British author Hemingway draws on classic mythology and her fertile imagination to create a refreshingly different Arthurian fantasy, the first in a trilogy about a contemporary grail quest involving many endearing, if occasionally trite and predictable, characters. Nathan Ward is just your typical 11-year-old of supernatural parentage, until he stumbles on a hidden altar that gives him visions of a green stone cup filled with blood. Soon he begins dreaming of Eos, a world that needs the grail for a spell to ward off a terrible plague. As the dreams become astral excursions, the grail surfaces in Nathan's world, but then is stolen and sent to Eos, at the wrong time and into the wrong hands. While Nathan goes to the rescue, his mother and the venerable grail guardian, Bartlemy Goodman, fend off the village witch, an antiques trader, police and a malevolent river spirit. Despite being almost self-consciously British, the book glows with a blend of ancient magic and wide-eyed wonder that should captivate audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, especially readers weary of more conventional Arthurian epics.

I finally finished this one yesterday! It was very good-a little bit different than other fantasy books I have read. I was a bit confused at first-keeping all the characters straight. In the end I was reading and reading to find out what would happen and I will make sure and pick up the next book in the trilogy.

book is on its way to Kyri!!!

Arrived today -- thanks xallroyx! This sounded really good during the swap, so I was happy to snatch it up!

Excellent label, by the way. ;D