Camelot Lost is an Arthurian Legend/ Fantasy novel written by American author Jessica Bonito. Published in 2008, it is considered a new take on the King Arthur story as it includes only a few of the most notable elements of the legend. Uniquely, it is the only novel to yet tell the story of Arthur's lesser-known son, Amr Pendragon.
Plot summary Camelot Lost follows the birth and progression of the Pendragon line from apex to annihilation and those that have tethered themselves to it. Through deception and manipulation, lands and love are won and lost, perfected and perverted, and though all seek it, purity of heart, soul, and mind is seldom achieved and difficult to retain.
With Arthur Pendragon's ascension to High King, Britain seems to have finally found its salvation against the Saxon insurgency. Beloved by his people and with his young wife Guinivere at his side, Arthur is a gifted warrior, worthy of his title of Savior of Camelot and Avalon.
But when his first love (and lover), Morgaine, returns to Camelot, Arthur's life is torn asunder by devotion and desire. To meet Arthur, Morgaine brings Amr, a son born of their secret love, and though Arthur insists that Amr's true paternity remain hidden to the masses, he proclaims kinship to the pair: Morgaine as his sister and Amr, his nephew. It isn't until after they've consummated again that Arthur and Morgaine discover that the lie of their kinship rings true. Still consumed with love for him, Morgaine continues to pursue Arthur. Using magic, she coerces him back into her arms but when the spell is broken, he banishes her from Camelot forever. She returns to Avalon and gives birth to Mordred but for many years following, she suffers the fevered torments of sins committed and true love lost. Before her death, she begs, as her final wish, for Mordred to journey to Camelot and claim his birthright from his father.
Morgause, a Priestess Sister and long time friend of Morgaine and her son Everarde accompany Mordred to Camelot under the falsity that they are his blood kin. Upon arrival in Camelot, Mordred sees Guinivere in the forest and instantly falls in love with her beauty, grace, and feminine defenses. She, too, is instantly enamored of him but denies her affections for her duty and devotion to Arthur. But after learning of Morgaine's death, Arthur is driven mad by grief, and when he admits to Guinivere that he loved his sister more than any other, Guinivere is driven happily into Mordred's arms.
Amr and Mordred, having forged an alliance through brotherly bonds, begin to plot against Arthur and wield charms that summon the apparition of their mother to torture him. But when their plan leads to Everarde's death at Arthur's hand and the Knights of the Round Table learn of Arthur's incestuous affair, he loses the loyalty of his men and is denounced by even his closest friend, Sir Constantine, as a traitor to Britain. Mordred, crowned thereafter High King of Britain, banishes Arthur from Camelot and he and Guinivere are happily wed.
Over the next several years, Arthur suffers loss of consciousness and bouts of violence he cannot recollect, and when he learns of Mordred and Guinivere's joy in Camelot and that she has born him two sons, rage seizes rationality, and he allies himself with the Saxons.
The sons of Mordred and Guinivere, Melehan and Melou, return from Avalon after years of training in the arts of war and magic and are inducted into the Brotherhood of the Round Table, but soon after the reunion of parents and children, Mordred learns of a new Saxon warlord in Britain: one who conquers all who combat him. Amr and Sir Constantine journey to the warlord's Kingdom and find therein that he is, in fact, Arthur Pendragon. Arthur, by revealing several of Mordred and Amr's sins, convinces Constantine to join his Saxon army and kill Amr, and Merlyn, Avalon's greatest sorcerer and tutor to several of the Pendragon clan, appears and endorses the mission to conquer Mordred and reclaim Camelot. Little do Arthur and Constantine know that Merlyn, as they saw him, was actually Morgause in the a magical guise. After discovering Mordred and Amr's part in her son's death, Morgause decides to, through manipulation, orchestrate the death of the Pendragon line and the death of Camelot itself.
On the battlefield of Camlann, Mordred leads his men against Arthur's Saxon army for the first and last time. Father and son clash against each other with brutal desperation, and when Mordred is wounded by Constantine's arrow and his hand is sliced off by Arthur's blade, he seems undoubtedly defeated. But Guinivere, surprising her former husband, snatches up Mordred's sword and deals Arthur a deadly blow.
With Mordred's life quickly waning, Guinivere and her sons rush him to the coast of Britain in hopes that returning to Avalon will restore him. However, Constantine follows them to the shore, and before they can depart for Avalon, he kills Melehan and Melou. Morgause, still in the guise of Merlyn, appears and kills Constantine, but when her disguise melts away, Guinivere skewers her from behind with two of Avalon's sister swords.
Guinivere and Mordred set sail toward Avalon, and though much she insists that he will live, when the Island comes into view, Mordred dies in her arms. For days, she lies comatose until Merlyn comes to her and after much refusal on her part, persuades her to accompany him to Avalon. There, she gives birth to a daughter, Adela, and lives contently, but there are parts of her that always slip back into memory. Though Britain has been overrun by the Saxons and Avalon is forgotten by the world of men, Guinivere remembers fondly even the sad days that led her there. Sitting upon the shore of Avalon with her daughter in her arms, she gazes toward Camelot, knowing no one is gazing back, and hopes that one day, someone will.
Release details *2008 USA, PublishAmerica ISBN-13: 978-1606105696, Pub date 2008, Paperback