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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
4 ⭐ CW: violence, rape mention
The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White is book one in the Camelot Rising series. I have always loved Arthurian legends, starting with Disney's The Sword in the Stone to The Quest for Camelot, and on to The Mists of Avalon and Merlin. I can now add this to the list! It was nice to finally have a story all about Guinevere, instead of her just being a background character or a plot device.
We follow Guinevere, who isn't really Guinevere, as she becomes Arthur's Queen. Her true identity is kept secret, because magic is outlawed in Camelot, but Guinevere is there to provide magical protection since Merlin cannot. The more we learn about Guinevere, the more we realize that she is more of a mystery to herself than she should be, and it turns out that the deception isn't her's, but Merlin's and Arthur's.
This was a little slow on the plot, but I enjoyed the twist on the Guinevere story. White wrote this so that Guinevere could finally have agency within her own story, which I appreciate, but she was a little more damsel in distress than I would have liked. I enjoyed her friendship with Brangien (who gets to be a lesbian!) and the little bits of magic we see. It was a bit hard to get attached to her friendship with Mordred, because if you know anything about Arthurian legend, you know Mordred will betray Arthur at some point. We do get a female (gender non-conforming?) Sir Lancelot! I loved this development so much, and I can't wait to see more from her in the next book.
I love that this story really focuses on the man versus nature trope, but makes it a bit more gray. On the one hand, you want our heroes to succeed and defeat the chaos, but on the other you can also understand the urge to let nature's chaos take hold and reclaim what man has destroyed. We see Guinevere struggle with this as well. I'm pretty sure I know what is going on with her missing memory and why, but I'm excited for it to be confirmed!
Definitely looking forward to book two!
The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White is book one in the Camelot Rising series. I have always loved Arthurian legends, starting with Disney's The Sword in the Stone to The Quest for Camelot, and on to The Mists of Avalon and Merlin. I can now add this to the list! It was nice to finally have a story all about Guinevere, instead of her just being a background character or a plot device.
We follow Guinevere, who isn't really Guinevere, as she becomes Arthur's Queen. Her true identity is kept secret, because magic is outlawed in Camelot, but Guinevere is there to provide magical protection since Merlin cannot. The more we learn about Guinevere, the more we realize that she is more of a mystery to herself than she should be, and it turns out that the deception isn't her's, but Merlin's and Arthur's.
This was a little slow on the plot, but I enjoyed the twist on the Guinevere story. White wrote this so that Guinevere could finally have agency within her own story, which I appreciate, but she was a little more damsel in distress than I would have liked. I enjoyed her friendship with Brangien (who gets to be a lesbian!) and the little bits of magic we see. It was a bit hard to get attached to her friendship with Mordred, because if you know anything about Arthurian legend, you know Mordred will betray Arthur at some point. We do get a female (gender non-conforming?) Sir Lancelot! I loved this development so much, and I can't wait to see more from her in the next book.
I love that this story really focuses on the man versus nature trope, but makes it a bit more gray. On the one hand, you want our heroes to succeed and defeat the chaos, but on the other you can also understand the urge to let nature's chaos take hold and reclaim what man has destroyed. We see Guinevere struggle with this as well. I'm pretty sure I know what is going on with her missing memory and why, but I'm excited for it to be confirmed!
Definitely looking forward to book two!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Rape
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
martin27's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Kiersten White’s Camelot is a gorgeous world filled with a lot of lovely characters. The way she plays with the legends is extremely interesting, and her Guinevere is a wonderful protagonist to read about. This is by far my favorite version of Arthur I’ve seen in a retelling, and I’m also very fond of this Lancelot. The characterization of Mordred is great, I wasn’t as big a fan of his storyline though. I’m hoping it’ll grow on me by the time I finish the trilogy.
There’s a lot of potential here both because of the expansive nature of Arthurian legend and the author’s seemingly endless ways of taking what you know and making it into something completely new. Purists may take issue with the many liberties she takes with the material, but they all come together for a really good story. I hope that the sequels will make more of the knights a larger part of the main story.
There’s a lot of potential here both because of the expansive nature of Arthurian legend and the author’s seemingly endless ways of taking what you know and making it into something completely new. Purists may take issue with the many liberties she takes with the material, but they all come together for a really good story. I hope that the sequels will make more of the knights a larger part of the main story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Rape
ashleereadsbooks692's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, War, and Violence
Moderate: Cursing and Torture
Minor: Rape
ticktock's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Rape
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
angelareads's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Vomit
Minor: Death and Suicidal thoughts
There is some cutting in this book, not for the purposes of self harm but as part of the magic system. This could be triggering for some readers.plumpaperbacks's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Though intriguing at first, this book ended up being quite boring. Very few characters actually interested me, and my favorite wasn’t properly introduced until the last quarter of the book. The magic system seemed cool, but it wasn’t given enough attention for me to make a final decision. I saw the love triangle coming a mile away and ultimately didn’t care for either of the guys on Guinevere’s radar. And speaking of Guinevere, I don’t think she was developed enough, which is sad considering she had the potential to be such a fascinating morally grey protagonist. I didn’t see the final twist coming, but I wasn’t invested enough to really care. Also, one character made an incredibly asinine decision at the end of the book, based on feelings rather than logic. I have a feeling the sequel is going to be everyone panicking and trying to deal with the New Evil, while I’m over here like, “Bro, you did it to yourself.” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I won’t know, though, because I’m not planning to read any further in the series. I think it’s time to admit that White’s novels aren’t my cup of tea.
If you like Arthurian stories and classic YA clichés, maybe you’ll like this. It had a lot of potential, but personally, I think all the wrong elements were given too much page time.
Representation:
I won’t know, though, because I’m not planning to read any further in the series. I think it’s time to admit that White’s novels aren’t my cup of tea.
If you like Arthurian stories and classic YA clichés, maybe you’ll like this. It had a lot of potential, but personally, I think all the wrong elements were given too much page time.
Representation:
- Sapphic side character
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Blood
bodiesinbooks's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Blood, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Vomit
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