Rating: 
Summary: Changed my mind about Guenevere
Review: I was expecting to be thoroughly disappointed with this book given the numerous bad reviews, but I actually enjoyed it immensely. It's difficult to be unbiased when reading the Arthur saga when many of us have read other wonderful retellings of the story (most notably, Mists of Avalon)however, I think most reviewers have been unfair. I thought Guenevere to be refreshingly strong rather than the mindless puppet of Arthur, Lancelot and Merlin she has been in so many other novels. Guenevere's character, in this version, touched me because she was extemely human, someone we could all relate to in some way. I truly felt her grief at the loss of her child and breakdown of her marriage, and even understood her longing to be with Lancelot. Here it seemed Lancelot was her true soulmate whereas in other tellings she seems to merely be seduced by his looks and attention to her. Granted, there are problems with this book. The historical setting is vague and the conflict between the christians and pagans is not fleshed out very well which is why I only give it three stars. But all in all an excellent start to a series. I'm looking forward to reading the next.
Rating: 
Summary: Really dull, irritating and horrible
Review: I have lost track of the number of Arthurian retellings I've consumed in 30-odd years of insatiable reading. I have no problem that there are so many out there; the Matter of Britain is one of the central mythologies of Western European culture. But I really expect that a writer who feels moved to deal with the subject should have something new to say. Rosalind Miles really doesn't and what she does say is so superficial, characterless and just plain wrong that this book is a trial for an educated person to read. Here we have Gunevere presented as a Pagan Celtic Queen of a Matriarchal tradition (a la Persia Woolley's books). I have no problem with this idea. But it becomes obvious fairly early on that Ms. Miles doesn't actually know anything about Pagan religions, either modern or ancient, besides the names of the holidays and the fact that women practice(d) some kind of sexual freedom. I tried hard to say "this is only a fantasy novel," but I happen to know that a great many people take what they read about such things in novels as absolutely true. So when Ms. Miles related that Imbolc--a Pagan spring holiday celebrating new life and healing--was sacred to the "dark maiden of death" I about blew a gasket. That was one problem. Next was that the book is utterly ungrounded in any timeframe. Although it goes back to Welsh tradition, most of the Arthurian legend we are familiar with is based on 12th & 13th century French romances. The fashion currently is to draw on the older sources and try to find a possible historical basis, making Arthur a Roman Legionary, a Celtic Warrior King, or anything else that would potentially be possible for a dark ages leader of about the 6th century. Rosalind Miles chose to ignore this and her work harks back to Mallory in its castles, tournaments, and code of chivalry. I am not categorically opposed to this. But trying to merge a Middle Ages sentiment of that sort with a Neo-Pagan Matriarchal basis Just Didn't Work. It was very jarring and, rather than gving a new interpretation of the events, it just made them seems arbitrary. Another thing that really bothered me was the way Ms. Miles jumps around in time without regard to events and without letting the reader know what's going on. One minute it's Beltain and the next it's midsummer, seemingly without transisiton. One day Arthur's setting out to deal with the infant Mordred and when he returns a week later Mordred appears at a tournament seven years old or so. No one seems to remark on this. I could go on about how flat the characters are and how, although she seems to try to give people basis for their actions, Ms Miles' falls far short of the mark when it comes to creating real, believable situations. Most of the action is sensationalist. I get that the Matter of Britain deals with a lot of sensational stuff like rape and incest. But I'm looking for more than the bare bones these days. If you've never read any reimagining of Arthurian myth, this book may not actually annoy you. It won't really teach you anything, either. I'd recommend giving it a miss. There's a thousand better boks on the subject than this travesty. I'd give it zero stars if I could.
Rating: 
Summary: New Spin on an Old Tale
Review: Personally I enjoy Rosalind's writing style and the uniqueness her imagination has added to my very favorite of fairy tales. It is told with feministic overtones of a time when Christianity was taking over the land and a matriarchal society was coming to an end. If you approach this series with preconcieved notions and an expectation of how your favorite characters should be portrayed, wait until you are ready to read a new version of the story. If read with an open mind, or before reading other King Arthur stories, you will value this book for what it's meant to be. In my opinion this book is: the same time period, the same character names, different personalities and slightly different circumstances that end up with a historical story line that is similar to the Authurian legends you know, but is also decidedly different and refreshing.
Rating: 
Summary: The way Guenevere Should Be!
Review: Finally - a book about Guenevere as a stong, independent woman who made a conscious decision to follow her own faith, stand by her husband and persue her true love. So many Arthurian legends portray her as either Arthur's downfall or as a woman too stupid to understand results of her actions. Miles does a wonderful job with this novel and I was immediatly on-line to purchase the second of the series so the saga could continue.
I also like her choice to make this a 3 book series. Other than Mists of Avalon - never have I found a book that truly captures the whole story. The ledgend of Arthur is just too great to fit into 300 pages. Unlike Mists, however, she follows the legend more faithfully. Morgan Le Fay IS the evil step sister, Amir IS born to Guenevere and Arthur, Galahad IS Lancelot's son. I just like the story better this way!
Rating: 
Summary: Erggggg....
Review: Heavily romantic, Celticized, neo-pagan retellings of Arthurian myth, with a good slathering of supposedly-strong heroines seem to be "the thing" at present. And this book is not an exception--in fact, it's the example. It appears that Ms. Miles is reaching for the same crowd as "Mists of Avalon."
This book (first in a trilogy) is a retelling of Guenevere's life, from her perspective. Difference: In most tales she is a Christian queen; in this, she is "Queen of the Summer Country." Guess what that means. We all know the story of how she marries Arthur and so forth, though this book does give us some nice background on Guenevere's childhood (an oft-neglected area), her mother and father, and her life pre-Arthur. And, thank God, the relationship with Lancelot is SLIGHTLY more tolerable than in most books. You actually feel that there might be more than a moony schoolgirl crush there...
Unfortunately, in the manner of "Mists," this book chronicles pagan/Chris!tian conflict but (like Mists) does not flesh it out in any sort of believable manner. In fact, the pagan religion itself is not well-fleshed-out -- we know the pagans worship a completely warm'n'fuzzy Mother Goddess, we know they don't like Christians, we know they avoid the ritualized manner of Christian religion, and we know they have a lot of sex. We hear virtually nothing of the moral codes and expectations and beliefs of these people, and that was almost painful...
I am apparently supposed to applaud Guenevere, but often I wanted to reach through and smack her. As in many books, she was self-absorbed and more than a bit soppy. She loves Arthur (who is, as usual, a boring and rather ineffective person) without any specific reason why. Morgan was evil, nuff zed; Merlin was deliciously dark and creepy, but he also hallucinated about luscious young women. Eww.
And then we have Guenevere/Lancelot. Double Eww. Once again I had an overwhelming urge to shake the ch!aracters, as Lancelot does, as Carol Dickman put it, set one's teeth on edge. Their romance did seem to have a nice shine behind it, if you avoid (as I did) the truly nauseating sex interludes. The reader actually feels for a little while that Guenevere might have some genuine love and caring (however mysterious) for Lancelot. Unfortunately, this is never explained in more detail.
That isn't to say that this book is all bad. The concept at its core is very good, and fortunately Miles never stoops to the level of Christian-bashing that Marion Zimmer Bradley did--but she skims close, she skims VERY close. Her writing style can catch you up and bind you in a spell, if you do not mind the characters' actions at that time. There is a lot of sex, a lot of lusting, and frankly I got a little sick of hearing about it...
If you are an Arthurian devotee or looking for light fiction, go ahead. If not, I advise you to pass by.
Rating:
Summary: Negative stars if that were possible
Review: Very lame. I had to force myself to finish reading this book, hoping that it'd get better as I went along but it didn't. All the characters are empty and don't seem to have the ability to think their way out of a paper sack, except for Morgan, and Morgan's hostility is not realistic. Queen Guenever is the weakest, most blah queen ever invent and the author ought to be ashamed to create a queen--let alone The Queen of Summer Country--who has so little power or control over her own destiny. There is no reason for Guenever to allow the King to control everything as she allows; there are no reasons given for any of the stupid, mindless, powerless things that queen let's happen. Women's rights were different back then but not absent completely as the author has represented. Even when women are completely male dominated and controlled as they have been in ancient China and are still in certain Muslim societies, women are not helpless. The queen in this book makes the whole story suffer and makes a reader wonder what was the use in rewriting this saga when the author had nothing useful to say.
Rating:
Summary: Been There, Read This, Had Deja-Vu
Review: I am almost convinced that this novel is a... in essence of The Mists of Avalon. The whole Christian versus Pagan thing rears its head again, and again almost to the point of being preachy. It seems the author thought Mists' Gwenyfhar got short-shifted and so decided to turn her Guenevere into the kind of character Morgaine was. Maybe this would be really good for someone unfamiliar with Mists. In reality, it doesn't come close to Mists, but the same ideas are present...
Rating:
Summary: Interesting glimpse on the Arthurian legend
Review: In the Summer Country rules a line of queens dating back to the Goddess herself. When Guenevere's mother, the Queen, dies, she must take control of the realm herself. Her cousin, Malgaunt, desires to marry her in order to quench his hunger of becoming King. Guenevere will do anything she can to stop him, but unfortunately, there are not many choices. Suddenly, an unknown knight rescues her by becoming her Chosen One. This mysterious person turns out to be Arthur Pendragon, newly High King of Britain. The two love each other, marry, and seem very content. However, over the years, this changes. Arthur's relatives, half-sisters Morgan le Fay and Morgause, plot against him in revenge of their pain endured under the rule of his father, Uther Pendragon. There becomes much havoc that Guenevere leaves, and falls in love with Lancelot, one of the knights of the Round Table. Can she ever forgive Arthur, and can peace ever be restored? Until reading Guenevere: Queen of the Summer Country, I was very unaware of the Arthurian legend. Since then, I am very fascinated by it. However, in this novel, Guenevere tends to become annoying at some points, and I also felt that the contrast between religions a bit extreme; they should both be portrayed as good in their own rights. The story is so interesting that you can ignore those parts, so I enjoyed reading this and am looking forward to the next two. If you are a reader of historical fiction, this is a must have.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I bought this book because it dealed with the history of King Arthur, although some arge that he was not real at all. I found myself wanting to never put the book down, and when the story was "... to be continued", I could not wait to read the next one. I had to get a library memership card just to read the book! This trilogy is very well written and it sucks you in to the time when Guenevere lived. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes history.
Rating:
Summary: There are better Gueniviere books out there...
Review: I've been reading Arthurian novels lately, and I looked forward to reading this book to get a different perspective on Guinevere. And it is interesting that a legend is interpreted in so many ways, and this book does present a few different aspects. But I couldn't get into it. I wasn't able to connect with the Guenevere character, despite her happiness and sadness. She tended to be a little whiny, and Arthur seemed like a bit of a dolt sometimes. However, the most annoying thing about this book for me, personally, was the use of exclamation points! It seemed whenever there was a quote, it used an exclamation point! I felt like the characters were yelling all the time! After a while it was almost funny! I'd say this book would be okay to pick up from the library but I wouldn't recommend buying it. There seem to be better Gueniviere books out there to read.
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