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bree_h_reads 's review for:
The Guinevere Deception
by Kiersten White
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