Cursed

Gr 9 Up–England was a land of warriors and kings, but it was also home to the fey—elusive, intelligent beings who had inhabited the green isles long before mankind settled there. Sadly, human beings tend not to assimilate well, and this novel opens with warfare as humans, egged on by the church, drive the fey from their homes and execute them in increasingly gruesome and merciless ways. When Nimue’s village is destroyed and her people murdered, she wanders the land until she comes across the Sword in a pond of water. Nearly alone in the world, she avenges and protects her people as best she can. All the heroes of the Arthurian tales are represented in this novel as they were before they became the legends we are familiar with today. Arthur is a teenager, abused by his uncle. Merlin is a drunk, ridiculed by king and court. But together they just may become legendary. The flaws, fears, and failures of all-too-human characters will endear readers to those who will one day become heroes.