Taliesin
core novel 1987 Pendragon Cycle
Record
| First published | 1987 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.02 (19,002 ratings, collected 2026-08-30) |
| Page count | 496 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780891074076 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Taliesin follows two parallel storylines that open the Pendragon Cycle: the fall of Atlantis and Princess Charis's flight with her family to Britain, and the rise of a young druid-prince named Taliesin who is being trained in ancient wisdom. The two threads converge when Charis, having survived Atlantis's destruction and reached the unfamiliar shores of Britain, meets Taliesin and the two eventually marry, setting the stage for the birth of their son Merlin. Before that union can bring any lasting peace, Charis's jealous half-sister Morgian begins to orchestrate a tragedy that threatens to unravel what the couple has built together. As the first book in the series, Taliesin lays the groundwork for the Arthurian legend to come, tracing how a lost civilization and a new land become entwined through its central characters.
Where it sits
- Universe: Pendragon Cycle
- Series: Pendragon Cycle core; position 1 of 5 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Stephen R. Lawhead
Notes
- From the series record (Pendragon Cycle): A large-scale Arthurian retelling spanning Atlantean prehistory through the fall of Camelot, published across five novels 1987-1997.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Pendragon Cycle: position 1 of 5: next Merlin (1988)
- Internal chronology, within Pendragon Cycle: position 1 of 7: next Merlin (1988)
Sources
← Pendragon Cycle dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.