The Wicked Day

by Mary Stewart

I really enjoyed Mary Stewart's trilogy that tells the Arthurian stories from Merlin's viewpoint- and The Wicked Day is a continuation of that storyline, but through the eyes of Mordred this time. It shows Mordred in a sympathetic light, but he was never a favorite character of mine, and this book does nothing to endear him to the reader. He is a cool, calculating man, responding in kind to the manipulations of his mother and suspicions of his half brothers. He stands in the shadows watching what goes on and biding his time to make his move, but his impassioned stance on everything made it rather boring. By the time the narrative reached one of the most impassioned scenes- Arthur's men bursting into the room catching Guinevere and Bedwyr (Lancelot) together, Mordred getting mixed up in the fighting- I still cared so little about the man himself that it was dull and my mind could not stay on the page. I made it halfway through, but gave up on this book at p. 290. It just wasn't interesting me anymore. Nothing like the quality of the Merlin books.

Abandoned ........ 453 pages, 1983

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