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Avalon: The Return of King Arthur by Stephen R. Lawhead
Excerpts from Avon Books, Inc. 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York, 10019
For untold centuries the promise has endured: that, in the time of Britain's greatest need, King Arthur will returnto resuce his people...
Believed by many to be the definitive retelling of the mighty saga, Stephen R. Lawhead's The Pendragon Cycle has become a modern classic of Arthurian fantasy. Now, in Lawhead's most daring and accomplished novel to date, the acclaimed, bestselling author enthralls us with a breaktaking speculation, as he carries the timelss tale far beyond its accepted conlusion to boldy ask what next?
AVALON
The hour foretold has come to last! Edward the Ninth, reprobate King of England, is dead and a proud and venerable institution is to be buried with him. A new political order---encouraged by an ambitious Prime Minister and supported by a public wearied by a succession of royal scandals---is about to render the old obsolete. With signed abdications of all potential throne claimants already in P.M. Waring's hands, it is a near-certainity that the British monarchy will not survive the twenty-first century.
But in the Scottish Highlands, a young man makes a remarkable discovery that will change the semmingly unaltered path of his beleaguered nation. For Captain James Arthur Stuart is not the commoner he has always believed himself to be, but rather the scion of an obscure branch of the royal family, raised in ignorance of his true station. Even more astonishing, the monarch-to-be does not merely share the name of the legendary King of Summer---he is, in fact, King Arthur reborn!
Claiming a throne, however, is one thing, while holding it is quite another, as James---now ruling the land as Arthur II---turns to those most beloved and loyal for support, guidance, and assistance: his adored wife, Jennifer; his best friend, Calum; and his enigmatic and mystical advisor Mr. Embries...better known as "Merlin." Their road will be rocky and perilious, and there are powerful enemies arrayed against them---not only Prime Minister Waring and his ruthless political machine, but the forces of the ancient, far more potent, destructive evil. For Arthur is not the only one who has returned--and Merlin's magic is not the only sorcery that has survived the centuries....
With AVALON, one of the premier voices in literatuure of the fantastic offers us an unparalleled adventure as replete with bravery, treachery, romance, and magic as the beloved tales of the Table Round, yet cast in a setting as recognizably real as that which surrounds us. It is a magnificent epic saga of a legend undimmed and a tragedy redeemed---a haunting tour de force that brilliantly explores the deathless powers of good and evil, that stares unblinkingly and with firm moral conviction into the complex depths of the human heart...and reveals to us the mystery and the magic woven through that most suprising and fantastic of worlds: our own.
Published by Avon Books, Inc. 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York, 10019
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