The Pendragon Chronicles is a new series of Arthurian novels from the award-winning fantasy and science fiction author, Ruth Nestvold.
It tells the story of war with rawness and realism, love with feeling and sensuality, magic with naturalness and enchantment …
Valentina Colluccelli, Diario di Pensieri Persi
BOOK ONE – Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur
For the price of a truce, Yseult is sent to a world where magic is dying – to marry the father of the man she loves.
Marcus’s son Drystan would have saved her from a loveless marriage, but with her relatives being held hostage, Yseult cannot endanger them and must go through with the wedding. The tragic love story of Yseult and Drystan plays out against the backdrop of a violent world threatening to descend into the Dark Ages – only Arthur’s battles to push back the Saxon hordes can save what is left of civilization. With her background, Yseult could act as a bridge between the old age and the new – but will the price be too high?
Yseult is a retelling of the tragic love story of Tristan and Isolde, a story older than Romeo and Juliet or Lancelot and Guinevere.
From Yseult:
Once upon a time beyond history, in an age almost beyond imagination, there was a girl as fair as the moon, sitting on a horse and watching a fire. The bonfire is a part of history, but the princess is a part of legend.
Tristan and Isot, Tristram and Isolde, Essyllt and Drust, Yseult and Drystan: the spellings have changed, but they have always been lovers — the greatest lovers the world has ever known. Most accounts of their story have begun with the man.
This one begins with the woman.
Available as ebook from Amazon, iBookstore, Kobo and B&N.
For over ten years, there has been peace in Britain after Arthur and his warriors soundly defeated the Saxons at the battle of Caer Baddon. But sometimes peace is deceptive …
After a series of hard winters and famine, an alliance of dissatisfied northern kings attack the rich cities of Southern Britain. But in the years of peace, Arthur’s army has grown soft; jealousies and trivialities rip once strong alliances apart. Cador, who is mockingly referred to as “farmer king,” must go to war again. The threat to their way of life throws him together with Yseult, the woman he has secretly loved since he was a youth.
But can their politically expedient marriage help bring peace to Britain again? Or will it only lead to further conflict?
As betrayals both real and imagined shake the foundations of former British unity, Cador and Yseult must try to negotiate their own personal peace. Who will survive the upheavals to come? Will Britain rally once more behind a common leader to fight off the common threat?
Available as ebook from Amazon.
Upcoming works in The Pendragon Chronicles:
– A prequel based on the legends of Arthur’s mother, Ygerna (Igraine)
– A novel revolving around Yseult’s son Kustennin (Constantine) and his attempts to hold Britain together after the death of Arthur, Dux Bellorum
Praise for Ruth Nestvold
“… an excellent up-and-comer.”
– Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing
“The book is so rich that it is impossible to recount every nuance, every emotion transmitted, each of the author’s choices to depart from tradition or adopt unfamiliar elements, while manipulating them in favor of the economy of the narration… It tells the story of war with rawness and realism, love with feeling and sensuality, magic with naturalness and enchantment… Ruth Nestvold truly has my gratitude and commendation for managing to rewrite and re-invent this story of love and war so masterfully, creating one of the most beautiful books I have ever read.”
– Review of the Italian translation of Yseult by Valentina Coluccelli
The Pendragon Chronicles 