Merlin's Gift — Ian McDowell

A UNIQUE AND COMPELLING LOOK AT ONE OF THE GREATEST TALES OF ALL TIME: THE REAL STORY OF CAMELOT, AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF KING ARTHUR'S BASTARD SON, MORDRED.

The once-spurned offspring of Arthur and Arthur's sister, the witch-queen Morgawse, Mordred has reconciled with his guilt-ridden father, and has attained high office in the court of the legendary kingdom known as Camelot. The uneasy peace between father and son would soon be shattered if Arthur were to learn of Mordred's love affair with Arthur's wife Guinevere. But Arthur is planning a vainglorious campaign to conquer the Continent, and has no time to attend to domestic problems.

When Nimue, Queen Guinevere's "sister," suddenly finds herself undergoing a mysterious transformation, Mordred goes seeking powerful magic for Nimiie's cure. It is a quest that will ultimately lead to Merlin, the bitter boy-wizard whom Arthur has exiled and who now plots Camelot's doom, a doom that must be enacted by Merlin's unwitting and unwilling tool...Mordred.