swordsman, and best friend of Arthur. But Mordred ignores them and soon he's caught up in the alchemy of love, a mingling of confusion with flesh and soul.

This hermit, this enigmatic man, once told Arthur of the sacred place beneath the lake, where the sword of Excalibur lay buried in rock. And as Mordred learns more, he falls in love but is deceived into thinking he can live a life unaffected by the machinations of the outside world. For Morgan, dreams of vengeance, and remembers how she was once hunted like a dog by her half brother, who stole the sword and the thrones of the kingdoms from her.

Betrayal also comes in the form of the seemingly loyal the Morgause, who has swallowed a life of servitude to King Lot and to her sons. Now full of vengeful fury she has captured the half soul of her sister, and is intent to battle a King who has been given the sacred tools of the greatest of kings. As Mordred becomes a man, he must deal with his guilt at his crimes of passion, and his longing for the world that had begun to remake itself around him.


Author Douglass Clegg beautifully skewers the Arthurian legends; weaving a compelling story, single handedly reinventing Mordred's sexuality. He is no longer the betrayer, of Arthur, the knight Lancelot, and Guinevere Queen of the Britons; he is now the seductive and passionate hero, given the almost insurmountable task of finding the cauldron of rebirth - the Grail. Arthur is the greatest of all emperors, and Mordred longs to see him, despite the monstrous things he had done to his mother before his birth.

This is a lawless, violent and random world, caught up in ancient superstitions, where the Kings and Druid priests, remember terrors of roman captivity, and call out for Merlin, hoping that the ancient mage might save them from devastation. Those who worshipped the heathen gods have largely gone underground, and those of Christendom have sought sanctuary in the ruins of abbeys, monasteries, nunneries and the Roman villas.

Mordred and his ilk remain tied to the rituals of the sacred midsummer rites, of the men of the tribes and the old ways of his people. But eventually, Mordred must leave the safety of Isle of Glass, for his destiny is predetermined and he is set on a irrevocable path that will become his life.

In this first part of this adventure, our young and heroic prince achieves a type of erotic understanding, arriving from his breaking of the bonds of innocence. Yet as he saves a damsel in distress and witnesses his enemies gathering - in the form of a newly rejuvenated and vengeful Morgause - Mordred realizes that the debts of his life are only just beginning. Mike Leonard May 06.

For gay men fascinated with the classics of myth and romance, there is often a certain level of gratification missing: the pleasure of reading the accounts of our own heroes and their place in the course of human history and myth. The author has successfully cast Mordred and another central character as being open to same sex love, and the tale is all the richer for it. After reading this book I couldn't imagine the story told in any other way, I FELT Mordred's longing, frustration and ultimate realisation of his special nature. His first unrequited love is recounted in a very tender and authentic manner, immediately recognisable to those of us who walked this same path in our youth.

The ancient world of Arthurian legend is beautifully brought to life with numerous references to the Old Religion that will be appreciated by neo-Pagan readers. All of the original cast are included, with the addition of the author's special insight and sensitive treatment of the "gay angle". Not just a rewrite of the same old stock literary figures and synopsis, I fell in LOVE with Mordred, the person (not to mention the man he finds romantic passion with, but I won't give that away). The women in the story are healers, leaders, villains...passionate, fully-realised human portrayals of the characters we know from older works but now become believable as sisters, mothers, and priestesses in a world that humans can't always control or understand. One is often reminded that life is a mystery, there are no easy answers for any of us. Gay or straight, we all experience love and loss, pain and joy and ponder what it all means and why we're here at all. The author weaves these eternal themes skillfully into the narrative with generous doses of humour and occasionally profound sorrow.

We'll have to wait for the next book, in the meantime I'll read this one again, perhaps a few times.

Douglas Cleggs take on the King Arthur theme is original and very entertaining.
I have never been a fan of the King Arthur story line. I have tried on many occasions to read tales of the round table but to no avail.
Finally someone has written a unique vision of the time and myth of Camelot.
Mordred, the bastard son of Arthur is a compelling character that in the past has been represented as a demon sissy who in the end destroys Camelot.
Not now! This Mordred is compelling, beautiful and I can hardly wait for the second book.
Keep it up Douglas!

Douglas Clegg has revived Mordred. This time he's gay and instead of being the villain of the piece, he's the hero. The story begins with his mother Morgan le Fay fleeing for her life because Arthur wants to kill her before his bastard son's born. It has been foretold that this child would someday bring down Arthur's kingdom. Morgan's understandably depressed and Mordred's forced to win her back from the jaws of suicide at the same time he's struggling to find boys like himself. His best friend, Lukat, whom Mordred loves cannot return that love. Merlin, formerly Arthur's teacher in the art of sorcery, now becomes Mordred's teacher as well and demands that he postpone having the sex he craves until he has mastered that art.

Clegg captures the agony of postponing sex that Mordred has to endure in order to learn his Art. But, when he does finally get to where Mordred and the hermit do indeed couple, it is well worth the wait. The description is so moving that I found myself wishing I were the hermit.

Clegg introduces the reader to unfamiliar and familiar characters alike. Guinevere has to be rescued from someone who wants her dead. Near the end of the story, Mordred, his hermit, and a sleeping Guinevere are tied together with a rope in case the coming storm arrives. They won't be lost from each other if the waves overturn their boat. The hermit says to Mordred: "We are tied together by more than rope, Mordred. And whether we go to the Otherworld tonight or in some future day of reckoning, I have faith that you will be here as you are now." MORDRED, BASTARD SON is the first book in a promised trilogy, and I can hardly wait for the second.

I've been a follower of Douglas Clegg's fiction from his first book, "Goat Dance." Over time, and over the many books and short stories he's written, his writing has evolved as he's taken risks, reached for greater heights. Last year, he truly outdid himself with "Priest of Blood." It's a vampire story, a fantasy story, a historical story, a romance. Whatever your pleasure, you'll find it here. Have you ever dived so deeply into a book, it's hard to get out; has a book ever become so real to you, the "real" world vanishes? This is "The Priest of Blood."

And now, "Mordred, Bastard Son." Douglas Clegg continues to amaze me with his range, with his ability to step into a completely different writing "niche" and pull it off so well. "Mordred" is the fantasy novel that so many writers aspire to, but so very few reach. This is what fantasy should be: edgy complex characters, riveting action, a world drawn with such feeling, such perfect detail, it makes you feel like you're actually there, and, of course, the ultimate anti-hero.

The only downside is waiting for book two! But don't put off reading book one. If you demand excellent writing, excellent story-telling, "Mordred, Bastard Son" will leave you satisfied.

Quite frankly this might be the best retelling of the Arthurian legend I have read since "The Mists of Avalon." Completely involving, and beautifully written, Mr Clegg wraps the reader immediately in the tale. I read it in two days and am going back to read it again. Highly recommended. I'm telling all my friends about this one.

I'm a fangirl for boy love & the Arthurian legends but the whole first half of the book Mordred is whining about being unable to have sex. I was disappointed by the lack of storyline & Mordred's egerness to find a man. It was to much of a fanfiction for me, glad others enjoyed it though.

I read the final Harry Potter book in seven hours; this book took me three weeks because I kept putting it down. The opening is quite promising. A hooded man slips ashore in Britain. He's a hunted man, the most wanted man on the isle. Close to capture, he is hidden by a monk in exchange for telling his tale. Clegg is best known for his horror, so I expected more vibrancy. Instead, I often felt as if I was reading Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur (Modern Library). On the plus side, this made the story feel less like a modern interpretation and more like a tale from the pages of history. Unfortunately, the book was bogged down by a lot description. The majority concerns Mordred's upbringing and tutelage by Merlin; a young boy describing his everyday life, albeit in a medieval setting concerned with rituals and goddess lore. This is intended as the first of a trilogy, and subsequently there's little action to counter all the description and somewhat poetic language.

That said, I am disappointed that the publisher has not followed through with the sequels. The author brings a lot of great new twists to the tale, and Mordred is an interesting protagonist. His mother didn't seduce Arthur; she was raped by him - likely due to the malevolent influence of Excalibur. Merlin is not an ancient sage; he is reincarnated again and again, but retains all the memories and wisdom from the prior lives. And, he loves Mordred as a son. All the factors start to come together for a fantastic tale. Though I was a bit underwhelmed by this, I would definitely read the sequels because the potential is here and I do want to know what happens next!

The concept - the reinvention (rediscovery?) of Mordred as something more than a villain and as a gay man - has a lot of potential. In execution, this potential was tapped, but not quite enough.

The plot is difficult to follow at times, with rambling narratives that veer off and rejoin and veer off again. A comparatively large amount of time is spent wallowing in Mordred's chastity - too much, I think, because I started rolling my eyes at his Raging Hormones well before the wallowing climaxed, as it were. The sentence structure also sometimes goes galloping off with its bit between its teeth, winding on with such convoluted or rambling phrasing that more than one sentence requires rereading to grasp its meaning. Typographical errors and lingering mark-up - although not a huge problem - are also just enough of a presence to occasionally throw me from my reading.

That being said, it was still an interesting book and I'm glad I read it. I look forward to how Mordred will continue to develop as a character within the constraints of Arthurian legend and how the audience for his narrative will evolve with him. Still, I will wish that my local library would carry the future volumes, as I don't know that I'd want to pay for them.

Like millions of others around the world, I have always been--well, for seventy-five years, anyway--a fan of the Arthurian legend and the outrageously fictional Camelot. Moreover, I suppose I could say that during that time I have been brainwashed into believing that the `bastard son,' Mordred, was the worm in the apple. Imagine the audacity of Douglas Clegg, therefore, to challenge that idea with his revisionist novel Mordred, Bastard Son [Aylson Books, 2007].

However, that's the fun of writing a story about a story; there's always the other side, and after 600 years I suppose Mordred was due for some favourable press.

Judging from the reviews, it seems that a lot of other people had the same difficulty adjusting to this radical idea as well. It is a story that you either like or not, but having said that: I liked it. In my opinion it is a tour-de-force of fantasy, and although I had difficulty grasping the story at first, once I got into it I was hooked.

The difficulty, I think, is with the myriad of gods and goddesses, plus Celtic festivals, i.e. Beltane and Samhain (pronounced "sah-vwin," by the way) that must be introduced in the first chapter, and this is quite a mouthful to digest all at once. Also the transition between the third-person opening, and the first person flashback was a bit awkward. However, as I have already said, once I got passed this the rest of the story ultimately made up for it.

There are some quite interesting innovations, too. For example, the idea that Arthur raped his half sister, Morgan-of-the-Fay, runs amok with the Arthurian legend built upon his infallible character. Likewise, the idea that Arthur `stole' the sword Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake doesn't exactly show his good side. Nevertheless, Mordred is divided in his feelings (at least in this first book of the series) toward his father--hate, on one hand, and an odd sort of affinity on the other.

Morgan le Fay remains Morgana, darkly beautiful with sinister edges, although she is unusually cast as a victim in this story. The `heavy' on the distaff side is her sister Morgause, who turns into something of a `Malificent' [Walt Disney's "Sleeping Beauty"] in the latter part of the story. In fact these two, plus Viviane (the "crone") makes the society within which Mordred is raised a sort of matriarchracy.

On the other hand there is Merlin who, as in all of his other reincarnations, is timeless. He is also omniscient, and having apparently given up on Arthur, has taken Mordred under his wing as a student of the "magick." This sort of thing opens the doors wide to a flight of fancy, and Clegg takes full advantage of it; a real virtuoso rendering of imagination if ever there was one. Principally however, Merlin teaches Mordred the art of "ravelling" and "unravelling" (the mentally sharing of memories, feelings, etc., with another, and, of course, retrieving memories in the same manner). Also, "vesseling," i.e. mental telepathy-sort of the cell phone of Arthurian times.

Another departure from traditional Arthurian legend is found in Clegg's depiction of Lancelot as a hermit, and also gay--or at least bisexual. In one version of Arthur, however, Lancelot is deceived by the Fisher King's daughter into thinking that she is Guinevere, and the resulting liaison results in another bastard, i.e. Galahad. Hearing of this, Guinevere banishes Lancelot, and he is said to have lost his wits and wandered in the wilderness. So, perhaps the hermit characterization is not so removed from the original.

Apart from these innovations, one of the most refreshing departures from the usual GLBT story for me is that, while it is a sexy enough, there is not one really explicit sex scene throughout. It is therefore a love story between men that relies on sentiment and plot to make it happen. Bravo! Five stars.