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A review by whitneymouse
The Excalibur Curse by Kiersten White
3.0
**Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's/Delacorte Press for an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review. This in no way changed my opinion or rating**
TW: suicide/suicidal ideation discussed in third paragraph of review; CW for spoilers
I'm not quite sure how to start this review. I find my experience with this series has been a roller coaster. This is my first Kiersten White series, so I'm unsure if this is typical of her writing, but I feel both satisfied with the ending (in that it wraps up neatly, not necessarily the plot points) and let down in other areas of the series.
To start with, I do like that the series as a whole is full of female friendships, passes the Bechdel test, and has many capable female characters. As someone with an English degree, I spent a good deal of time reading Arthurian legends and White is right in her acknowledgements when she says they treat the female characters "like garbage." In this particular entry, we are introduced Nectudad and Fina, two Northern warriors who are more than capable of leading their tribe and defending themselves against threats. We also get to see Lily and Dindraine step into more responsibility as they run Camelot in Arthur and Guinevere's absence, alongside Brangien, Isolde, and Lancelot. The ending that I really liked also relied heavily on the female characters acting to save Camelot in spite of Arthur's reluctance to believe them that their plan is the correct path. The only female character I'm hesitant to say is a "strong female character", despite being described that way, is unfortunately Guinevere herself. This is a problem when she's the only POV character we get. Guinevere has spent the trilogy trying to figure out who she is and I feel like all of the guesses along the way were more interesting places to go than what the actual answer is.
I also am disappointed with the conclusion of this because once she finds out the truth of who she is, there is a VERY long arc where Guinevere is trying very hard to "right the problem", which will result in her death. So it reads like a drawn out and unintentional arc about suicidal ideation. I'm unsure if White was intending to make comparisons between Guinevere's identity and depression/suicide, but I think many readers will make this uneasy comparison. Guinevere doesn't really come into herself as a character until the last ten chapters or so of a 51 chapter book in a three book series. That is a LONG time for readers to feel growth from this character, especially when every other female character is more compelling than Guinevere herself.
The romance arcs are...there. Mordred gets the most page time (as he should!), but I feel like Mordred and Lancelot both deserved more time. Arthur has already been explained as a kind of "platonic" relationship over the course of the series. I didn't need any more of him. Their relationship is literally described as a "duty" by Guinevere in this book. I don't need any time with someone who has the charisma of a fern. Mordred and Lancelot's arcs were both intriguing and to be honest, I feel let down for both of them. Mordred has been hurt by EVERY person this poor boy has come in contact with and he just keeps giving Guinevere more chances to hurt him. Lancelot keeps being teased as "end game" for Guinevere, which would be interesting as Lancelot is a female character in this retelling and I felt like that was not nearly explored enough across the series beyond hints. There was so much more that could have been done with both of these relationships and instead, we got rushed romance in place of forced feminism plots that don't work because Guinevere is too busy sulking for a good third, if not more, of this book.
I was most excited for this book because, while I felt the pacing in book two was slow, THAT ENDING!! The ending was a cliffhanger! I WANTED to know how that book ended and I feel like we got "answers" for the series, but they're the most nonsensical answers I could ask for. We've already discussed the let down in the identity plot and the romances, but the ending...there was SO. MUCH. HYPE for when we would FINALLY see Merlin in this book. We know he's not benevolent and uses people to his own ends to do what he thinks is right, but he becomes a mustache-twirling, ties-women-to-railroad-tracks villain in the maybe two or three chapters he's in. Guinevere is dropping all these revelations about Merlin quickly and they felt like leaps. The series wraps neatly and everyone is going on in a way that will make them happiest or at least content (except poor Mordred). The friends are together. No one meaningful dies (as expected). Camelot is saved because Guinevere leveled up and grew a spine suddenly. So I felt like the series ended in a good place, but it felt very sloppy at the same time, if that makes sense.
I didn't absolutely hate this book, much as it might seem like I did. I just don't think that The Camelot Betrayal or The Excalibur Curse lived up to how much I liked the Guinevere Deception. I thought book one had a much more interesting path plotted and along the way, it diverted from what was originally teased. I think there will be people who are satisfied with this, but I think there will also be many readers who are disappointed with where the series went. Since I didn't actively hate it, though, I can't give it less than a three, nor can I give it anything higher. It was a perfectly meh ending to a series that I think got progressively more convoluted as it went on.
3/5 stars
TW: suicide/suicidal ideation discussed in third paragraph of review; CW for spoilers
I'm not quite sure how to start this review. I find my experience with this series has been a roller coaster. This is my first Kiersten White series, so I'm unsure if this is typical of her writing, but I feel both satisfied with the ending (in that it wraps up neatly, not necessarily the plot points) and let down in other areas of the series.
To start with, I do like that the series as a whole is full of female friendships, passes the Bechdel test, and has many capable female characters. As someone with an English degree, I spent a good deal of time reading Arthurian legends and White is right in her acknowledgements when she says they treat the female characters "like garbage." In this particular entry, we are introduced Nectudad and Fina, two Northern warriors who are more than capable of leading their tribe and defending themselves against threats. We also get to see Lily and Dindraine step into more responsibility as they run Camelot in Arthur and Guinevere's absence, alongside Brangien, Isolde, and Lancelot. The ending that I really liked also relied heavily on the female characters acting to save Camelot in spite of Arthur's reluctance to believe them that their plan is the correct path. The only female character I'm hesitant to say is a "strong female character", despite being described that way, is unfortunately Guinevere herself. This is a problem when she's the only POV character we get. Guinevere has spent the trilogy trying to figure out who she is and I feel like all of the guesses along the way were more interesting places to go than what the actual answer is.
I also am disappointed with the conclusion of this because once she finds out the truth of who she is, there is a VERY long arc where Guinevere is trying very hard to "right the problem", which will result in her death. So it reads like a drawn out and unintentional arc about suicidal ideation. I'm unsure if White was intending to make comparisons between Guinevere's identity and depression/suicide, but I think many readers will make this uneasy comparison. Guinevere doesn't really come into herself as a character until the last ten chapters or so of a 51 chapter book in a three book series. That is a LONG time for readers to feel growth from this character, especially when every other female character is more compelling than Guinevere herself.
The romance arcs are...there. Mordred gets the most page time (as he should!), but I feel like Mordred and Lancelot both deserved more time. Arthur has already been explained as a kind of "platonic" relationship over the course of the series. I didn't need any more of him. Their relationship is literally described as a "duty" by Guinevere in this book. I don't need any time with someone who has the charisma of a fern. Mordred and Lancelot's arcs were both intriguing and to be honest, I feel let down for both of them. Mordred has been hurt by EVERY person this poor boy has come in contact with and he just keeps giving Guinevere more chances to hurt him. Lancelot keeps being teased as "end game" for Guinevere, which would be interesting as Lancelot is a female character in this retelling and I felt like that was not nearly explored enough across the series beyond hints. There was so much more that could have been done with both of these relationships and instead, we got rushed romance in place of forced feminism plots that don't work because Guinevere is too busy sulking for a good third, if not more, of this book.
I was most excited for this book because, while I felt the pacing in book two was slow, THAT ENDING!! The ending was a cliffhanger! I WANTED to know how that book ended and I feel like we got "answers" for the series, but they're the most nonsensical answers I could ask for. We've already discussed the let down in the identity plot and the romances, but the ending...there was SO. MUCH. HYPE for when we would FINALLY see Merlin in this book. We know he's not benevolent and uses people to his own ends to do what he thinks is right, but he becomes a mustache-twirling, ties-women-to-railroad-tracks villain in the maybe two or three chapters he's in. Guinevere is dropping all these revelations about Merlin quickly and they felt like leaps. The series wraps neatly and everyone is going on in a way that will make them happiest or at least content (except poor Mordred). The friends are together. No one meaningful dies (as expected). Camelot is saved because Guinevere leveled up and grew a spine suddenly. So I felt like the series ended in a good place, but it felt very sloppy at the same time, if that makes sense.
I didn't absolutely hate this book, much as it might seem like I did. I just don't think that The Camelot Betrayal or The Excalibur Curse lived up to how much I liked the Guinevere Deception. I thought book one had a much more interesting path plotted and along the way, it diverted from what was originally teased. I think there will be people who are satisfied with this, but I think there will also be many readers who are disappointed with where the series went. Since I didn't actively hate it, though, I can't give it less than a three, nor can I give it anything higher. It was a perfectly meh ending to a series that I think got progressively more convoluted as it went on.
3/5 stars