The Official Website of Internationally Best-Selling Author
Stephen R Lawhead
The PENDRAGON CYCLE
This is Lawhead's most acclaimed series, the multi-award winning PENDRAGON CYCLE. Drawing heavily on Britain's Celtic history, Lawhead paints a colourful and convincing picture of the Arthurian legend, set in a land that you will want to revisit again and again. Told from exciting and unexpected viewpoints, each chapter stands alone as a landmark of Historical Fantasy. Start the tale in post-Roman occupation Britain, where we meet the mystical bard Taliesin, father to Myrddin Embries--the Merlin of legend. Follow through to the rise and fall of Arthur the King, and read the surprising conclusion to the series--AVALON. Set in modern-day Britain, this bold coda was considered too politically subversive to print in Britain on its immediate release.
A magnificent epic of cataclysmic upheaval and heroic love in a breathless age of mythic wonders
It was a time of legend, when the last shadows of the mighty Roman conqueror faded from the captured Isle of Britain. While, across a vast sea, bloody war shattered a peace that had flourished for two thousand years in the doomed kingdom of Atlantis.
From the award-winning author of THE DRAGON KING TRILOGY comes a majestic tale of breathtaking scope and haunting beauty. It is the remarkable adventure of Charis—the courageous princess from Atlantis who escapes the terrible devastation of her land—and of the fabled seer and druid prince Taliesin, singer at the dawn of the age. A story of an incomparable love that joins two astonishing worlds amid the fires of chaos, and spawns the miracles of Merlin . . . and Arthur the king!
“Reminiscent of C. S. Lewis . . . Highly recommended.”
—Library Journal
A stunning saga of courage and destiny in a legendary time of chaos and kings
He was born to greatness, the son of a druid bard and a princess of lost Atlantis. A trained warrior, blessed with the gifts of prophecy and song, he grew to manhood in a land ravaged by the brutal greed of petty chieftains and barbarian invaders.
MERLIN: Respected, feared and hated by many, he was to have a higher destiny. For it was he who prepared the way for the momentous event that would unite the Island of the Mighty—the coming of Arthur Pendragon, Lord of the Kingdom of Summer.
“Entertains and tantalizes . . . an exciting and thoughtful addition to the ranks of Arthurian fantasy.” –Locus
In a forgotten age of darkness, a magnificent king arose to light the land
They called him unfit to rule, a lowborn, callow boy, Uther’s bastard. But his coming had been foretold in the songs of the bard Taliesin. And he had learned powerful secrets at the knee of the mystical sage Merlin.
He was ARTHUR—Pendragon of the Island of the Mighty—who would rise to legendary greatness in a Britain torn by violence, greed, and war; who would usher in a glorious reign of peace and prosperity; and who would fall in a desperate attempt to save the one he loved more than life.
“Evocate . . . intriguing . . . enthralling.” –Locus
At the dawn of his reign, a young king confronts his destiny—and must prove his greatness . . . or lose a realm
Arthur is King—but treachery runs rampant throughout the beleaguered Isle of the Mighty. Darkest evil descends upon Britain’s shores in many guises. Fragile alliances fray and tear, threatening all the noble liege has won with his wisdom and his blood. His most trusted counselor—the warrior, bard and kingmaker whom legend will name Merlin—is himself to be tested on a mystical journey back through his own extraordinary past. So in a black time of plague and pestilence, it is Arthur who must stand alone against a great and terrible adversary. For only this way can he truly win immortality—and the name to treasure above all others:
“Though Lawhead brilliantly creates an authentic and vivid Arthurian Britain, he never forsakes the sense of wonder that has graced the legend throughout the ages.”—Publishers Weekly
A great king faces the ultimate challenge: a dangerous quest through realms of magic and the undead toward a confrontation with his destiny
Drought, plague, and war have left the Isle of the Mighty battered and its heart, the beloved Arthur, grievously injured—until a secret relic is brought before the dying King; a Holy Grail that heals his wounds and restores his vigor.
But soon evil enters the royal court in the guise of a beautiful maiden; a soulless, malevolent force capable of seducing the King’s loyal champion, confounding the sage whom some call Merlin, and carrying the sacred Grail—and Arthur’s adored Queen—off into the dark unknown.
“Suspenseful . . . soulful, philosophical . . . engagingly drawn . . . Arthurian Britain is invoked with robust verisimilitude.” –Publishers Weekly
It has been foretold: In the hour of Britain’s greatest need, King Arthur will return to rescue his people.
In Portugal, the reprobate King Edward the Ninth has died by his own hand.
In England, the British monarchy teeters on the edge of total destruction.
And in the Scottish Highlands, a mystical emissary named Mr. Embries—better known as “Merlin”—informs a young captain that he is next in line to the throne. For James Arthur Stuart is not the commoner he has always believed himself to be—he is Arthur, the legendary King of Summer, reborn. But the road to England’s salvation is dangerous, with powerful enemies waiting in ambush. For Arthur is not the only one who has returned from the mists of legend. And Merlin’s magic is not the only sorcery that has survived the centuries.
“A rousing postscript to Lawhead’s bardic Pendragon Cycle . . . Playing off snappy contemporary derring-do against the powerful shining glimpses of the historical Arthur he created, Lawhead pulls off a genuinely moving parable of good and evil.”—Publishers Weekly
