Gwenhwyfar

The White Spirit (A Novel of King Arthur)

By: Mercedes Lackey

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik

The best-selling author of the Valdemar novels pens a classic tale about King Arthur's legendary queen.

Gwenhwyfar moves in a world where gods walk among their pagan worshipers, where nebulous visions warn of future perils, and where there are two paths for a woman: the path of the Blessing or the rarer path of the Warrior. Gwenhwyfar chooses the latter, giving up the power that she is born into.

Yet the daughter of a king is never truly free to follow her own calling. Acting as the "son" her father never had, when called upon to serve another purpose by the Ladies of the Well, she bows to circumstances to become Arthur's queen - only to find herself facing temptation and treachery, intrigue and betrayal, but also love and redemption.

©2009 Mercedes Lackey; 2009 Tantor Media

Critic reviews

"The author of the popular Valdemar series displays her talent for creating a new and surprising story from familiar material." ( Library Journal)

Interesting Twist on a Worldly Legend

I truly enjoyed the story and all the character line and environmental options to contemplate. What I didn’t like is the lack of consistent use of accents for each character, especially with Gwenhwyfar. It was just strange to hear an Indian accent when talking about a Legend of England.

A Different Take on a Familiar Tale

I liked the story a lot, but it took me a long time to settle into. I really didn't like the narrator, and just couldn't get used to her accent. Moreover, I was confused by the story line. Once I stopped trying to fit it into the King Arthur story line that I knew, and just listened to the story, I liked it. I wish I had listened to the author's notes first. She explains where she got the idea for the story and it would have made a lot more sense with that information in advance.

None-the-less, it is a good story and it is hard not to love this Gwenhwyfar.

Interesting version of the story

I enjoyed this version of the story, but I have a hard time listening to the narrator. It took quite a while for me to filter out the weird cadences and rediculously over drawling volcal performance to get in to the story.

The tale of the Gwenwyfars

An awesome twist on Arthurian legend! An awesome tale again from Mercedes Lackey. The narrator was perfect for this tale. Loved it!

Good Book, Distracting Narrator

I really enjoyed this book. I love Mercedes Lackey, and this retelling of the King Arthur story was exciting and interesting, especially considering it is not a story I usually enjoy, at all.

However I did find the narration a bit distracting. I often felt like the narrator was spitting words at me, overworking the pronunciation. Even during scenes that could have used a softer tone everything felt overenunciated. Once I got into the story I was able to ignore it most of the time but there were a few times that I found it distracting