The Oak Above the Kings

Lively and colorful, this second volume of Kennealy-Morrison's version of the Arthurian legends (following The Hawk's Gray Feather ) is again set on the planet Keltia. The Counterinsurgency, led by Arthur, the heir to the last lawful king, here triumphs over the tyranny of the Archdruid Edeyrn. In the final battle, Edeyrn incapacitates Merlynn, Arthur's teacher and chief adviser, before perishing himself, leaving the liberated realm without its wisest counsel. Arthur and his first cousin Gweniver are chosen co-rulers and are wed in name, but maintain a personal antagonism. Then Arthur sets out with his foster-brother and brother-in-law, the bard (and narrator) Taliesin, to punish other planets that had supplied mercenaries to Edeyrn. On his voyages the king encounters Majanah, queen of Aojun, who bears him a child. Intimations of civil war in Keltia draw Arthur back after seven years. He quells the disturbance and forms a true marriage with Gweniver when further signs of disaster loom. Kennealy-Morrison writes superior sword-and-sorcery fare, vividly depicting an idealized, vibrant and dominant Celtic society with equality of the sexes and a practical and pervasive magic. (May)