Arthurian legend . . . where nothing is as magical and terrifying as a girl.Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur. With magic clawing at the kingdom's borders, the great wizard Merlin conjured a solution--send in Guinevere to be Arthur's wife . . . and his protector from those who want to see the young king's idyllic city fail. The catch? Guinevere's real name--and her true identity--is a secret. She is a changeling, a girl who has given up everything to protect Camelot.
To keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old--including Arthur's own family--demand things continue as they have been, and the new--those drawn by the dream of Camelot--fight for a better way to live. And always, in the green hearts of forests and the black depths of lakes, magic lies in wait to reclaim the land."
I'm surprised that this book didn't work for me as I am a huge fan of White's And I Darken Trilogy. I also love Arthurian mythology and White's feminist spins on old tales, so what could go wrong?
Firstly, I think this book kept us in the dark for way too long. (It kind of is still keeping us in the dark as not much is actually resolved.) So long that it became uninteresting for me. All we know is that Guinevere is not the real Guinevere but a changeling witch, sent by Merlin to protect King Arthur. We spend so long not really knowing where the story is going, no plot direction, no tension what so ever. Guinevere's goal of protecting Arthur feels open-ended and not tied to any real conflict. This means that she spends a lot of time wandering around, chatting with familiar characters like Mordred and Brangien, and not doing much of anything. I actually had to stop reading half way through and go read something else I was that bored.
Even when a touch of drama appears, Guinevere is hurried off to safety. She is in no way strong or independent or bad ass and she uses so little magic she probably would have been better without it. If anything she was the complete opposite of empowering, being painfully useless the entire time. If the growing romance/s was supposed to be the main point of tension, I didn't really get a sense of that. Arthur was so bland and forgettable (though unfortunately all the characters were). This story and all of the characters where lacking the gritty realism and complex morality of White's other books.
I also did not feel like this story was taking place in the 5th-6th centuries. There was very little to capture the feeling of the time and place, which is the exact opposite of what I would say about the author's And I Darken trilogy. I guess I also just don't believe that feminism is rewriting history to pretend sexism didn't exist, which it felt like this did. The way women are treated felt untrue to the times.
Firstly, I think this book kept us in the dark for way too long. (It kind of is still keeping us in the dark as not much is actually resolved.) So long that it became uninteresting for me. All we know is that Guinevere is not the real Guinevere but a changeling witch, sent by Merlin to protect King Arthur. We spend so long not really knowing where the story is going, no plot direction, no tension what so ever. Guinevere's goal of protecting Arthur feels open-ended and not tied to any real conflict. This means that she spends a lot of time wandering around, chatting with familiar characters like Mordred and Brangien, and not doing much of anything. I actually had to stop reading half way through and go read something else I was that bored.
Even when a touch of drama appears, Guinevere is hurried off to safety. She is in no way strong or independent or bad ass and she uses so little magic she probably would have been better without it. If anything she was the complete opposite of empowering, being painfully useless the entire time. If the growing romance/s was supposed to be the main point of tension, I didn't really get a sense of that. Arthur was so bland and forgettable (though unfortunately all the characters were). This story and all of the characters where lacking the gritty realism and complex morality of White's other books.
I also did not feel like this story was taking place in the 5th-6th centuries. There was very little to capture the feeling of the time and place, which is the exact opposite of what I would say about the author's And I Darken trilogy. I guess I also just don't believe that feminism is rewriting history to pretend sexism didn't exist, which it felt like this did. The way women are treated felt untrue to the times.
Overall a very disappointing book by a much loved writer.
Age Rating 13+. I really can't think of anything untoward in this book.
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