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telthor 's review for:
The Guinevere Deception
by Kiersten White
Side note before I eventually do a review moaning about how bored I was and how bland everyone other than Lancelot was, and how dang cliche the villains were:
I really don’t care for books that use strong language in the first few pages and then never again. It’s like gatekeeping when I’m trying to rec books for people uncomfortable by language who will be turned away from this book despite it being mostly clean after the handful of s*’s in the opening pages.
Not that I would in good conscious rec this confused mess to anyone anyway, but I still think my point stands. Enchantment of Ravens did it too, for no discernible reason.
~*~*~*~
Real review:
Good boys are from the city, and bad boys are from the forest. This is law.
The best part about this book is that it never backstabs Arthur and decides he's boring and a bad husband simply for being a good ruler and a good man. Many Arthurian tales, even the traditional lays, think Arthur is weak because he's nice. Being nice is not a weakness.
But it isn't necessary an interesting character, either.
Not a lot seems to happen in this book. None of the characters retain much spark--their interactions read as stolid and uninterested in each other. Arthur is generically warm and nice, Mordred disappears entirely when he isn't being a mopey bad boi with a much better kissing technique, I don't see all that much point in Tristan and Brangaine, except to be name drops. She can't decide what to do about Bors, Ector and Kay pop in for a name drop and a drunken bout of misogyny before vanishing pointlessly again...
It's a long line of references and name dropping to other legends and characters, but without substance behind it. Guinevere herself is not particularly compelling, just being a general Succeeding at Everything until she does some weird Nausicaa thing with tree roots at the end, and that's somehow bad. I never found myself particularly invested in her struggles, because she didn't really have many? There was a mild plot twist about who was protecting who, but no one was doing much of anything useful at all by the end of it, and it reads like she's just whining constantly when she has to share Arthur and can't decide if she likes him or not or if it's right or wrong or what she can or can't do and I just really don't care.
Oh, no, King Arthur, sweetest onion of all time who plays with kids and is literally massaging your fingertips after a long day, has to go be a king while you have to sit and talk with the ladies, and that makes you dead weight I guess. But Guinevere being a noble woman is never questioned for herself, only sort of half questioned in a different character and not to full potential. Impacting moments on what it means to be Queen other than jewelry would have really helped. Maybe if she'd become friends with the knights' ladies instead of sniping behind their backs, and used their abilities and knowledge to counterpoint her (boring) magic? In a better Camelot, maybe.
The Dark Queen started out as being an interesting counterpoint, but the fun of that wears thin too quickly, especially once you start to think about what visuals you're given (bunch of bats making a fang sharp smile in the night sky, faces in the water like a bad CGI trip, acting like the IT clown and eating some random little girl in an interlude for Drama).
This book is at once too much and not enough. There's a lot to get through, but it all feels utterly meaningless at the end. I'm simply not certain what the story was trying to tell me. Doesn't help that as Queen she's shuffled off to safe places any time something even remotely interesting starts to happen, to keep her safe. Smart tactics, boring plot.
The best part (other than not doing Arthur dirty by turning him into a coward or cruel, ofc), was. That's a much more interesting character and dilemma to follow around. The struggles of hiding the truth, of facing societal expectations, of persevering and refusing to give up even when everyone turns you down, even King Arthur (tho, we were just told that he did, and we didn't get that scene, which would have been So much more impacting but for the fact that it would have put Arthur in an actual bad light and that didn't seem to be allowed). No one else gets even close to that level of potential introspection. I would have much preferred the book to be about that.
It wasn't the book I wanted, true, so I might be inclined to be crabby about it regardless. But mostly I'm annoyed by how flat and bland it reads. The characters aren't compelling, the descriptions nothing unique: I do not know what time period this takes place in, other than Generic Fantasy, which is disappointing after the fun of some of White's other historical tellings. The surprise villains are boring and don't feel particularly threatening since I'm simply Told what they might do or have done. Arthur teleports at will according to what the scene requires. The romance triangle is pointless and frustrating and feels paltry. I just. Don't. Care.
I really don’t care for books that use strong language in the first few pages and then never again. It’s like gatekeeping when I’m trying to rec books for people uncomfortable by language who will be turned away from this book despite it being mostly clean after the handful of s*’s in the opening pages.
Not that I would in good conscious rec this confused mess to anyone anyway, but I still think my point stands. Enchantment of Ravens did it too, for no discernible reason.
~*~*~*~
Real review:
Good boys are from the city, and bad boys are from the forest. This is law.
The best part about this book is that it never backstabs Arthur and decides he's boring and a bad husband simply for being a good ruler and a good man. Many Arthurian tales, even the traditional lays, think Arthur is weak because he's nice. Being nice is not a weakness.
But it isn't necessary an interesting character, either.
Not a lot seems to happen in this book. None of the characters retain much spark--their interactions read as stolid and uninterested in each other. Arthur is generically warm and nice, Mordred disappears entirely when he isn't being a mopey bad boi with a much better kissing technique, I don't see all that much point in Tristan and Brangaine, except to be name drops. She can't decide what to do about Bors, Ector and Kay pop in for a name drop and a drunken bout of misogyny before vanishing pointlessly again...
It's a long line of references and name dropping to other legends and characters, but without substance behind it. Guinevere herself is not particularly compelling, just being a general Succeeding at Everything until she does some weird Nausicaa thing with tree roots at the end, and that's somehow bad. I never found myself particularly invested in her struggles, because she didn't really have many? There was a mild plot twist about who was protecting who, but no one was doing much of anything useful at all by the end of it, and it reads like she's just whining constantly when she has to share Arthur and can't decide if she likes him or not or if it's right or wrong or what she can or can't do and I just really don't care.
Oh, no, King Arthur, sweetest onion of all time who plays with kids and is literally massaging your fingertips after a long day, has to go be a king while you have to sit and talk with the ladies, and that makes you dead weight I guess. But Guinevere being a noble woman is never questioned for herself, only sort of half questioned in a different character and not to full potential. Impacting moments on what it means to be Queen other than jewelry would have really helped. Maybe if she'd become friends with the knights' ladies instead of sniping behind their backs, and used their abilities and knowledge to counterpoint her (boring) magic? In a better Camelot, maybe.
The Dark Queen started out as being an interesting counterpoint, but the fun of that wears thin too quickly, especially once you start to think about what visuals you're given (bunch of bats making a fang sharp smile in the night sky, faces in the water like a bad CGI trip, acting like the IT clown and eating some random little girl in an interlude for Drama).
This book is at once too much and not enough. There's a lot to get through, but it all feels utterly meaningless at the end. I'm simply not certain what the story was trying to tell me. Doesn't help that as Queen she's shuffled off to safe places any time something even remotely interesting starts to happen, to keep her safe. Smart tactics, boring plot.
The best part (other than not doing Arthur dirty by turning him into a coward or cruel, ofc), was
Spoiler
Lancelot, being a girl and Guinevere's protector, with a blind horseIt wasn't the book I wanted, true, so I might be inclined to be crabby about it regardless. But mostly I'm annoyed by how flat and bland it reads. The characters aren't compelling, the descriptions nothing unique: I do not know what time period this takes place in, other than Generic Fantasy, which is disappointing after the fun of some of White's other historical tellings. The surprise villains are boring and don't feel particularly threatening since I'm simply Told what they might do or have done. Arthur teleports at will according to what the scene requires. The romance triangle is pointless and frustrating and feels paltry. I just. Don't. Care.