Guinevere: The Dragon Ring – Fil Reid

Published By: Dragonblade Publishing
Pages: 306
Released On: 10/01/2022

Gwen, a twenty-four-year-old librarian, lives with her boyfriend Nathan in a small house, with all the accoutrements of modern living any girl could ask for. When her father dies, and with her ne’er-do-well twin brother on the other side of the world, it’s left to Gwen to fulfill her father’s wishes and scatter ashes on the top of Glastonbury Tor in Somerset, England. Stepping into a ruined church tower, a gold ring catches her eye – a ring embossed with a dragon emblem. When Gwen picks it up, she is snatched into the dangerous world of the Dark Ages, whee she discovers she’s expected to fulfill a prophecy, by marrying Prince Arthur and helping him become the king of legend. Will she stay with Arthur?

Arthur, Prince of Dumnonia, and son of the ailing King Uthyr Pendragon, has ruled the hilltop fortress of Din Cadan for his father since he was a boy of sixteen. But he has an older brother who looks set to inherit both the kingdom and the High Kingship. Tall, handsome, ruthless, he’s less convinced that any prophecy can decide his future, and he doesn’t think he needs a wife. But news comes that his father is at last dying in far-off Viroconium. Taking Gwen with him, further and further from the Tor where she had hoped to return to her own world, he sets off to outwit his brother, Will he grow to love Gwen?

*****

Thanks to Dragonblade Publishing for the gifted copy of this title in return for an honest review and a place on their book tour.

I was a bit apprehensive about this book at first, as I thought how many adaptations of Arthurian legend can there be, isn’t it all very samey? But this book puts the emphasis on Guinevere, a vitally important mythical woman but often underused and under appreciated in literature.

The quality of research Fil has carried out is commendable. Whether you have any prior knowledge of Arthurian legend or not, you really feel at home in its pages; it’s so well written, it just jumps off the page. It’s written with such passion, I’m convinced it is telling the truth, and am not sure how anyone can argue otherwise.

It’s a story we all know and love, growing up with the myths and legends of King Arthur, Merlin, and the Knights of the Round Table, and yet this feels so new and fresh.

It is a very well accomplished book, and I enjoyed it immensely. I’m glad to see this is only book one in a hopefully long-running series, and I can’t wait to return to Camelot. I could definitely see this being picked up as the latest BBC mythical drama; we just need to get it into the hands of the producers who made “Merlin”, I think this would be a great accompaniment.