Firelord (novel)

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Firelord is a historical fantasy novel by Parke Godwin, published in 1980. It is a retelling of the King Arthur legend.

Godwin tells the story of King Arthur from a historically accurate perspective, based on research and his own archeological trips to various parts of England.

The novel begins with Arthur dictating his memoir to a friar at a monastery. In flashback we are led through the formative years of young Arthur and his first meeting with Merlin. Godwin takes the traditional story and makes it his own, from more historically accurate regional names for the main characters such as Artos for Arthur and Ancellius for Lancelot, to changing key relationships.

Lancelot is no longer the best friend, Bedivere Ap Griffin is. Gweniver is also updated and modernized, possibly patterned after Queen Elizabeth I of England, as Godwin borrows from one of Queen Elizabeth's most famous speeches for an especially moving reflective passage as Arthur forsakes Morgana, his unbeknown half sister and lover, and accepts the responsibilities of Kingship at the cost of personal happiness, just as Queen Elizabeth I so famously did during her rein.

The stories of Tristan and Isolde, Gweniver and Lancelot, and Arthur, Morgana, and Modred are skillfully blended and artfully portrayed with prose that consistently borders on poetry in its beauty.