Wein, Elizabeth E. A coalition of lions.

Penguin Putnam, Viking. 210p. c2003. 0-670-03618-8. $16.99. JS

This follows The Winter Prince and is part of a planned "ongoing Arthurian cycle." It is quite amazing--and quite demanding of the reader as well. To appreciate the book, the reader needs to know something already of the basic King Arthur legend. But the names in Wein's book are not in the familiar form; for instance, Arthur is referred to as Afros. The narrator is the daughter of Arthur and Guinevere, whose name is Goewin. Her family has a tie with the Ethiopian royal family, and this story takes place in Ethiopia--in the 6th century. All the Ethiopian names are challenging as well; fortunately, there is a glossary at the end of the novel, which helps quite a bit. I'm sure that having read The Winter Prince will also help orient the reader in this second book of the cycle.

Goewin arrives in Ethiopia after the devastation of her father's death at the hand of his illegitimate son, called Medraut in this story, She discovers that before her half-brother, the heir to Arthur's throne, disappeared he fathered a child with an Ethiopian princess. This charming boy is a main character, even though he is still a child. Goewin finds the Ethiopian royal family in disarray--feuding, accusing. In this segment of the larger story, Goewin journeys to a monastery in the cliffs where amazingly she finds her brother Medraut alive but mute, burdened with the guilt of having killed his own father. She is in love with an Ethiopian prince, Ras Priamos, who has been the ambassador to Britain, but is now accused of being a traitor in his family. She is engaged to marry her cousin Constantine, Artos's heir, now the Viceroy of Ethiopia. Somehow Goewin must secure the succession of the thrones, both in Britain and also in Ethiopia, to bring stability and peace to both nations.

Wein, like Rosemary Sutcliffe before her, is a scholar who has chosen to write historical fiction for young people. She treats her readers with great respect and honors them with careful re-creation of places and people in the past. Her style is haunting, her characters memorable. She writes in the context of the great themes of literature and life: the love and competition between brothers; the corruption of power; guilt; forbidden love; loyalty.