Sarah Zettel, Under Camelot’s Banner

Under Camelot's Banner

Sarah Zettel

Luna, Apr 2006, $13.95, 400 pp.

ISBN: 0373802315

Cambryn has no protection as the absent Queen Guinevere spends all her time in Camelot with her husband King Arthur. King Mark of Tintagel has gone mad after being cuckold by his Queen Iseult and Sir Tristan. Guinevere's steward Lord Kenan has gone to Mark with many of his soldiers to plead for protection. Kenan's son Colam plots to overthrow his father and ends up killing him. His sister Laurel declares Colam is an outlaw, which sends him to Morgaine for safety, but she bewitches him to use as a pawn against her sister Guinevere.

Laurel's sister Lynet travels to Camelot to plead with Guinevere to bring her knights and men-at arms to keep her people safe from her lethal sibling Morgaine and their mortal enemies, like the people of Eire and the Saxons. Lynet has with her a magical silver mirror, given to her sister by their mother, a sea spirit who took mortal form to marry Kenan. Guinevere agrees to return to Cambryn, while Lynet sees through the mirror the deadly schemes Morgaine has put in motion with Colam her slave, Laurel the first target and Lynet not far behind, unless Lancelot's squire Gareth can save his beloved.

Sarah Zettel puts her own spin to Camelot using a more manipulative and not so pure Guinevere as a key player in her take on the legend. Lynet, filled with guilt for her role in the Iseult-Tristan affair, vows to do whatever it takes to save her homeland from those who covet it as a personal playground. UNDER CAMELOT'S BANNER is high fantasy at its best, making readers wonder how Laurel's tale will hold up against Lynet's saga.