Ygerna: A Pendragon Chronicles Prequel Novel

The Pendragon Chronicles #0.5

by Ruth Nestvold

Uthyr destroyed her life. Now she wants revenge.When young Ygerna first meets Uthyr, Pendragon of Britain, she is dazzled by the handsome and famous warrior. But when Uthyr interprets admiration as consent and takes her by force, Ygerna's hero worship turns to hatred.And she will do anything to get revenge on the man who got her with child and ruined her life.Set in 5th century Britain after the Romans have left the province to fend for itself, Ygerna's coming of age chronicles the battles of the Romanized Britons against the Anglo-Saxon tribes who want to take over the island at the beginning of the Dark Ages.A thoroughly new take on the story of King Arthur's mother, also known in Arthurian legend as Igraine and Ygrain, by the award-winning writer Ruth Nestvold.

Genres: Fantasy

415 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 2, 2017

About the author

Ruth Nestvold has published widely in science fiction and fantasy, her fiction appearing in such markets as Asimov’s, F&SF, Baen’s Universe, Strange Horizons, Realms of Fantasy, and Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best Science Fiction. Her work has been nominated for the Nebula, Tiptree, and Sturgeon Awards. In 2007, the Italian translation of her novella “Looking Through Lace” won the “Premio Italia” award for best international work. Since 2012, she’s been concentrating her efforts on self-publishing rather than traditional publishing, although she does still occasionally sell a story the old-fashioned way. She maintains a web site at http://www.ruthnestvold.com and blogs at https://ruthnestvold.wordpress.com.

Reviews

[Terry Calafato · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting character from a new point of view.
I really enjoyed reading this prequel to the other Nestvold's novels.
MZB's Igraine has always been one of my favourite versions of the story, but I appreciated a lot this Ygerna, and the different path the author has given her.

Clear and clean writing, beautiful characters.
It's always worth reading one of Ruth Nestvold's stories.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enchanting, heartbreaking, thrilling and compelling new spin on the beginning of the Arthus saga with a heroine one can't but love and root for, lots of multi-faceted side characters that evoke strong emotions too, a scarily believable villain in a scenario that happened and still happens much too often but with an intriguing idea of hope that kept me reading and reading late into the night. There are things more important than revenge and I loved reading about it, loved the ending too, and now I am dreaming of such a Maiden's Castle in this time and age. Sad that it would be necessary still and maybe even more so. But a beautiful idea. A new take on a historical legend that's absolutely convincing. So from now on, this will be my version how it really happened.

[Paula E Tedrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful!

I have always enjoyed the stories and legends having to do Arthur and Camelot. This story of the time before Camelot and the possible beginning of Arthur's life gave me a new outlook. I very much enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone interested in that period in history.

[Fiona Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fabulous story of the a seldom touched upon character in the Arthurian Legend. I love the fact that this story does not revolve around Arthur but his mother Ygerna. She is drawn in all her glory with all her faults and strengths on display. She has become a real figure, and you are fighting for her all the way. A great book by a fabulous author who is added to my list of favourite authors.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this story through Hidden Gems and this is my honest and voluntary review.
I love finding new books with different takes on the Arthurian legends. I did find the variations used on the names to be a little confusing because my mind kept trying to make them match the ones I've read countless times in other stories. I did really enjoy the way the author took Ygerna (Lady Igraine) from a vessel that carried Arthur and quietly retired to a nunnery afterwards to a bold and fearless warrior type set on avenging the wrong done to her by Uthyr (King Uther). It was a great change to get to see Ygerna (Lady Igraine) as the star of the show, so to speak, and getting her own story. The was a well done interpretation of the legends, only the author's use of uncommon spellings and variations on the names kept me from feeling fully immersed in this otherwise awesome story!