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thewillowwood's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book was fun to read! I don’t think it took it in a completely revolutionary direction for the source material, as it fell into the expected beats of Arthurian legend, but a reader who likes Arthuriana and wants something a bit easier than middle english literature would enjoy this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Blood, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Animal death, and Self harm
Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, Rape, War, Excrement, and Sexism
schnaucl's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I enjoyed it.
Especially in the beginning Arthur seems a lot more like an ideal than a person, and it's never really clear why order is inherently better than chaos. Yes, magic can do terrible things, but as demonstrated in the book, people with non magical power can do some pretty awful things to people without any magic involved at all, and magic can also accomplish good things.
It seems like the great magical beings (for the most part) have decided the time of magic is over for reasons that are never really explained other than "order is better than chaos." It's not that magic is fading so much as that powerful magic users are choosing to fade away.
Low level magic users continue to want to use magic, even if that means they can't be part of Camelot.
It's a little frustrating because aside from sanitation (yay!), the idea of Camelot seems to be the ruler should behave like a decent person and there's also some amount of meritocracy, although that only goes so far since Lancelot is not allowed to become one of Arthur's knights due to her gender. But monarchy is still a thing. The current arrangement isn't going to produce an heir unless things change. There's doesn't seem to be any sort of succession plan even though Arthur lives a dangerous life.
I appreciated that the the book dealt with the fact that Arthur can be a good king and a good person and also a bad husband. I think it would be very difficult to be in a relationship where you felt you could never be the first priority.
Especially in the beginning Arthur seems a lot more like an ideal than a person, and it's never really clear why order is inherently better than chaos. Yes, magic can do terrible things, but as demonstrated in the book, people with non magical power can do some pretty awful things to people without any magic involved at all, and magic can also accomplish good things.
Low level magic users continue to want to use magic, even if that means they can't be part of Camelot.
It's a little frustrating because aside from sanitation (yay!), the idea of Camelot seems to be the ruler should behave like a decent person and there's also some amount of meritocracy, although that only goes so far since Lancelot is not allowed to become one of Arthur's knights due to her gender. But monarchy is still a thing. The current arrangement isn't going to produce an heir unless things change. There's doesn't seem to be any sort of succession plan even though Arthur lives a dangerous life.
I appreciated that the the book dealt with the fact that Arthur can be a good king and a good person and also a bad husband. I think it would be very difficult to be in a relationship where you felt you could never be the first priority.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Violence
Minor: Violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Child death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Torture, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury
allyhoo811's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Disclaimer: I wanted to start this review off by giving a disclaimer for how I rate YA novels. I don't want to imply that I go easier on my YA rankings; however, I do let certain things slide that I wouldn't in a novel written for an adult audience. Specifically, I won't penalize a YA novel for doing the things it has to do to appeal to and be accessible to a younger audience (and be deemed appropriate by that audience's parents). As such you may seem me mention certain aspects of YA books that do not personally appeal to me in my reviews, but I do not let these things affect my ratings the way I might otherwise with adult fiction.
I was drawn to The Guinevere Deception because I love Arthurian retellings (really I just love retellings in general), and I thought it was a very solid addition to the genre (4 Stars). In my opinion, I think you will have an easier time enjoying/following this story if you already have a general knowledge base regarding Arthurian Legends that extends beyond Disney's "The Sword in the Stone." You definitely don't need to know everything about the mythology surrounding Camelot , in fact, if you have too much knowledge you might be prone to find certain changes annoying. But knowing the basic stories of characters like Guinevere, Lancelot, Mordred, The Lady of the Lake, Tristan and Iseult, Uther Pendragon, Morgan le Fay, etc. certainly adds to the novel. If you don't know anything about these characters already, their book versions may come off underdeveloped. I feel like a lot rests on the fact that these characters are basically archetypes at this point, who the audience should already know.
I will try to keep the rest of my review spoiler free (or mark spoilers for the novel accordingly), but I will probably spoil at least some of the source material in my commentary. So if you don't know anything about Arthurian Legends and don't want to...Don't read further.
The Love Triangle:
What fantasy YA series would be complete without a love triangle? The Guinevere Deception follows the trope of the female protagonist having to chose between the loyal and noble (often powerful) man she is promised to and the more mysterious, brooding man she is deeply attracted too. Luckily, this trope has always appealed to me and the soap opera loving teenage girl I once was. The Arthur/Guinevere/Mordred triangle worked for me; this trope almost always works for me even in fantasy novels geared toward adults. It always reminds me of the Game of Thrones idea that "duty is the death of love" or "love being the death of duty". If you don't like this trope, this story isn't for you. I on the other hand found myself rooting for Mordred and wondering if/how he was going to turn evil like in the original legend.
The Plot:
The overall plot is good. The fast-paced chapters (typical of YA fantasy) kept me interested and wanting to read more. However, I will say it felt very much like a setup novel -- when I was done reading, it felt like not a lot had really happened until the very end, and ironically that part -- Mordred "being dark side" the Dark Queen returning -- felt too quick, like it happened to early in the story. Save that twist for the end of Book 2. But it was still an enjoyable ride.
The Lancelot Twist:
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I did not like how the Lancelot Twist was handled. This is one of the aforementioned areas where knowing a good deal about Arthurian Legends might hinder your enjoyment. Lancelot turning out to be a woman is fine, I even kind of like the gender-swap idea at first pass, but then I started thinking about all the aspects of the original characters past that will be left out (his connection to the Lady of the Lake, Galahad and Elaine, etc.), and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Honestly, I think the twist would have worked better for me if the Patchwork Knight part hadn't been a thing, and the character just called themselves Lancelot while in disguised in the tournament, but actually had another name. In part, because Lancelot is just not a women's name and mainly because it was obvious from the first mention that the Patchwork Knight was Lancelot. You didn't need the double reveal that the Patchwork Knight was *gasp* Lancelot and *gasp* a woman. Maybe more will be revealed about Lancelot's past in the rest of the series and I will be okay with it once that happens.
Character Ages:
Arthur is way too young. I get this is YA, but Arthur being 18 doesn't make sense. He's been king for maybe 2 years and has already had time to do a ridiculous amount of stuff for Camelot (usurping a title, securing borders, building a stone church, setting up a functioning economy, having how many knights join through long difficult tournament processes). Again, I get why he needed to be 18, but it makes no sense.
Generic Fantasy Setting:
Small thing, but the story should take place in the late 4th-early 5th century, and based on a few historical references it seems to, but the setting described feels too "modern" in most instances to really be that early in British History.
Use of Lore:
I like a lot of the changes made to the lore and the plot of Guinevere being a "changeling." I'm not loving the few scenes we've seen with Merlin though, but I can't really explain why.
The Realistic Treatment (or lack there of) of Sex/Violence/War:
The handling of many mature topics in the book is very watered down. And it is a YA novel, so that makes sense. I'm not going to harp much on this point, because I get the why, but I will say I hate that Guinevere is made out to be so terribly naïve when it comes to matters of reproduction and sexuality. It is given an explanation (or we are at least building toward that explanation) in the novel, which is something you can't say about most YA novels in this area, but I still hate it in YA. Tying the female character's virtue to naivety and virginity is just not a message I like being sent to teen girls. I mean Guinevere doesn't even know what her period is -- that was usually the tell-tale sign a woman was old enough to marry at that time and Guinevere hasn't had hers yet and thinks she's dying??? Even though it does make sense for this story (i.e. she doesn't remember losing teeth as a child), I still don't like it's inclusion as a plot point in a YA novel (happens too often without reasons). *steps off soapbox*
Overall, really enjoyed and will be continuing on in the series.
I was drawn to The Guinevere Deception because I love Arthurian retellings (really I just love retellings in general), and I thought it was a very solid addition to the genre (4 Stars). In my opinion, I think you will have an easier time enjoying/following this story if you already have a general knowledge base regarding Arthurian Legends that extends beyond Disney's "The Sword in the Stone." You definitely don't need to know everything about the mythology surrounding Camelot , in fact, if you have too much knowledge you might be prone to find certain changes annoying. But knowing the basic stories of characters like Guinevere, Lancelot, Mordred, The Lady of the Lake, Tristan and Iseult, Uther Pendragon, Morgan le Fay, etc. certainly adds to the novel. If you don't know anything about these characters already, their book versions may come off underdeveloped. I feel like a lot rests on the fact that these characters are basically archetypes at this point, who the audience should already know.
I will try to keep the rest of my review spoiler free (or mark spoilers for the novel accordingly), but I will probably spoil at least some of the source material in my commentary. So if you don't know anything about Arthurian Legends and don't want to...Don't read further.
The Love Triangle:
What fantasy YA series would be complete without a love triangle? The Guinevere Deception follows the trope of the female protagonist having to chose between the loyal and noble (often powerful) man she is promised to and the more mysterious, brooding man she is deeply attracted too. Luckily, this trope has always appealed to me and the soap opera loving teenage girl I once was. The Arthur/Guinevere/Mordred triangle worked for me; this trope almost always works for me even in fantasy novels geared toward adults. It always reminds me of the Game of Thrones idea that "duty is the death of love" or "love being the death of duty". If you don't like this trope, this story isn't for you. I on the other hand found myself rooting for Mordred and wondering if/how he was going to turn evil like in the original legend.
The Plot:
The overall plot is good. The fast-paced chapters (typical of YA fantasy) kept me interested and wanting to read more. However, I will say it felt very much like a setup novel -- when I was done reading, it felt like not a lot had really happened until the very end, and ironically that part --
The Lancelot Twist:
Character Ages:
Arthur is way too young. I get this is YA, but Arthur being 18 doesn't make sense. He's been king for maybe 2 years and has already had time to do a ridiculous amount of stuff for Camelot (usurping a title, securing borders, building a stone church, setting up a functioning economy, having how many knights join through long difficult tournament processes). Again, I get why he needed to be 18, but it makes no sense.
Generic Fantasy Setting:
Small thing, but the story should take place in the late 4th-early 5th century, and based on a few historical references it seems to, but the setting described feels too "modern" in most instances to really be that early in British History.
Use of Lore:
I like a lot of the changes made to the lore and the plot of Guinevere being a "changeling." I'm not loving the few scenes we've seen with Merlin though, but I can't really explain why.
The Realistic Treatment (or lack there of) of Sex/Violence/War:
The handling of many mature topics in the book is very watered down. And it is a YA novel, so that makes sense. I'm not going to harp much on this point, because I get the why, but I will say I hate that Guinevere is made out to be so terribly naïve when it comes to matters of reproduction and sexuality. It is given an explanation (or we are at least building toward that explanation) in the novel, which is something you can't say about most YA novels in this area, but I still hate it in YA. Tying the female character's virtue to naivety and virginity is just not a message I like being sent to teen girls. I mean Guinevere doesn't even know what her period is -- that was usually the tell-tale sign a woman was old enough to marry at that time and Guinevere hasn't had hers yet and thinks she's dying??? Even though it does make sense for this story (i.e. she doesn't remember losing teeth as a child), I still don't like it's inclusion as a plot point in a YA novel (happens too often without reasons). *steps off soapbox*
Overall, really enjoyed and will be continuing on in the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Violence
Minor: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, and Rape
malloryfitz's review
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Sexism
Minor: Homophobia
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