The King's Name (2002)

The King's Name is a direct sequel to The King's Peace. It follows some forms of the Arthurian legend fairly closely, in terms of Mordred, Arthur and Guinevere, anyway, but of course Sulien is something entirely new. It's still fairly predictable to anyone who knows the Arthurian canon quite well -- in the way that Arthurian stories are: heartbreaking in their inevitability.

Everything comes together very well: I believe in the characters' motivations and their ends. I loved the confusion between Darien, Sulien and Urdo, the tangled-up feelings, the platonic love between Sulien and her lord. I made a comparison to Guy Gavriel Kay in my first review. That does stand, but I do have one caveat: I didn't cry at these books. I gasped and yelled that people were idiots and caused my girlfriend to look up in consternation more than once, but I didn't cry.

I found The King's Name a faster read than The King's Peace -- yes, it's shorter, but I also read it faster. I think that comes with already knowing the characters and the politics and such. ( )

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/oct03.html#waltontkp ( )

The second volume in a fantasy trilogy by the incomparable Jo Walton.