Title: The Guinevere Deception
Author: Kiersten White
Series: Camelot Rising #1
Genre: Fantasy/Retelling
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: November 5th, 2019
Edition: Kindle Edition, 352 pages
Source: NetGalley
Synopsis:
There was nothing in the world 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. Arthur's knights believe they are strong enough to face any threat, but Guinevere knows it will take more than swords to keep Camelot free.
Deadly jousts, duplicitous knights, and forbidden romances are nothing compared to the greatest threat of all: the girl with the long black hair, riding on horseback through the dark woods toward Arthur. Because when your whole existence is a lie, how can you trust even yourself?
Review:
So, that cover is gorgeous, just sayin'.
I have never read the full Arthurian Legend. The main way I know about the story is that 90's miniseries/movie with Sam Neil as Merlin. This aligns fairly close with that version of the story. This is the first book I have read by Kiersten White, and now I want to read more of her books.
I really enjoyed this book. I loved that it's told from Guinevere's perspective, I love that she's not painted as an adultress, I love that she is more than a princess, that she is more than a side character. She is still kind of a mystery, and I hope more of her gets revealed in the next book and that we don't have to wait too long to really get to know who she is.
Arthur was not as present in this book as I would have liked, I know he's a busy young King who has to keep asserting his role. But, he was very absent. I hope that also changes as the series goes on.
Mordred... what can I say about him. I suspected what kind of role he was going to play in the climax of the book, considering what his role was in the original tale. But I didn't really care for the odd flirtation he had with Guinevere. I know I said she wasn't an adulteress, and she isn't but he still tried to put the moves on her and she seemed drawn to him, but I think it was more of a like call to like situation than her having "real" feelings for him. And that's all that can be said really without spoiling things.
I loved the spin on the character of Lancelot. Not going to say anything else there, that's a great twist that I want to keep a surprise.
The other Knights also are mentioned and appear in this book, but most of them are just there and don't play a very big role in anything that happens. Sir Tristen is the only one who really has any interaction with Guinevere outside of Lancelot.
My only real complaint is that there wasn't a lot of action or any political intrigue in this book. I would have been fine with the lack of action if it had been replaced with political intrigue or something equally as engaging. Not to say that this book was boring by any means. But there was a lot of Guinevere sitting around trying to find threats and not nearly as much action as I would have liked. Nothing really felt threatening that she seemed to think was a threat. And I don't know if that was on purpose or not, her thinking the Patchwork Knight was a threat didn't feel convincing. And that might have something to do with me having a vague idea of who Mordred is in the original legend, and I just suspected him from the start.
I would have liked to have a better understanding of the magic system as well. It was very vague most of the time. The mystery of who Guinevere and who she really is to Merlin kept me engaged, I have a theory, and it helped that the writing is fantastic.
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