The Serpent and the Grail [Mass Market Paperback]

A. A. Attanasio (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2000

The boy-king Arthor has beaten back the berserker wolf warriors of the Saxon god, uniting his island kingdom -- but at a terrible cost. For the Grail, the chalice of the Last Supper and the magical shield of Britain, has been stolen.

Without the Grail's protection, Britain lies parched and barren, a demon-haunted landscape where sulfurous vapors taint ther air. To find the Grail, Arthor's mother, Ygrane, must strike a dark bargain with Bright Night, elf-prince of the "pale people,"in the hollow hills. Merlin must use his magic to show the way. But it is Arthor himself who must confront the Serpent, Sword in hand.

A.A.. Atanasio's epic retelling of humankind's most powerful legend weaves together, for the first time, the hallowed yarn of ancient Arthurian lore and the shimmering strands of modern quantum science.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A truly, amazing, towering, talent!" -- Los Angelos Times

"By far the most lyrically written of recent Arthurian Books . . . fresh and engaging" -- Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

"Strikingly unconventional . . .passionate . . .remarkable . . ." -- Locus

This retelling of the King Arthur legend is almost beautiful enough to be poetry...Viscerally powerful, as if we're reading a real book of forbidden magic...an epic that some long-ago Saxon poet should have written years before. -- New York Post --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

A. A. Attanasio is the author of The Wolf and the Crown, The Eagle and the Sword, The Dragon and the Unicorn, Solis, Kingdom of the Grail, Hunting the Ghost Dancer, Wyvern, Radix, and The Moon's Wife. He lives in Hawaii. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Eos (July 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061059730
• ISBN-13: 978-0061059735
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,060,772 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I love fantasy fiction. I love the courage of the human spirit to invest with real emotion experiences we know are entirely imaginary. And I love all of what 'fantasy' means to poetic thinkers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Legend continues...., July 10, 2000

By 

Damien Bosley - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Serpent and the Grail (Mass Market Paperback)

I have just finished reading the serpent and the grail and I must say that it was again one of the best books I have ever read! Just like the rest of the Arthurian books he has out it was in one word...beautiful. The way this author writes is incredible. It is almost like reading poetry. The book taking place after Wolf and the Crown,finds the young king once again in a quest to save Britian. This book was one of the best i've read in the series and hopefully not the last. This book is a must read for A.A. Attanasio fans. But if you've just discovered the author and the series i recommend picking up his first book in the series The Dragon and the Unicorn.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Arthurian Legend ..... retold (?), October 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Serpent and the Grail (Mass Market Paperback)

I picked up the first book of this series because I am an Arthurian legend fan. At that time I had never even heard of Attanasio....I am now an avid Attanasio reader.

The Serpent and the Grail is a hard-to-put-down book and continues the fantasy world of Arthur's rule started in the earlier books. The only problem I have with this book is that this is still not the end of the series (I hope!). As an Arthurian fan, I hope that Attanasio will continue telling this story until the end of the legend and that the next book in the series comes out before I forget the characters again (that's another problem ... the wealth of characters!). If you're already familiar with the legend then reading this series is as if you've never heard of Arthur and Camelot before .... very refreshing.

As an Attanasio fan, this is another example of the diversity of Attanasio's vivid epic-telling talents. You need to read other Attanasio's works to appreciate what I mean (personal recommendations: The Last Legends of Earth, The Dark Shore)

My advice to all would-be readers .... get all the books in the series and read them straight through from the first to the last, in sequence. It won't be easy reading, but it will be worth it.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reality (?) bites., August 13, 2002

By 

Alain Manning (Nagano-Ken, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Serpent and the Grail (Mass Market Paperback)

Finally, a multi-faceted, richly textured, thought-provoking and deeply woven and embroidered series of "tales" from a rather masterful story-teller who treats his readers as cogent listeners capable of keeping the various skeins of this historical, cultural, psychosociological and demi-religious tapestry flowing. As an avid and voracious reader with somewhat eclectic tastes, I find Mr. Attanasio's spinning of the threads of these tales to be highly intelligent, deeply fascinating, richly image-evocative and teleportational. So much more so than the typical Freudean psychic-cleansing pap that many current editors seem to qualify as saleable fiction. Yes, life is not easy and we all have our "crosses" to bear; however, can't we have a little more story-telling and a little less Freudean-couch revelations? Occassionally, as with any modern-day story-teller, he has to fall back into reiterrations in order to keep those not willing or able to invest the time and/or money in the preceding tales up with the mulitlayered goings-on in these tales; and yes, he sometimes strays across to "New Age-Feel Good" whining or carping. Yet, his characters for the most part are so fully fleshed and "real" that I feel I'm standing, next to, or even looking out of the eyes of, each narrating character.
To be honest, I haven't watched TV since I got hooked on the first book of this Middle Earth adventure, nor even listened to the stereo, as the lyricality of this writing, and the characters, both human and demiurge (sometimes even animal) has enraptured all of my senses, especially my own little dreamworld. He has also led me into new forays through the almost-forgotten magical pleasures of my local library, seeking further illumination on Celtic, Drudic, Christian, British, magical and other tangential gems tossed out as asides in his tale. What an extra-special, unexpected treat! Challenge yourself to reasses your own "reality". Wrap yourself up in these tales.