The One-Armed Queen (The Great Alta Saga)

Internal jealousy, obstinacy, and treachery threaten the royal house of a great queen and the future of her matriarchal land in the concluding volume of the acclaimed Great Alta high fantasy series Decades have passed since White Jenna fulfilled the ancient prophecy, becoming queen of the Dales after defeating the king of Garun and driving the cruel occupiers back to their homeland. Since then, a fragile peace has been maintained through an exchange of royal hostages. Jenna’s eldest son, Jemson, travels across the ocean to live with the enemy while the queen, in the way of the Dales, prepares her adopted daughter, Scillia, to eventually rule. A frail, one-armed child discovered abandoned on the battlefield, Scillia is thirteen now. She is confused and conflicted, resentful of her mother’s teachings and the pressures of ascendance. But even more troubling is her brother’s resentment. Jemson was corrupted in his thinking by his time among the patriarchal Garunians and is now determined to rule. The dangerous storms brewing in the royal house of Queen Jenna and the dying King Carum could have devastating consequences for all the people of the Dales: A powerful enemy over the waters is watching for any sign of weakness and instability, eager to reignite the terrible fires of the Gender Wars. Multiple award-winning fantasist Jane Yolen brings her acclaimed saga to a breathtaking conclusion with The One-Armed Queen, ingeniously blending story, myth, poetry, and song to create a truly unforgettable culture and fantasy world.

Booklist

“The tale is well told in all particulars. . . . Excellent fantasy fare.”

Publishers Weekly Praise for Jane Yolen

“Yolen spins a mean yarn here.”

Marion Zimmer Bradley

“Yolen belongs on the same shelf as Ursula K. Le Guin.”

From Kirkus Reviews

Third of Yolen's fantasies (White Jenna, 1989, etc.) about the matriarchal land of the Dales, where women trained in mirror-magic can call forth dark twins who appear by moonlight or candlelight. This one, however, has turned into a family saga in more ways than one. The text includes ten songs co-written by Yolen's son Adam Stemple, and otherwise is cluttered with annoying sections headed ``The Myth,'' ``The Legend,'' ``The Ballad,'' ``The History,'' and so forth. The story, when we finally get to it, mostly concerns the children of Jenna, the White Queen. Her adoptive daughter and heir, the one-armed warrior Scillia, is rebelling against Jenna's strictures and training. Meanwhile, King Kras of the Garuns, the Dales' patriarchal rival, is fervently attempting to persuade Jenna's sons Jemson and Corrie to challenge their sister for the monarchy. The expected complications ensue. An all-singing entry in this waterlogged and insipid series. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Yolen resumes the saga of Queen Jenna and Prince Carum of the Dales that began in Sister Light, Sister Dark (1988) and continued in White Jenna (1989). The couple's children are growing. According to custom, Jenna's adopted daughter, Scillia, will be her heir. First-born son Jemson, however, is ambitious and unruly, and he falls under the influence of the schemes of the Garunites, whose former occupation of the Dales has not been forgotten and whose desire to reconquer them has not diminished. When Jemson is sent to Garun as a hostage, his unruliness turns into open rebellion. As has come to be usual for the hyperprolific Yolen, the tale is well told in all particulars, including historiographical interludes that satirize academic fashions and politics as well as 10 songs in Celtic style, collaborations by Yolen and her musician son, Adam Stemple, that appear in score, with tablature, in an appendix. Demanding but excellent fantasy fare. Roland Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Following the format of the two earlier books in the White Jenna oeuvre (Sister Light, Sister Dark and White Jenna), the third shows how myth, legend, song, history and story interweave to create a magical tale that is neither wholly truth nor simply fancy. Focusing primarily on the adopted and natural children of Queen Jenna and King Carum, the narrative details the trials and tribulations of the royal family, who are trying to maintain an unstable peace more than a decade after the Gender Wars. Disturbing the royals' harmony is the need of Scillia, oldest daughter and heir to the throne, to find her path by traveling the "mother road" and learning more about her natural parents. More dangerous to the kingdom are eldest son Jemson's desires after he is exchanged for another prince in a land where women are lower than peasants, and peasants have no rights at all. Trying to keep everyone happy is good-natured middle child Corrie, who loves life, fancy clothes and his family. Far less prominent in this novel than in its predecessors are the dark sisters, mystical twins brought forth by trained women who appear only during appropriate conditions of light and shadow. Indeed, readers looking for the fantasy element nurtured in the previous books primarily by the twins would do well to reread those novels, since this one concentrates on the interactions of more mundane family members. But those who want to see the story of Jenna continued to what is probably its logical end will find that Yolen spins a mean yarn here. Also included are music and lyrics for 10 songs by Yolen's son Adam Stemple. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Amazon.com Review

Jane Yolen is one of America's most acclaimed authors. As an editor and poet, and an author of nonfiction and of children's, young-adult, and adult novels and stories, she has published more than 150 books and has won the Caldecott Medal, the World Fantasy Award, the Rhysling Award, the Kerlan Award, and the Academy of American Poets Prize. She is widely considered the 20th-century Hans Christian Andersen. Yolen has also created one of the greatest and most important high fantasy series, the Chronicles of Great Alta, which in its breadth and depth achieves not only the status of literature, but like Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, the stature and endurance of myth. In the late 1980s, Yolen produced the first and second volumes of the Chronicles of Great Alta, Sister Light, Sister Dark and White Jenna (also available in the single-volume The Books of Great Alta). Now she has written a self-contained sequel, The One-Armed Queen, which can be enjoyed by both fans and newcomers, by both its intended adult audience and by young-adult readers. The One-Armed Queen returns to the world of the Dales many years after the warrior queen Jenna has defeated the Dales's great enemy, the kingdom of Garun. Queen Jenna's consort, King Carum, may be dying. Jenna's heir, her adopted daughter Scillia, is in constant conflict with her mother and her role. Jenna's first-born son, the ambitious prince Jemson, believes himself the rightful ruler. And the Garunians will exploit every weakness when they return, bent on conquest of the Dales and destruction of the hated Queen and Goddess. --Cynthia Ward --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jane Yolen is a novelist, poet, fantasist, journalist, songwriter, storyteller, folklorist, and children’s book author who has written more than three hundred books. Her accolades include the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoeic Awards, the Kerlan Award, two Christopher Awards, and six honorary doctorate degrees from colleges and universities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Born and raised in New York City, the mother of three and the grandmother of six, Yolen lives in Massachusetts and St. Andrews, Scotland.

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