Nithe in In the Shadow of the Oak King, Witch of the North, and A Prince in Camelot by Courtway Jones

In the Shadow of the Oak King

This is the first of Jones' Arthurian triology. It's a marvelous book, although prior knowledge of Malory is good because he basically plays with Malory's characters and plot. This story is told through the eyes of Pelleas, Niniane's future husband, who, although usually leaves me lukewarm, is so lovable in this book that I can't help but like the character. It starts off with Pelleas as a child who is about to be sacrified by the Druids in the place of Uther, who is his unacknoledged father. Merlin (Myrrdin) steals him away along with his niece/foster daugher, Nithe (the Niniane character). He then travels with them as they adopt the baby Arthur and go through the Camelot stories up to a little after Arthur's marriage. Pelleas is a great character--he's kind of a big, strong teddy bear. Arthur is lovable and Nithe is wild although fun. Actually, all of the characters are strong and fairly true to their origional selves.

Witch of the North

This story is told through the point of view of Morgan le Fey from when she is young and decides that she must seek revenge for her father's death until the death of Arthur. The same characters from earlier on show up and Morgan le Fey is a wonderful character, as is her older sister, the powerful and beautiful sorceress Morgause. Nithe pops in periodically with Pelleas, now as the powerful Lady of the Lake (who isn't all that fond of her position) and there's a great scene where Arthur and Guenivere fight towards the end.

A Prince in Camelot

Mordred gets to be the main character in this story and is quite likable, managing to not be the villian. It's actually rather amusing. He falls madly in love with Pelleas and Nithe's foster daughter Vicki and journies about trying to get Arthur to pay attention to him, which doesn't work very well. The poor guy. You really do feel sorry for him...between having Guenivere as his step-mother, Morgause as his mother, and Arthur as his unacknoledged father, is it no wonder that the poor guy had a few problems?

Copyrights: 1991, 1992, 1995

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