The Hedge of Mist: A Book of the Keltiad

You'd think an old hand like Kennealy-Morrison would know better, but apparently not, and you look for the tongue in her cheek, but it's not there. Then you rub your eyes and look again, and it hasn't vanished: the chapter that begins with the most hackneyed phrase in English literature, ""It was a dark and stormy night...."" The rest of this third novel in the author's Arthurian saga (The Oak Above the Kings, etc.) isn't so tired, but, uneven and crammed with excessive world-building detail, it's not up to par, either. Taliesin, chief bard of the realm and King Arthur's foster brother, returns as narrator, as well as a participant in the novel's episodic adventures, which include a search for a magic grail, a struggle within the royal family for the crown, the besmirching of Gweniver's name and the death of Arthur. As before, Kennealy-Morrison's female characters are particularly strong, though also more modern than medieval. Now, if she would only keep her writing as vigorous. (Apr.)