The hero is the strong-willed, smart, proud, stubborn– and not to mention very poor– naval officer Isokrates, from the island Republic of Rhodes, known for policing the sea and protecting people from the scourge of pirates. I usually avoid any seafaring fiction with a ten-foot pole, but here in Bride you write a rip-roaring tale of hunting pirates and crazy ship battles and ruthless royal intrigue in the Hellenistic era, in the 3 rd century BC Mediterranean. (For those of you unacquainted with Gillian Bradshaw’s works, she wrote the wonderful Render unto Caesar and Cleopatra’s Heir– reviewed by Jayne here- as well as her famous Hawk of May Arthurian trilogy.) Yet another one of my favorite books of yours is the more recent The Sun’s Bride, released by Severn House in 2008.

One of those authors is you, a reliably brilliant and fluid storyteller who can bring antiquity to life the way no one else can. Joanne Renaud B+ Reviews Greek / Historical 4 CommentsĬurrent events and politics have not been terribly pleasant lately, and I’ve been turning to my favorite authors for comfort reads. This grittier portrayal is somewhat common in the more recent Arthurian literature, like The Camulod Chronicles and The Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy.JREVIEW: The Sun’s Bride by Gillian Bradshaw However, it is worth noting that Hawk of May preceded those other retellings, and is therefore one of the pioneers of this strategy.Īlthough sorcery plays an important role in the story, the setting is grittier and more realistic than the romantic portrayals of Camelot. In this way, Hawk of May is similar to The Mists of Avalon, The Book of Mordred, The Sword of the Rightful King, and I Am Mordred. The re-imagining of a main character in the Arthurian story is a tactic taken by many modern authors. To make up for his lacking as a soldier, he trains with his mother, Morgause, the sorceress. Instead of the hot-tempered, fiercely loyal, skilled warrior, she portrays Gawain as an insecure youth, who is not a skilled warrior and fears he never will be. Hawk of May, by Gillian Bradshaw and originally published in 1980, is a retelling of the story of Sir Gawain, beginning with his youth and following him into adulthood.

Hawk of May by Gillian Bradshaw