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lobeliaparides's review against another edition
5.0
I really liked it! I'll thank my friend for recomending it. It was prett cool, amd I feel bad for Mordred but still an awesome book. :)
idgetfay's review against another edition
3.0
I read this book years ago in middle school and absolutely loved it. It's sat on my bookshelf since then and I just revisited it. It doesn't hold the same charm it held then... I would definitely still recommend it to young fans of magic and medieval, but the story didn't hold enough fullness for me. The characters weren't as rich as I remembered, the plot not nearly as well-woven. The romance was consistently hinted at, but not brought to a satisfactory conclusion. Perhaps I've just grown up too much and read enough books to raise my expectations to unrealistic levels. I think I'll be giving this book away, and hopefully some young reader can enjoy it as much as I did the first time.
garnetofeden's review
3.0
I always enjoy tales that explore the villain's perspective. This book showed a Mordred that was not pure evil as he is often portrayed to be, with motives that were logical and of good intent. It exposed the darker side of Camelot, revealing the flaws of King Arthur, Lancelot, and those often shown as being entirely good. However, I don't really feel that I came to know Mordred's character. At the end of the book, his internal complexity remains a mystery. I also still felt detached even from the three women whose points of view the book uses to tell the story.
Rating reviewed 1/29/2023.
Rating reviewed 1/29/2023.
ladyofthelake68's review against another edition
3.0
As an Arthurian legend, the last half of the book is pretty good. If the point of the book was to inform the reader of the heroics of Mordred or even persuade us that he was not a bad guy, then it failed. Mordred is a egotistical, selfish brat who desperately needs a mother to spank him. And Arthur needs to open his eyes and see the world as it is instead of what he would like it to be.
I did finally get into the book near the end and I like how Velde described the events, telling the facts but making it seem completely different from what it usually sounds like.
Interesting book, but not worth a reread.
I did finally get into the book near the end and I like how Velde described the events, telling the facts but making it seem completely different from what it usually sounds like.
Interesting book, but not worth a reread.
roshk99's review
3.0
This book was average: it portrayed Mordred in a different light through the eyes of three women. No real plot, after the first two sections it drags on. Worth a read, but not a re-read.
ibazel's review against another edition
I remember having A Lot of Feelings about this book when I read it, no idea if I'd still enjoy it now...
ifthebook's review against another edition
4.0
First of all, I really like the idea of exploring Mordred as someone who's not a completely bad character or as someone who's just being manipulated by Morgan and/or Morgause. However, this book is less about Mordred than you might think. It's actually more of Kiera's story. She's the one element that ties the three sections of the book together. And as Kiera's story, it works well. I just wish we'd seen more of her life than the three brief glimpses we get.
All in all, the plot is your expected Arthurian Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle, with no surprises there. However, Vivian Vande Velde managed to paint in clear detail just how tragic this really was for everyone involved. After all, this is a love triangle that split a kingdom, and before that happened, everyone knew and liked everyone else. I guess the message, then, is that civil wars are always messy?
At any rate, I definitely enjoyed this one.
All in all, the plot is your expected Arthurian Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle, with no surprises there. However, Vivian Vande Velde managed to paint in clear detail just how tragic this really was for everyone involved. After all, this is a love triangle that split a kingdom, and before that happened, everyone knew and liked everyone else. I guess the message, then, is that civil wars are always messy?
At any rate, I definitely enjoyed this one.
katmarhan's review against another edition
3.0
First of all, let me declare that I will read (and probably enjoy) almost anything related to the Arthurian legend.
We learn about Mordred through the eyes of 3 women, Alayna, Nimue, and Kiera, and the story is told in three parts over time, each focusing on one of the women. Only Nimue was familiar to me from the tradition Camelot story. Alayna, a young widow, is befriended by Mordred while rescuing her daughter, Kiera. They supposedly have a deep and lasting love between them, although the story never shows us that. Later, Nimue encounters Mordred in another rescue and again, they develop a relationship. The final story involves Kiera, now a young woman, and her relationship with Mordred, Alayna, and Nimue.
Each story was well-told and well-paced. But, especially in Kiera's story, characters and plot lines are introduced with little explanation or backstory--not just the bones of the Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere triangle, but other plots as well. And in the final sections, Morgana (Morgan la Fay) suddenly shows up and plays a major role in the outcome.
This book is considered YA. Characters were not explored in as much depth as I would have liked. And, most bothersome to me, the key character is still somewhat of a mystery, even at the end. Was he acting on his own or under Morgana's control? What influence, if any, did Nimue have? Too many unanswered questions for me to rate this book higher. I felt like it was a "surface" story without much depth.
We learn about Mordred through the eyes of 3 women, Alayna, Nimue, and Kiera, and the story is told in three parts over time, each focusing on one of the women. Only Nimue was familiar to me from the tradition Camelot story. Alayna, a young widow, is befriended by Mordred while rescuing her daughter, Kiera. They supposedly have a deep and lasting love between them, although the story never shows us that. Later, Nimue encounters Mordred in another rescue and again, they develop a relationship. The final story involves Kiera, now a young woman, and her relationship with Mordred, Alayna, and Nimue.
Each story was well-told and well-paced. But, especially in Kiera's story, characters and plot lines are introduced with little explanation or backstory--not just the bones of the Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere triangle, but other plots as well. And in the final sections, Morgana (Morgan la Fay) suddenly shows up and plays a major role in the outcome.
This book is considered YA. Characters were not explored in as much depth as I would have liked. And, most bothersome to me, the key character is still somewhat of a mystery, even at the end. Was he acting on his own or under Morgana's control? What influence, if any, did Nimue have? Too many unanswered questions for me to rate this book higher. I felt like it was a "surface" story without much depth.
ghostlydreamer's review against another edition
3.0
Ah, yes. The Book of Mordred. I still have this book, and I'm actually surprised by that. I thought for sure I'd have gotten rid of it by now. Not because it was bad; it wasn't bad by any means. But it wasn't impressive either. It was very middle of the road. And that was VERY disappointing, especially in hindsight. So why, then, did it still get three stars? Because I think I forced myself to like it more. Told myself it was much better than it was. And why the hell did I do that? Because I was 18 and had just finished watching the BBC show Merlin during my senior year of high school, which I was OBSESSED with. So naturally, when I found this book, I was excited as hell to read it. Arthurian legend? Hell yes! Arthurian legend at a bargain price, found in the clearance section of my local Hastings just before they announced their bankruptcy and EVERYTHING went on clearance? Even better. You have no idea how excited I was. I didn't even sit on the book, I was that excited to read it (and I'm the queen of hoarding books and not reading them for god knows how long).
And then I read it. And it wasn't bad. But it wasn't great. And I was hoping to see a lot more Morgana (she's my favorite and always will be). And I was disappointed to see it wasn't all like the show. And the pacing was off? It just read really slowly, and I couldn't wait to just...be done with it. I was impatient! And that was the last thing I wanted to be with a book like this. I read it VERY quickly, but that's partly because I was already in the habit of reading anywhere between 6 and 8 hours a day that that was a given even if I hated the book. That didn't change the fact that it was a SLOG, and I had to force myself to keep going. Again, not because it was bad, but it just wasn't enough to keep me interested for several hours of reading at one time.
In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have forced myself to keep reading it. That sounds pretty bad. And I wasn't FULLY in the habit of DNFing books at the time, so I guess it's no surprise I kept going. That, in combination with the fact that I was obsessed with Merlin prior and refused to let myself be disappointed by the first book I'd ever found that talked about Arthurian legend. But it fell several inches too short, and I'm probably still holding onto it only because it's got a nice cover and it's got memories attached to it...that really have nothing to do with it at all. Oh well. I suppose it could have been worse, right? Or maybe I was setting myself up with unrealistic expectations, and that's why I didn't love it like I hoped. Who knows.
And then I read it. And it wasn't bad. But it wasn't great. And I was hoping to see a lot more Morgana (she's my favorite and always will be). And I was disappointed to see it wasn't all like the show. And the pacing was off? It just read really slowly, and I couldn't wait to just...be done with it. I was impatient! And that was the last thing I wanted to be with a book like this. I read it VERY quickly, but that's partly because I was already in the habit of reading anywhere between 6 and 8 hours a day that that was a given even if I hated the book. That didn't change the fact that it was a SLOG, and I had to force myself to keep going. Again, not because it was bad, but it just wasn't enough to keep me interested for several hours of reading at one time.
In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have forced myself to keep reading it. That sounds pretty bad. And I wasn't FULLY in the habit of DNFing books at the time, so I guess it's no surprise I kept going. That, in combination with the fact that I was obsessed with Merlin prior and refused to let myself be disappointed by the first book I'd ever found that talked about Arthurian legend. But it fell several inches too short, and I'm probably still holding onto it only because it's got a nice cover and it's got memories attached to it...that really have nothing to do with it at all. Oh well. I suppose it could have been worse, right? Or maybe I was setting myself up with unrealistic expectations, and that's why I didn't love it like I hoped. Who knows.