 | Title: Geraint Author: Gwen Rowley Publisher: Berkley Pages: 352 Synopsis: (courtesy of Amazon) Powerful warriors of nobility and honor, the Knights of the Round Table fought for king and country, rescued damsels, and went on dangerous quests. But true love may be the most perilous quest of all… Sir Geraint is one of King Arthur’s ablest knights but is considered impulsive by his father, the king of Cornwall. When he rashly marries Enid, a beautiful and mysterious swordswoman, Geraint’s decision sparks questions about whether the love that’s captured his heart so suddenly is a blessing—or a curse… Used to the gentle ladies of Camelot, Geraint is at once infatuated with and suspicious of his bride, a strong and independent warrior woman, gifted with magic powers by the Lady of the Lake. Enid has come to Camelot to secretly learn the fighting techniques that may help her small, peaceful tribe resist a rumored invasion. When she realizes that Geraint may not trust her, Enid is torn between fierce loyalty to her people and a powerful love for her husband that no magic can cure. Fearing that Enid has been deceiving him, Geraint takes her on a dangerous journey that will not only test her true feelings but determine whether the differences that attracted them will fuse into a real, long-lasting love—or tear them apart and ignite a senseless war between their two kingdoms… |
At this point I figured I’d already done the other two books in this sort-of trilogy (still not sure whether it’s a shared universe between books or if they’re each meant to be standalone) so I might as well finish it off. These books are pretty good vacation reads so I took a digital copy along to a family reunion.
Spoilers, etc…
The Twist
The original Geraint and Enid tale appears in the Romances section of the Welsh collection the Mabinogian along with two other stories that are also duplicated in Chretien de Troyes’ canon (though in de Troyes’ version the knight’s name is Erec instead of Geraint). It is one of those stories that only real Arthurian buffs will even recognize, though you do see it pop up occasionally with authors seriously up on their Camelot lore. I understand from Story’s reviews awhile back that Persia Wooley includes their romance in her wide-reaching Guinevere Trilogy. Sarah Zettel in her quartet Paths to Camelot combined Geraint with Gaheris in her novel-length take on the story (For Camelot’s Honor) to create one composite character. But those are the only ones I know about.
Rowley has shifted the location of the story from Wales to Cornwall. Geraint is the only son of the king of Cornwall (who is not Mark). Enid is the daughter of the chief of a nearby Celtic tribe. Rowley does an interesting play on Enid first appearing before the court at Camelot in rags by having her in revealing Wonder Woman-esque leather garb that is functional rather than decorative, which of course makes her stick out like a sore thumb among the ladies in their embroidered dresses that cover everything but their head and hands. Enid tries to fit in for Geraint’s sake, but she’s also basically an idealized Amazon: tall, muscled from combat training, long blond hair, and model-gorgeous. She’s also gifted with battle and stealth magic that has temporarily turned her into a literal Wonder Woman. She can’t help but stand out.
Following the basic outline of the original story, after their marriage the rumor begins to spread that Geraint is neglecting his duties as a knight because he is so intent in doting on his wife. But really what causes the rift between them is lack of trust rather than Geraint feeling like she’s a liability to his reputation, though that’s kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back. In this version, on their quest he never orders her not to speak to him as he does in the original; the silence is mutual thanks to their constant butting heads whenever they do try to talk. But by the end all their secrets and assumptions have been aired thanks to being in near-constant peril and they decide to stay married. There is no interlude with winning a falcon for Enid as in de Troyes’ version of the tale (a plot device Sarah Zettel did use in her retelling).
The Plot
The heart of the story really is about the logical fallout of instalove and what comes afterward, which I think is unusual and admirable. Geraint and Enid meet, lust deeply for each other and marry within a few days even though they both privately worry that they’re being too impulsive. But the other person is just soooo deliciously sexy, and even though Enid offers the option of coupling with no commitment, Geraint hedges towards marriage and Enid decides “what the hell, he’s hot, and Cornwall technically isn’t too far from my home so I can still see my family” and agrees.
In the beginning they are blissfully happy, especially with how compatible they are sexually. But they also fully intend to honor their vows, come what may. Enid extracts a promise from Geraint that they will agree that she has some secrets she’d sworn to her father she wouldn’t reveal and that previous promise trumps even their marriage vows temporarily. She’ll tell him everything when the time is right. Thus they both congratulate themselves on finding the perfectest, most understanding partner ever and all is right in their little world.
Reality intrudes with a vengeance. They begin to discover that all their assumptions about the other were completely wrong. Geraint had assumed that Enid had been forced to learn to fight because her male relatives abandoned her or are weak or something, and now that they’re married she has a strong man to protect her so she’ll happily give up being a warrior. Enid had assumed that Geraint would be totally fine with her being a warrior, because he so admired her in their initial meeting when she easily defended herself from bandits. Geraint also realizes that, on second thought, he’s really not OK with her keeping secrets. They have an ugly fight about all of this.
At the same time, Geraint’s dedication as a knight is called into question. It’s mostly the work of a jealous fellow knight, but Enid and her growing reputation as an outlier/potential witch get dragged into it, and the result is that instead of going on a diplomatic mission for Arthur as had been planned, Geraint takes Enid home to Cornwall. All through the journey they can’t look at each other without starting a quarrel, even though they both regret the breach and miss the great sex. But Geraint just can’t get over that Enid is keeping secrets and that she takes her role as a warrior woman seriously, and in the face of his anger Enid can’t bring herself to give up her secrets.
The tension continues through their visit to Geraint’s family. Geraint’s father finally suggests that Geraint take Enid on a tour of their kingdom. Ostensibly this is to introduce her as the future queen, and to see if more time together can heal the breach between the new couple. Really, it’s a secret reconnaissance mission for Geraint. Geraint’s father has been hearing rumors that a nearby tribe might be preparing to ally against him with the invading Saxons. Geraint is urged by his father to wipe out the tribe if he determines they could even remotely be a threat, but Geraint is determined to doggedly stick to diplomacy and only use violence as a last resort. Of course, what no one but the reader is aware of thanks to Enid’s assiduous secret-keeping is that the tribe in question is Enid’s own.
During the journey, their party is attacked multiple times by mercenaries working for the Saxons. Geraint and Enid save each other several times. The tension between them ebbs in the face of this proof of the other’s loyalty. Enid breaks down and reveals more of the secrets she’d been hugging close. By the time the truth about Geraint’s charge from his father comes out, while Enid is angry that Geraint had possibly been going to kill her family and had the audacity to remain butthurt about her secrets when he was keeping some of his own, she cools down quickly because she sets against that all the times they’ve saved each other. Plus the sex is still mind-blowing (they’re back to that again).
So the first meeting with Enid’s family goes great thanks to Geraint and Enid’s united front. Turns out Enid’s tribe was going to ally with whoever didn’t attack them first anyway, so they fight with the Cornwall troops against the invading Saxons. Team Cornwall wins decisively despite things looking dicey for a bit because without reinforcements from Camelot they’re outnumbered. Geraint is badly wounded in the battle but survives. In the end everyone goes home happy.
The Characters
This really is the Geraint and Enid show. None of the other characters that I can find have connections to Arthurian legend. They appear to all be original characters to Rowley. Arthur barely warrants a cameo, and Guinevere gets even less. Lancelot is mentioned, but neither he nor any of the other Round Table members appear. I thought that Morgause was going to turn out to be behind the Saxon invasion, since she was the source of most of the troubles in both Lancelot and Gawain’s books that weren’t directly caused by the lead characters’ actions, but no. She only warrants a passing mention as well.
Geraint: The son of the king of Cornwall rather than the king of Dumnonia (part of Wales) in this version. A gifted diplomat and capable leader, he made a mistake early in his career as a knight that led to unnecessary bloodshed, and thus remains steadfast in his commitment to talk first and fight only when absolutely necessary. However, he is of course a really great fighter as well. He has a strained relationship with his father because his father views him as terminally impulsive (not an unfair accusation), and Geraint is determined to prove him wrong while unable to help being terminally impulsive.
He's definitely the more flawed of our two leads, though to be fair Enid is just as impulsive and willing to make snap assumptions as he is. Geraint adds some entitlement issues and white knight syndrome to the mix—he is fixated on protecting Enid no matter how much she proves she’s more than capable of defending herself, and it nearly gets him killed in the end. In my opinion he really doesn’t deserve her, since she’s willing to try to change to suit his culture but he’s not willing to make concessions in return.
Enid: Her tribe has not embraced the continental culture of knights, armor, chivalry and so on and appears to have remained more true to their Celtic roots. Enid is a warrior woman, one of the few whose job, while respected in her tribe, goes against traditional female gender roles for both her people and Geraint’s. Her role is to instruct boys and young men, give them confidence in themselves and their skills (including lovemaking as well as combat), and then release them to become full men ready to fight the tribe’s enemies and to please their wives in bed.
Enid’s unusual vocation is the source of only half the problem between her and Geraint. The other half is her obligation to keep secret her mission given to her by her father and the Lady of the Lake. Enid was sent out alone to go to Camelot and secretly learn all she could of their fighting techniques, which she would then bring back to teach the men of her tribe. For protection while out in the world, she was blessed by the Lady of the Lake with several gifts, including invisibility at will, unearthly beauty (not that she needed it) and strength beyond any mortal man’s. But in order to maintain these gifts Enid must complete a ritual every third night in a still body of water. So not only is she less than forthcoming about the location of her tribe and why she is wandering around alone in the first place, but she also has to sneak away frequently for her magic. All of this builds up and while at first her mysteries are exciting to Geraint, it doesn’t take long for the novelty to wear off and for him to realize he married a complete stranger. And his distrust and anger don’t exactly inspire Enid to be forthcoming, understandably. But in their own ways they decide to remain steadfastly committed to making the marriage, however hastily contrived, work and eventually muddle their way past all the initial pitfalls.
The Lady of the Lake: The source of Enid’s magic powers, and though she doesn’t warrant more than a very brief cameo her presence looms large in the background as Enid’s patron deity. Not sure if it’s the same Lady of the Lake who raised Lancelot or not.
Overall
A different kind of love story, one in which the focus isn’t on the characters coming together but on characters who came together too fast and then have to answer the “now what?” question. So despite the characters’ flaws I found the base premise overall a refreshing change. You don’t see many love stories about commitment in spite of stupid mistakes and legitimate reasons to separate. In the end Geraint and Enid discover that despite everything they really are compatible.
Three stars.
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