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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
enchantedelfie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Vomit, Blood, Death, Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Stalking
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
renereadsthings's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The Deception of Guinevere is an Arthurian telling of life after the sword in the stone. We meeting Guinevere who is a changeling and capable of magic. Sent to protect Arthur and Camelot, but at the price of being a wife and being kept secret due to magic being banned throughout. This retelling doesn't require prior knowledge of Arthur and legends of him which makes it less intimidating.
As you progress throughout this book, its a third person POV from Guinevere in how she deals with the relationships, politics, and society around her while trying to protect Arthur. She as the MC is always on alert and tries to navigate the circles around her. This read is a slow burn, but focuses on how she defines herself, her role, and her battle to know who she is and the secrets of herself, Merlin her wizard teacher, and Camelot.
As you progress throughout this book, its a third person POV from Guinevere in how she deals with the relationships, politics, and society around her while trying to protect Arthur. She as the MC is always on alert and tries to navigate the circles around her. This read is a slow burn, but focuses on how she defines herself, her role, and her battle to know who she is and the secrets of herself, Merlin her wizard teacher, and Camelot.
I believe the this Arthurian retelling is a great perspective from a Women in Power. As legends are often told through the perspective of the winners and through men. As this series progresses, I urge the author to open up either more POV's to include more detail of secondary characters and how they have impacted the story. Such as Mordred and even more detail of Brangien. The twist were amazing, yet it left me wanting. I am hopeful and excited for more world building in the next book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: War and Violence
Minor: Sexual violence, Vomit, and Kidnapping
mpbookreviews's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Murder, Violence, Blood, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail
booksthatburn's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
With a narrative that feels like it tossed aside an opportunity for a truly cool trans guy character in exchange for yet another "woman dresses as a man in order to fight" story, THE GUINEVERE DECEPTION presents (cis) female triumph as "doing things (cis) men can't do". It's a well-supported and cohesive story as long as you're fine with the story being that men are bad and women have to pick up all the messes because they're the only ones who can be competent without being evil.
Guinevere (not-Guinevere but there's nothing else to call her) is an artfully crafted protagonist, conscious of her lack of agency even as she makes what choices she can. The thing is that even when she makes decisions, she only makes whatever ones the men didn't take care of first. It's a narrative that tries to frame her as beginning with little agency, and then slowly claiming more. The thing is that her big triumphant moment at the end is doing what she was shaped (by men) to do. Maybe this will get developed later on in the series, but there are bigger issues for me.
I thought at first that maybe Guinevere could be asexual, based on how she and Arthur spoke about their relationship early on. The problem is that since she's young enough that she has her first period during the story and seems to have little to no understanding of what sex is other than that there's some thing more Arthur might want to do with her. Merlin (in Guinevere's backstory) controlled what information she has and gave he what he thought she needed to know, sending her to be a bride without any understanding of what is euphemistically encompassed by a "wedding night". This makes the moments that could be read as ace characterization feel like exploitation of a child instead. Unless I missed something her exact age isn't given, though Arthur is implied to be youthful while also old enough to have a sexual past of his own. This fits the historical context, but I'm more unnerved by it being shown through implications, like I had to piece together just how young and exploited she is.
I mostly enjoyed the story, until I realized it was so committed to the idea that "men are bad, actually", that it does a disservice to one of its characters in a way that was frustrating and makes for a worse story. There's a masked character (knight who always has the helmet on) who is assumed to be male and is treated as such, but as soon as Guinevere finds out this character is female under the helmet, she begins treating the character accordingly. There's even a moment where, when disguised as a woman, this character says they've never felt right in clothes like this. Every bit of characterization screams some variation of trans-masc (I won't fuss over labels but they're definitely not a cis woman), except for how Guinevere thinks about them. It felt like the protagonist was persistently misgendering a character she likes very much, even though the text didn't seem like it was doing it on purpose. The narrative also focuses on how the parts of Arthur that make him a good king make him a bad husband (one cannot be loyal above all else to both a kingdom and a spouse). That, to me, was a very cool and insightful blend of characterization and storytelling, but formed part of this broader picture where by the time I got three-quarters of the way through, Mordred looked like the only good and effective male character (and if you know anything about Arthurian stories, you know it's trouble when Mordred looks like the only good one). It then further conflates "man" (i.e. male people) with "Man" (i.e. humankind) in the bad guy speech about humanity as a curse. By conflating maleness with humanity, and humanity with malice, then having a cis woman save the day in spite of both, it implicitly places womanhood outside of the corruption of humanity in a way that unsettles me.
Guinevere (not-Guinevere but there's nothing else to call her) is an artfully crafted protagonist, conscious of her lack of agency even as she makes what choices she can. The thing is that even when she makes decisions, she only makes whatever ones the men didn't take care of first. It's a narrative that tries to frame her as beginning with little agency, and then slowly claiming more. The thing is that her big triumphant moment at the end is doing what she was shaped (by men) to do. Maybe this will get developed later on in the series, but there are bigger issues for me.
I thought at first that maybe Guinevere could be asexual, based on how she and Arthur spoke about their relationship early on. The problem is that since she's young enough that she has her first period during the story and seems to have little to no understanding of what sex is other than that there's some thing more Arthur might want to do with her. Merlin (in Guinevere's backstory) controlled what information she has and gave he what he thought she needed to know, sending her to be a bride without any understanding of what is euphemistically encompassed by a "wedding night". This makes the moments that could be read as ace characterization feel like exploitation of a child instead. Unless I missed something her exact age isn't given, though Arthur is implied to be youthful while also old enough to have a sexual past of his own. This fits the historical context, but I'm more unnerved by it being shown through implications, like I had to piece together just how young and exploited she is.
I mostly enjoyed the story, until I realized it was so committed to the idea that "men are bad, actually", that it does a disservice to one of its characters in a way that was frustrating and makes for a worse story. There's a masked character (knight who always has the helmet on) who is assumed to be male and is treated as such, but as soon as Guinevere finds out this character is female under the helmet, she begins treating the character accordingly. There's even a moment where, when disguised as a woman, this character says they've never felt right in clothes like this. Every bit of characterization screams some variation of trans-masc (I won't fuss over labels but they're definitely not a cis woman), except for how Guinevere thinks about them. It felt like the protagonist was persistently misgendering a character she likes very much, even though the text didn't seem like it was doing it on purpose. The narrative also focuses on how the parts of Arthur that make him a good king make him a bad husband (one cannot be loyal above all else to both a kingdom and a spouse). That, to me, was a very cool and insightful blend of characterization and storytelling, but formed part of this broader picture where by the time I got three-quarters of the way through, Mordred looked like the only good and effective male character (and if you know anything about Arthurian stories, you know it's trouble when Mordred looks like the only good one). It then further conflates "man" (i.e. male people) with "Man" (i.e. humankind) in the bad guy speech about humanity as a curse. By conflating maleness with humanity, and humanity with malice, then having a cis woman save the day in spite of both, it implicitly places womanhood outside of the corruption of humanity in a way that unsettles me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, Blood, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, and Excrement
Minor: Animal cruelty and Homophobia
probablyelissa's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
As a life long sucker for Arthurian myth I knew from the beginning I would love this story. And while any knowledge of Arthur and the people of his round table predispositions certain expectations White keeps the reader guessing. The original tale is twisted just enough to remain captivating without seeming disconnected from the original tale. Every character of the main cast manages to endear themseleves. Even minor characters get their backstories and personalities without seeming as if they are forced on you. As a lover of magic systems the various types of magic keep me reeling with possibilities. They mamage to have just enough detailed explanation that you wonder what could be done with it but are not bogged down with unnecessary semantics. I thoroughly enjoyed (not) Guinevere's adventures both with magic, her past, and her relationships.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Animal death, Murder, Violence, and Abandonment
claudiamacpherson's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Guinevere has come to Camelot to marry King Arthur. Merlin has been exiled along with all other forms of magic. But Guinevere is not Guinevere, and the marriage is a ruse so that not-Guinevere can protect Arthur from a magical attack Merlin warned them of. But magic lives on in secret in Camelot, and Guinevere must determine what—or who—is a threat to the kingdom without her own powers being exposed.
Wow, I loved this book! I initially picked it up because I have always loved myths and legends, and the Arthurian stories hold a special place in my heart because my grandmother (and favorite person!) is named Guinevere. White's writing style was engaging and the magical world-building was fascinating. I really loved the characters; Arthur reminded me of Gansey from The Raven Cycle, and we know I love that archetype, and don't even get me started on Lancelot!! I usually don't care for love triangles, and the one in this book was okay, but the one I foresee (based on what I know of Arthurian legends) coming up in the next book(s) is going to be a tough one (which is to say, not a clear superior choice)!
Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just my judgement of how happy the ending is because I always wish someone would tell me that before I read books):Happy-ish, but pretty cliffhanger-y too! I have to wait 3 weeks for the next book, pray that I don't go crazy (or cave and buy the book in the meantime)!
Wow, I loved this book! I initially picked it up because I have always loved myths and legends, and the Arthurian stories hold a special place in my heart because my grandmother (and favorite person!) is named Guinevere. White's writing style was engaging and the magical world-building was fascinating. I really loved the characters; Arthur reminded me of Gansey from The Raven Cycle, and we know I love that archetype, and don't even get me started on Lancelot!! I usually don't care for love triangles, and the one in this book was okay, but the one I foresee (based on what I know of Arthurian legends) coming up in the next book(s) is going to be a tough one (which is to say, not a clear superior choice)!
Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just my judgement of how happy the ending is because I always wish someone would tell me that before I read books):
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting, Self harm, Violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Death, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Death of parent
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