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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
A little YA for me, but an interesting retelling, a very neat magic system, and great female friendships. The end felt a little forced though, as if the protagonist went against all she'd been pining for the whole book without any real reason to change except "evil is bad, good is good." She flip flopped too many times for the resolution to feel believable or satisfying, but maybe I felt that way just cuz I'm too old to appreciate her teenage naivety. :P
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
After having this series sit on my shelf for four years, untouched aside from reading book one in 2019, I decided to return to the series I remembered enjoying. Clearly memory didn’t live up to reality in the way I would have liked.
To start I think the characters were all interesting, but the relationships were a mixed bag. Guinevere was a really interesting character and I enjoyed following her as she learned to navigate the new world she was in. I also really liked Arthur and his struggles as King, where he’s so young and was denied a childhood because he had to overthrow his father. There was also the struggle of his duties as King conflicting with his desires as a person. Brangien was also a really interesting side character and I liked the details of her backstory. Mordred was also interesting and I think there could have been a lot of depth and interest to him, but unfortunately he was too wrapped up in a somewhat toxic relationship with Guinevere. I really didn’t like his constant insistence that he was the only one who could understand or properly love Guinevere, adding that he wouldn’t want to hurt Arthur before reiterating it as the truth. I think there was a lot of potential for a complex and interesting friendship, but it felt like a lot of his interest was killed by what felt like a forced love triangle/square. I also really liked Lancelot as a character. I almost wish her story was explicitly trans, it feels like it could be, but I also really enjoy more masculine women attempting to make their place in a restrictive world and breaking out of their expected roles.
I also really liked the way this story twisted and played with Arthurian legend. It was just enough to feel familiar while still making interesting changes. Not to mention the world building around the magic and how it worked. The cost of casting or the communication with nature, it was all really interesting and I’m looking forward to seeing more.
Finally, I think where I felt the book failed me the most was the themes. It covers several and I think they were poorly balanced due to the books extremely slow pace and overall not giving itself enough page time. The conflict at the end is based around future and past, watching how the old world and its magic and mystery die to better forward human advancement. This buddies with a nature vs man conflict that feels like it doesn’t have a solid grasp on its identity. On one hand it makes a case that humans deserve to thrive and find safety, but also frames it as awful and cruel that humans are trying to tame nature. It felt unclear to me, which it’s a nuanced discussion and in my opinion there should be balance, but the book didn’t really try to cling to that. Then there’s the sacrifice and struggles of establishing a beacon of goodness and hope in the world. It’s easier to be selfish and cruel than it is to be good. I think this was a really well done theme and could have been more properly explored given more time. However there was also a weird villainisation of the work and sacrifice it takes to achieve this, which is a fine conflict, but it felt a little confused by the end of the book. Finally, the main theme and the one I struggled with the most. The feminist messaging. Feminist messaging is not bad as a whole, that’s the core theme of a lot of books I really love, but this one was leaning into gender essentialism just a little. There was this weird framing that men were innately bad and the ones that weren’t were rare finds among their gender, meanwhile women were largely good and only fell from grace due to the forced structures of men that they were allowed to thrive in. It didn’t even touch how these systems negatively impact men, and in fact made a joke out of their traumatic experiences that it treated with proper weight for women. The main one being how the book treated Arthur and his mother. To start, Arthur was born due to Uther Pendragon having Merlin turn him into Igraine's husband so he could assault her. The book treats this, rightfully so, as a tragedy and disgusting. It calls Merlin and his moral into question and makes Guinevere distrust him. However, when we get into Arthur’s backstory and see similar situations it’s not given the same weight. Guinevere befriends a woman who sexually harassed Arthur when he was a minor noting that she’s considerably older than Guinevere. Guinevere, by the way, is 16 to Arthur’s 18. Then, we have Eliane who is the sister of a knight who betrayed Arthur. The book also notes that she’s far older than Arthur and that her brother is going grey. It’s soon revealed that she groomed him, lying to his about her feelings so she could get into his bed and get pregnant with his child. From the way the book frames this Arthur was most likely between 16-17 at the time this happened, and yet Eliane and what she did isn’t treated with the proper weight. It acts like having his heartbroken was the worst part of this and not that he was assaulted. He mirrors his mother, but instead of treating Eliane with the same disgust it does Uther it pities her for dying in childbirth. Frankly, it was disgusting and for a book trying to be feminist it was deeply disappointing.
Overall, I think this is a flawed book, but it’s trying to do something interesting and I think has room to improve. I’m certainly wary of the next two books, but I’m choosing to trust the author that it gets better.
To start I think the characters were all interesting, but the relationships were a mixed bag. Guinevere was a really interesting character and I enjoyed following her as she learned to navigate the new world she was in. I also really liked Arthur and his struggles as King, where he’s so young and was denied a childhood because he had to overthrow his father. There was also the struggle of his duties as King conflicting with his desires as a person. Brangien was also a really interesting side character and I liked the details of her backstory. Mordred was also interesting and I think there could have been a lot of depth and interest to him, but unfortunately he was too wrapped up in a somewhat toxic relationship with Guinevere. I really didn’t like his constant insistence that he was the only one who could understand or properly love Guinevere, adding that he wouldn’t want to hurt Arthur before reiterating it as the truth. I think there was a lot of potential for a complex and interesting friendship, but it felt like a lot of his interest was killed by what felt like a forced love triangle/square. I also really liked Lancelot as a character. I almost wish her story was explicitly trans, it feels like it could be, but I also really enjoy more masculine women attempting to make their place in a restrictive world and breaking out of their expected roles.
I also really liked the way this story twisted and played with Arthurian legend. It was just enough to feel familiar while still making interesting changes. Not to mention the world building around the magic and how it worked. The cost of casting or the communication with nature, it was all really interesting and I’m looking forward to seeing more.
Finally, I think where I felt the book failed me the most was the themes. It covers several and I think they were poorly balanced due to the books extremely slow pace and overall not giving itself enough page time. The conflict at the end is based around future and past, watching how the old world and its magic and mystery die to better forward human advancement. This buddies with a nature vs man conflict that feels like it doesn’t have a solid grasp on its identity. On one hand it makes a case that humans deserve to thrive and find safety, but also frames it as awful and cruel that humans are trying to tame nature. It felt unclear to me, which it’s a nuanced discussion and in my opinion there should be balance, but the book didn’t really try to cling to that. Then there’s the sacrifice and struggles of establishing a beacon of goodness and hope in the world. It’s easier to be selfish and cruel than it is to be good. I think this was a really well done theme and could have been more properly explored given more time. However there was also a weird villainisation of the work and sacrifice it takes to achieve this, which is a fine conflict, but it felt a little confused by the end of the book. Finally, the main theme and the one I struggled with the most. The feminist messaging. Feminist messaging is not bad as a whole, that’s the core theme of a lot of books I really love, but this one was leaning into gender essentialism just a little. There was this weird framing that men were innately bad and the ones that weren’t were rare finds among their gender, meanwhile women were largely good and only fell from grace due to the forced structures of men that they were allowed to thrive in. It didn’t even touch how these systems negatively impact men, and in fact made a joke out of their traumatic experiences that it treated with proper weight for women. The main one being how the book treated Arthur and his mother. To start, Arthur was born due to Uther Pendragon having Merlin turn him into Igraine's husband so he could assault her. The book treats this, rightfully so, as a tragedy and disgusting. It calls Merlin and his moral into question and makes Guinevere distrust him. However, when we get into Arthur’s backstory and see similar situations it’s not given the same weight. Guinevere befriends a woman who sexually harassed Arthur when he was a minor noting that she’s considerably older than Guinevere. Guinevere, by the way, is 16 to Arthur’s 18. Then, we have Eliane who is the sister of a knight who betrayed Arthur. The book also notes that she’s far older than Arthur and that her brother is going grey. It’s soon revealed that she groomed him, lying to his about her feelings so she could get into his bed and get pregnant with his child. From the way the book frames this Arthur was most likely between 16-17 at the time this happened, and yet Eliane and what she did isn’t treated with the proper weight. It acts like having his heartbroken was the worst part of this and not that he was assaulted. He mirrors his mother, but instead of treating Eliane with the same disgust it does Uther it pities her for dying in childbirth. Frankly, it was disgusting and for a book trying to be feminist it was deeply disappointing.
Overall, I think this is a flawed book, but it’s trying to do something interesting and I think has room to improve. I’m certainly wary of the next two books, but I’m choosing to trust the author that it gets better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, War
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Suicidal thoughts
Quel premier tome !!
J’ai tout simplement adoré !
Assez adepte des légendes arthuriennes j’avais peur de commencer ce tome mais je ne suis pas du tout déçu ! La réécriture de la légende est globalement bien faite, moderne, féministe et parfois surprenante dans ses choix mais je valide !
J’adore ce que l’autrice a fait de Lancelot, une bonne idée a mon avis.
Cependant connaissant la légende, je connaissais le vrai visage de certains personnages.
Merlin est ici ni tout blanc ni tout noir et ça fait du bien de voir ça !
Arthur est fidèle à lui même, loyal mais il reste un adolescent
Cette version de Guenièvre m’a vraiment plu, elle est plus puissante, plus active, pas seulement la princesse un peu effacée et qui ne sert que la romance dans la légende et ça c’est vraiment un bon point.
De toute façon on sent que les femmes sont très importantes et au centre de cette réécriture et j’aime cette idée de faire de cette légende très masculine une histoire de femmes !
Seul bémol pour l’édition qui outre les erreurs de syntaxes qui personnellement ne me sortent pas du récit, a vu une note de la traductrice laisse dans le texte et ça pour le coup ce n’est pas possible, ça sort complètement de l’histoire et j’ai même cherché un moment avant de deviner ce qu’il se passait avec la phrase qui du coup n’avait ni queue ni tête…
Pour conclure je suis totalement conquise par ce premier tome et j’ai vraiment hâte de lire la suite !!!
J’ai tout simplement adoré !
Assez adepte des légendes arthuriennes j’avais peur de commencer ce tome mais je ne suis pas du tout déçu ! La réécriture de la légende est globalement bien faite, moderne, féministe et parfois surprenante dans ses choix mais je valide !
J’adore ce que l’autrice a fait de Lancelot, une bonne idée a mon avis.
Cependant connaissant la légende, je connaissais le vrai visage de certains personnages.
Merlin est ici ni tout blanc ni tout noir et ça fait du bien de voir ça !
Arthur est fidèle à lui même, loyal mais il reste un adolescent
Cette version de Guenièvre m’a vraiment plu, elle est plus puissante, plus active, pas seulement la princesse un peu effacée et qui ne sert que la romance dans la légende et ça c’est vraiment un bon point.
De toute façon on sent que les femmes sont très importantes et au centre de cette réécriture et j’aime cette idée de faire de cette légende très masculine une histoire de femmes !
Seul bémol pour l’édition qui outre les erreurs de syntaxes qui personnellement ne me sortent pas du récit, a vu une note de la traductrice laisse dans le texte et ça pour le coup ce n’est pas possible, ça sort complètement de l’histoire et j’ai même cherché un moment avant de deviner ce qu’il se passait avec la phrase qui du coup n’avait ni queue ni tête…
Pour conclure je suis totalement conquise par ce premier tome et j’ai vraiment hâte de lire la suite !!!
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Didn't care much for the writing--White is usually an expressive writer but the prose here felt wooden and repetitive.
Reread from college. YA Fantasy. Just what I needed.
I have read Kiersten White before and especially loved her storytelling, characters, and everything in between. I was surprised by the length of this book as usually her books are longer and go into depth of each character. I was so excited to hear that this book was the Owlcrate December book as it was already on my TBR!
For anyone who has read Kiersten White's books before, there is less depth in The Guinevere Deception than her other books. I still thoroughly enjoyed the book and the characters, as the main character indeed showed development like her other books. On its own, there was much more originality added to the Arthur legends (that I at least know of, I am not as knowledgeable of the Arthur legends). I do recommend the book for those who love mystery in fantasy books, even if you are not invested in the legends of Arthur. What made me give the book less stars was that I felt the ending seemed to be missing what could really hold it together.
For anyone who has read Kiersten White's books before, there is less depth in The Guinevere Deception than her other books. I still thoroughly enjoyed the book and the characters, as the main character indeed showed development like her other books. On its own, there was much more originality added to the Arthur legends (that I at least know of, I am not as knowledgeable of the Arthur legends). I do recommend the book for those who love mystery in fantasy books, even if you are not invested in the legends of Arthur. What made me give the book less stars was that I felt the ending seemed to be missing what could really hold it together.
This book was insanely good, seriously one of my favourites, maybe even my number 1 of all time! Firstly, this cover is the prettiest I’ve ever seen
This was the Owlcrate pick for December. As always, my opinions are honest while not giving away any spoilers. Though it feels a little weird to worry about spoilers when you're talking about a book based on Arthurian legend. If you're familiar at all with the stories, you know more or less what's expected of characters like Merlin, Arthur, Sir Kay and so forth.
I don't have much to complain about. I guess my biggest thing is the antagonist. Or I guess I should say one of the antagonist. Not to give anything away, but there are two I was satisfied with and one I was not. I guess I would've liked someone more complex and less obviously bad. The other ones are very intriguing and I'm excited to see what happens. I also want to complain about the gender politics in this book. I'm all for girl power but I feel like maybe it was pushing a little too far. I guess it wouldn't bother me so much if the character wasn't so OMG PERFECT AT EVERYTHING. I know that the author is just taking this from other stories, but even so, you can have the character be flawed. That would make them more interesting!
If you know the stories of Arthurian legend at all, you won't be surprised by some of the things in this book. I guess I shouldn't be too upset that the author honored those older stories, but at the same time I was hoping for a very unexpected take on some of these characters and that just didn't happen. Or it started to happen but then it went back to what I expected of the characters. Those less familiar with the legends will like this fine but everyone else will probably do what I did: roll their eyes and think "Of course".
A lot of people will say that this book is slow, and I guess that's true, but it didn't feel slow to me. I was absorbed in the world. I liked following Guinevere around as she played magical detective trying to figure out who was threatening Arthur, as well as doing her part in keeping him safe. Even knowing these characters, I wanted to give the author the benefit of the doubt that she might do something new with them. I think Merlin was the most intriguing character and one I wanted to know the most about with Guinevere coming in second. There's a lot of mystery about her that isn't fully explained by the end, but there are enough hints along the way that the readers can make their own assumptions.
I liked all of the characters-- at least the ones that got a lot of attention. I would've loved more time with the rest of Arthur's knights, and I sincerely hope we see more of them in the future. I liked the use of stories like The Sword in the Stone and Merlin as well as some of the other Arthurian legends in this book. I haven't seen every single movie and TV show about Arthur but it'd be cool of those were snuck in here too somewhere. I liked the use of magic here. It makes sense for it to be tied to nature, and the prices for using certain magic made sense. I liked the moral/ethical dilemma Guinevere faced as well as her reasoning over Arthur's decisions as king.
I feel like I know some of what will happen in the sequel, but maybe the author will surprise me. Either way, I like the world and the characters enough to read what happens next.
I don't have much to complain about. I guess my biggest thing is the antagonist. Or I guess I should say one of the antagonist. Not to give anything away, but there are two I was satisfied with and one I was not. I guess I would've liked someone more complex and less obviously bad. The other ones are very intriguing and I'm excited to see what happens. I also want to complain about the gender politics in this book. I'm all for girl power but I feel like maybe it was pushing a little too far. I guess it wouldn't bother me so much if the character wasn't so OMG PERFECT AT EVERYTHING. I know that the author is just taking this from other stories, but even so, you can have the character be flawed. That would make them more interesting!
If you know the stories of Arthurian legend at all, you won't be surprised by some of the things in this book. I guess I shouldn't be too upset that the author honored those older stories, but at the same time I was hoping for a very unexpected take on some of these characters and that just didn't happen. Or it started to happen but then it went back to what I expected of the characters. Those less familiar with the legends will like this fine but everyone else will probably do what I did: roll their eyes and think "Of course".
A lot of people will say that this book is slow, and I guess that's true, but it didn't feel slow to me. I was absorbed in the world. I liked following Guinevere around as she played magical detective trying to figure out who was threatening Arthur, as well as doing her part in keeping him safe. Even knowing these characters, I wanted to give the author the benefit of the doubt that she might do something new with them. I think Merlin was the most intriguing character and one I wanted to know the most about with Guinevere coming in second. There's a lot of mystery about her that isn't fully explained by the end, but there are enough hints along the way that the readers can make their own assumptions.
I liked all of the characters-- at least the ones that got a lot of attention. I would've loved more time with the rest of Arthur's knights, and I sincerely hope we see more of them in the future. I liked the use of stories like The Sword in the Stone and Merlin as well as some of the other Arthurian legends in this book. I haven't seen every single movie and TV show about Arthur but it'd be cool of those were snuck in here too somewhere. I liked the use of magic here. It makes sense for it to be tied to nature, and the prices for using certain magic made sense. I liked the moral/ethical dilemma Guinevere faced as well as her reasoning over Arthur's decisions as king.
I feel like I know some of what will happen in the sequel, but maybe the author will surprise me. Either way, I like the world and the characters enough to read what happens next.