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The Serpent's Tooth
In this fantasy retelling of King Lear , Paxton intriguingly posits that the daughters' treatment of the old king demonstrates a conflict between matrilineal and patrilineal cultures. Leir, a leader of the Quiritani people from the Great Land, conquers the Painted People of Iron Age Britain. He fathers a daughter with each of three major queens, his favorite child being the youngest, Cridilla, who is trained, like her sisters, to join a long line of women warriors. When famine overtakes the land in Lier's old age, his oldest daughters secretly agitate his overthrow and a return to the rule of the Goddess. Cridilla, who loves a chieftain of the Quiritani of the Great Land, refuses to join her sisters when they make their false and honeyed promises to the king and is banished when her pregnancy is revealed. Later, Cridilla determines to battle her sisters and save her father, since she realizes that the old ways cannot return. Unfortunately, the magic Paxton brought to the Tristan and Isolde legend in The White Raven makes but a dim appearance here. Too much attention is devoted to the rituals and omens of the Goddess and not enough to character and plot development.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
376 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
2 people are currently reading
209 people want to read
About the author
Diana L. Paxson
170 books410 followersDiana L. Paxson (born 1943) is a novelist and author of nonfiction, primarily in the fields of Paganism and Heathenism. Her published works include fantasy and historical fiction novels, as well as numerous short stories. More recently she has also published nonfiction books about Pagan and Heathen religions and practices.
In addition to her multiple novels and collaborations, she has written over seventy short stories. Her best-known works are the Westria novels, and the later books in the Avalon series, which she first co-wrote with Marion Zimmer Bradley, then took over sole authorship of after Bradley's death.
Paxson was nominated for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards twice, in 1989 for the "White Raven" and in 1983 for "Lady of Light".
Paxson's non-fiction books include Taking Up the Runes, Essential Asatru, and Trance-Portation. She writes a regular column for the women's spirituality magazine, Sagewoman.
Paxson has been active in the leadership of a number of organizations. She hosted the first activities of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and was subsequently among that group's founding Directors and Corporate Officers when it incorporated[1]. She was the western regional director of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, and is a frequent panelist at science fiction conventions, especially Baycon, where she was the 2007 Fantasy Guest of Honor.
A leader in the Neopagan and Heathen revivals, Paxson is the founder of the The Fellowship of the Spiral Path and has served as First Officer of the Covenant of the Goddess. She has been Steerswoman of the Heathen group, The Troth, a member of its Board of Directors, and currently edits its journal, Idunna. She is a pioneer in the revival of Oracular Seidh, which she has taught and performed at many Neopagan and heathen festivals and retreats.
She composes and plays music for the harp. She currently lives at her home, Greyhaven, in Berkeley, California.
More can be found on her blog: http://dpaxson.livejournal.com
In addition to her multiple novels and collaborations, she has written over seventy short stories. Her best-known works are the Westria novels, and the later books in the Avalon series, which she first co-wrote with Marion Zimmer Bradley, then took over sole authorship of after Bradley's death.
Paxson was nominated for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards twice, in 1989 for the "White Raven" and in 1983 for "Lady of Light".
Paxson's non-fiction books include Taking Up the Runes, Essential Asatru, and Trance-Portation. She writes a regular column for the women's spirituality magazine, Sagewoman.
Paxson has been active in the leadership of a number of organizations. She hosted the first activities of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and was subsequently among that group's founding Directors and Corporate Officers when it incorporated[1]. She was the western regional director of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, and is a frequent panelist at science fiction conventions, especially Baycon, where she was the 2007 Fantasy Guest of Honor.
A leader in the Neopagan and Heathen revivals, Paxson is the founder of the The Fellowship of the Spiral Path and has served as First Officer of the Covenant of the Goddess. She has been Steerswoman of the Heathen group, The Troth, a member of its Board of Directors, and currently edits its journal, Idunna. She is a pioneer in the revival of Oracular Seidh, which she has taught and performed at many Neopagan and heathen festivals and retreats.
She composes and plays music for the harp. She currently lives at her home, Greyhaven, in Berkeley, California.
More can be found on her blog: http://dpaxson.livejournal.com
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
did-not-finish
February 7, 2016this is boring me bye. DNF on page 17.
December 23, 2023
9.5/10
This is a retelling of the story of King Lear and his three daughters, placed in the early Iron Age and focused on the youngest daughter Cridilla (Cordelia). The author skillfully blends elements drawn from mythology and speculation with those rooted in archeological evidence. The result is a tale filled with human emotions and motivations amidst the details of daily life in prehistoric society, yet threaded with the power of gods, goddesses, and recurring universal themes.
This is a retelling of the story of King Lear and his three daughters, placed in the early Iron Age and focused on the youngest daughter Cridilla (Cordelia). The author skillfully blends elements drawn from mythology and speculation with those rooted in archeological evidence. The result is a tale filled with human emotions and motivations amidst the details of daily life in prehistoric society, yet threaded with the power of gods, goddesses, and recurring universal themes.
October 15, 2023
I love this book. This is a feminist retelling of the Llyr legend, which was famously retold in Shakespeare’s King Lear. The main conflicts in the book are all based upon the clash between matrilineal and patrilineal relationships and lines of power, and the friction between matriarchal and patriarchal societies. In order to become High King, the Leir in this novel married the three queens of Britain, each of whom was the monarch of a different territory. He had one daughter by each queen. Cridilla/Adder famously would not suck up to the king to receive her rightful inheritance. She cannot honestly say that she loves him above all others because she is in love. The story is full of interesting details, rituals, and traditions of the ancient society, and I really enjoyed that. I love romance, so I’d have liked more between Adder and Horse towards the middle and end of the story, but I think this book is excellent.
September 17, 2019
Great, strong and suspenseful read in the beginning, but much less so throughout the rest of the book. Especially the complexity, courage and strength of the main character that very much caught me in the beginning was missing later on, making her seem like a much more passive and shallow character indeed. Especially with regards to (female) readers who may have gone or may go through similar challenges within their life (the loss of people they love, deep and emotionally challenging conflict, sadness, anger and pain, parents being hit by a stroke or another severe illness, people depending on one's help, having to make difficult decisions for the sake of others / ourselves etc.), from a certain point onwards, I find the book deeply misleading and problematic.
May 4, 2018
review forthcoming.
May 4, 2023
Schöne Neuerzählung der Geschichte König Lears und seiner Töchter.
Langsam erzähltes Abenteuer aus den 90er Jahren.
Langsam erzähltes Abenteuer aus den 90er Jahren.
February 26, 2012
This is the kind of story that I love when done well, in the tradition of Mary Renault's The Bull from the Sea and Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave, Diana L. Paxson attempts to ground a story out of legend in history. In this case it's the tale of King Lear and his daughters that came down to us in Geoffrey Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, which also gave us the legends of King Arthur. King Lear, of course, was immortalized in the great play of William Shakespeare, and Paxson gives a nod to that in including a character, Crow, inspired by Shakespeare's fool.
But this is above all the story of Cridilla (Shakespeare's Cordelia), Lear's third and youngest daughter, as told by her, starting her account when she's seven years old. Paxson sets the tale around the fifth century before the common era, in the time when the Celts first came to Britain. Lear conquered the lands and sealed his rule by marrying native queens and Gunarduilla, Rigana and Cridilla are the daughters of three different queens. The two elder daughters identify with their mothers' peoples, with only Cridilla loving her father.
It could have made for an entrancing tale, but Paxson's style irked me from the start. I don't know if I can quite put my finger on why. She did have this habit I found annoying of having people speak with "thou" and "thy" and "didst" that I think does nothing in the end to put up in a past era. But it's more than that--the story just didn't flow to me and I wasn't connecting with the characters. It's obviously a very well-researched book. That's obvious from the scholarly afterward and list of sources. And Paxson has written nonfiction books about New Age and Goddess subjects. Maybe that's part of the problem--there's something that feels didactic in her narrative, as if she has to cram every bit of her research into the pages. I found it dull, and just not engaging.
But this is above all the story of Cridilla (Shakespeare's Cordelia), Lear's third and youngest daughter, as told by her, starting her account when she's seven years old. Paxson sets the tale around the fifth century before the common era, in the time when the Celts first came to Britain. Lear conquered the lands and sealed his rule by marrying native queens and Gunarduilla, Rigana and Cridilla are the daughters of three different queens. The two elder daughters identify with their mothers' peoples, with only Cridilla loving her father.
It could have made for an entrancing tale, but Paxson's style irked me from the start. I don't know if I can quite put my finger on why. She did have this habit I found annoying of having people speak with "thou" and "thy" and "didst" that I think does nothing in the end to put up in a past era. But it's more than that--the story just didn't flow to me and I wasn't connecting with the characters. It's obviously a very well-researched book. That's obvious from the scholarly afterward and list of sources. And Paxson has written nonfiction books about New Age and Goddess subjects. Maybe that's part of the problem--there's something that feels didactic in her narrative, as if she has to cram every bit of her research into the pages. I found it dull, and just not engaging.
January 31, 2013
Finally. I tracked down a book whose title escaped me that I was CERTAIN I read in high school and the copy was borrowed from the public library. I could remember no character names but knew that it was set in a version of Celtic Britain, the narrator hid her pregnancy (fathered by a childhood friend) but was sent away from her father's home when the pregnancy was discovered, and at one point before that she gets drunk and sings a song with a chorus along the lines of "ai, ai, ai am adder am I." Yup, remembered the chorus but not the title or author.
Thanks to the power of Google and a LARPing wiki (at least I think that's what it was) I finally got a title - The Serpent's Tooth - and once Goodreads offered up the cover art I knew this was it.
A Lear re-telling...now all the pieces fall into place.
And I want to read it again (it's out of print, so a used copy must be obtained) because I don't actually remember how the book ends - I know I finished it. I also know that I read it when I was young enough to be astonished by people having weird sex out in the woods (I went through a period of time where I read books with pre-historic settings and characters that were part of horse cults or were cavemen or somesuch - weird crap and I'm surprised I'm not warped).
Thanks to the power of Google and a LARPing wiki (at least I think that's what it was) I finally got a title - The Serpent's Tooth - and once Goodreads offered up the cover art I knew this was it.
A Lear re-telling...now all the pieces fall into place.
And I want to read it again (it's out of print, so a used copy must be obtained) because I don't actually remember how the book ends - I know I finished it. I also know that I read it when I was young enough to be astonished by people having weird sex out in the woods (I went through a period of time where I read books with pre-historic settings and characters that were part of horse cults or were cavemen or somesuch - weird crap and I'm surprised I'm not warped).
April 10, 2011
This is a skillfull retelling of the tale of the mad king Leir and his 3 daughters, based on older versions than Shakespear. The author has done her research well and there are informative notes in the afterward. She also is a splendid writer and while she may have taken some historical liberties, she has also with this work contributed to my understanding of this time and place.
After the initial difficulty of entering this book, (the names especially were trying) it became very compelling.
I liked it better than the well known play because of its intimacy and the richer context.
After the initial difficulty of entering this book, (the names especially were trying) it became very compelling.
I liked it better than the well known play because of its intimacy and the richer context.
March 7, 2015
6,5/10
Come per tutte le riscritture, anche in questo caso il problema maggiore è che si sa già dall'inizio come la storia andrà a finire e questo toglie una buona fetta di suspense. Nondimeno, l'autrice riesce a trovare un buon equilibrio tra la riproposizione e l'innovazione, così da riuscire a mantenere desto l'interesse del lettore fino alla fine: l'ambientazione e la cultura nelle quali Lear e le sue figlie si muovono sono interessanti e dettagliate al punto da compensare anche una certa prevedibilità nella trama e nei personaggi.
Come per tutte le riscritture, anche in questo caso il problema maggiore è che si sa già dall'inizio come la storia andrà a finire e questo toglie una buona fetta di suspense. Nondimeno, l'autrice riesce a trovare un buon equilibrio tra la riproposizione e l'innovazione, così da riuscire a mantenere desto l'interesse del lettore fino alla fine: l'ambientazione e la cultura nelle quali Lear e le sue figlie si muovono sono interessanti e dettagliate al punto da compensare anche una certa prevedibilità nella trama e nei personaggi.
May 6, 2012
a different telling of the lyr/lear myths, this book delves into the indiginous religions of the conquered lands, and the old ways that are as much a part of the struggle for power as the men who wish to claim lear's throne. it's actually very very good. King Lear is one of my favorites of the bard's plays, and this book does a wonderful job of taking the root story and pulling it into a completely new and still tragic direction.
April 18, 2009
Interesting take on Lear—I won't say retelling, for of course Shakespeare drew from older work, and I suspect this does, too. Cordelia is the main character, and the narration is from her viewpoint. In a way I find this more satisfying than the Bard's tale.
April 11, 2017
More a good idea than actually good.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews