Guinevere: On the Eve of Legend
At twelve years old, Guinevere is a typical girl except that she is a princess and, unknown to her at this time, slated to marry King Arthur. Like any preteen, she enjoys having a good time, but also is unable to refrain from getting into trouble and rebelling against her father's authority. And,... show more
At twelve years old, Guinevere is a typical girl except that she is a princess and, unknown to her at this time, slated to marry King Arthur. Like any preteen, she enjoys having a good time, but also is unable to refrain from getting into trouble and rebelling against her father's authority. And, even though Guinevere lives in the Middle Ages, she still has to deal with going to school. This includes being chastised by for not doing her homework. However, being a princess does create problems for her because at thirteen she is expected to leave childhood behind and assume the position of the Lady of the Castle. While she is sure that she is not ready to grow up, several adventures help guide her to accept her future and even to look forward to it.Because of her preoccupation with growing up, Guinevere mistakenly shoots a wild boar with an arrow when she and seven-year-old Cedwyn are out hunting rabbits. The two scramble for their lives, and their reward is the discovery of a rabbit in one of their traps. This innocent rabbit creates problems when it gets loose in the kitchen. The rabbit's escape leads Guinevere on a race to redeem herself and puts her directly into the path of a charging knight on his steed, with disaster narrowly averted by Merlyn.One night, Guinevere's father holds a giant feast in honor of King Arthur. Guinevere and Cedwyn marvel at the different knights, enjoy the feast and hear the storytelling by the bard. Guinevere is introduced to King Arthur for the first time experiences the first stirrings of love. After the feast Guinevere is treated to a surprise encounter with Merlyn, Nimue, and a special unicorn. Merlyn doesn't miss his chance to relate the tale of the unicorn to Guinevere's future as a queen.Later at a meeting with her father and Merlyn, Guinevere discovers that she has been promised in marriage to King Arthur. Her response to that is an emphatic "No!"; as she storms out of the room and literally trips over Cedwyn.
Publish date: March 30th 2009
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Pages no: 122
Edition language: English
Was the plot cohesive? For this reader, it did feel like some parts of the story could have been more explained and this made the plot seem like there was more happening behind the scenes and with the characters. Share a quote or two from the book. "The fewer people who know about them, the longer t...
What did you like most about the book? The writing. I liked that the chapter titles were simple and to the point of what the chapter was acutally going to talk about. I also liked the good balance between conversation and explanation. Neither overpowered the other. What did you think about the dialo...
How did the main character change during the novel? Guinevere is enjoying life and then she learns that she is engaged to be married at 13 and she runs away. She couldn't bear the thought of being married to anyone at age and was initially angry with King Arthur. As she sees the situation someone el...