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    I Am Mordred: A Tale from Camelot
    I Am Mordred: A Tale from Camelot
    I Am Mordred: A Tale from Camelot
    Audiobook5 hours

    I Am Mordred: A Tale from Camelot

    Written by Nancy Springer

    Narrated by Steven Crossley

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    After being set adrift at sea, baby Mordred is found by fisherfolk who raise him as their own. One day, a beautiful, magical lady appears to carry him back to his birth-mother's cold castle. There, alone but for his faithful dog, he comes of age and learns the horrible truth about his identity. Everyone knows Mordred as the dark, evil son who kills the noble King Arthur. But what would it be like to be born as Mordred, an unwanted child with a dreadful destiny? This imaginative and beautifully told fantasy tale, rich with Arthurian lore, lets you finally hear Mordred's side of the age-old story. Nancy Springer is an award-winning author who has published over 30 critically-acclaimed books. This Booklist "Top 10" Fantasy Novel showcases her talent for creating convincing characters and conveying their intense emotions. Narrator Steven Crossley will hold you spellbound as he brings young Mordred and his tragic predicament fully to life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMay 23, 2008
    ISBN9781436144179
    I Am Mordred: A Tale from Camelot
    Author

    Nancy Springer

    Nancy Springer is the award-winning author of more than fifty books, including the Enola Holmes and Rowan Hood series and a plethora of novels for all ages, spanning fantasy, mystery, magic realism, and more. She received the James Tiptree, Jr. Award for Larque on the Wing and the Edgar Award for her juvenile mysteries Toughing It and Looking for Jamie Bridger, and she has been nominated for numerous other honors. Springer currently lives in the Florida Panhandle, where she rescues feral cats and enjoys the vibrant wildlife of the wetlands.

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    Reviews for I Am Mordred

    4/5

    86 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      As I am Morgan Le Fey told the early story of Morgan and some of her early experiences which formed her into the woman we know from the Arthurian Tales, this does the same for Mordred. Mordred was fated to kill his father, King Arthur. His mother was Morgan, Arthur's sister and different versions of the stories have her knowing he was her brother when they slept together and other have them both ignorant. Mordred is found by a middle aged couple who are unable to have children of their own when he washes up on the shore by their hut one night. Arthur had put all the babies born on a certain date in a boat and set it adrift in an effort to kill his illegitimate son and curtail the prophecy.Mordred grows up not knowing who he really is until he is on the cusp of puberty. Nimue comes for him and takes him to live with his aunt Morgause and he still doesn't know the truth of his birth. Morgan keeps trying to contact him, but he is afraid and doesn't take to her at all. When he finally does learn the truth of his birth and who hhis parents are all he wants is his father to acknowledge him and make him proud. He feels like he is living under a curse and tries to do everything he can to dispel it and not live up to what is prophesised for him.The novel though short is filled with mystery and magic. Nimue is a character I always loved despite what she does to Merlin (I always thought he was a bit too much of a know-it-all and it was good for him to be taken down by a woman!) and I love her expanded role in the story and the way the dog and falcon fit the tale. It examines whether our lives are predestined and ruled by fate or if we can change them with free will. Pretty timeless questions and I liked how Springer dealt with them.
    • 4/5
      Summary: Everyone knew who he was... son of the king, born from an incestuous union, prophesied to murder King Arthur and end the dream that is Camelot. His name is known by all, and spoken as a curse: Mordred. His father tried to kill him when he was just a baby, consigning him and 40 other baby boys to the sea. But Mordred survived and was raised by a fisherman and his wife, a happy, normal child... until he is found by the sorceress Nyneve and brought to Lothian to be raised by his mother Morgause. There he learns who he is, and of the dark foretelling that causes everyone to hate and fear him. But Mordred has no reason to kill his father, and wants nothing more than a way to change his destiny... nothing, except his father's love.Review: Mordred is probably the character I find most interesting in Arthurian legend, provided he's done right - I can't stand retellings that paint him as a one-dimensional villain lusting after the throne. On that front, Springer gets it right; her Mordred is as complex and sympathetic as any I've seen. I am Mordred deals with some heavier themes than you might expect given its size; primarily of the constraints put on us not of our choosing - not only those of fate and prophecy, but also those of family, birth, kingship, gender, power, and the lack of power. Springer's writing is deceptively simple as well, straightforward enough to occasionally seem geared toward a younger reader than I think was intended, yet simultaneously lush and evocative.While I enjoyed Springer's writing and her characterization of Mordred, there were a few elements that kept me from totally loving the book. The first was that the ending felt totally rushed. It seemed like Springer got to the tipping point of her story, then just sort of stopped; the entire fall of Camelot and death of Arthur all happened in less than three pages of epilogue. While I get that the point of the book was to examine how and why Mordred turned from a happy child into a patricide, not to dwell on the patricide itself, it still felt like it happened too fast to be an organic part of the story. Also, the magical nature of Springer's world didn't ever quite click for me. While I have no issues with magical systems cropping up in whatever kind of book, I like them to be well-explained and internally consistent. In I am Mordred, however, magic only seemed to pop up when it was needed for metaphorical purposes or to otherwise make a point. Still, I read this book primarily for the character(s), not for the worldbuilding, so on that front, I got what I came for. 3.5 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: I would recommend this book primarily to those who are already at least vaguely familiar with Arthurian legend, especially those who think Mordred normally gets a bum rap.