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alyssa_hollingsworth 's review for:
Sword of the Rightful King
by Jane Yolen
I'm a college student in Arthurian Literature right now, and we had to read a modern version of the legends and write a book review for it. I chose this book because YA is the genre I'd like to write in some day, and I wanted to see what other YA writers were doing with the stories. I tried to keep my Arthurian knowledge in mind as I read the book.
Many of the noteworthy characters from the Round Table make an appearance throughout the story, though the story itself does not have a clear main character. Several of the characters only step in and out of scenes, which would not matter so much to someone who does not know them. I was a little troubled that Lancelot has a gray streak in his hair (meaning he is old, I assume) and that Galahad is already a full-grown man, but Lancelot has not properly met Guinevere. Perhaps this is just another twist on the story, but knowing the legends I had a hard time not stubbing my toes over it.
Though some of the backstory in this book has ties to the traditional Arthurian tales (Arthur's origins, Morgause's marriage), most of the story itself is an original take (albeit clogged with clichés). But even with this original spin, I found the book stale and predictable. No main character was focused on, with the point of view switched between characters several times even within a chapter. Morgause was a characteristically evil witch, with very little real depth. Though Arthur was quite human and sometimes funny, he was not as well developed as he could have been. The boy character was very annoying before I realized who he was (take one letter out of his name and you'll have it), and after I figured it out the character was annoying because all the characters in the book had to turn a blind eye not to see through his/her disguise. Arthur's love for her, and hers for him, was incredibly rushed in the last ten pages, and left me feeling unsatisfied.
There were several adult concepts eluded to and a few swear words tossed about. If I had been a few years younger, I would have stopped reading after the first few chapters. The sexual references/cussing either did not have bearing on the story, or were not developed into a useful plot point (for instance, Morgause's mention of Uther using her when she was a child). I feel that the use of the characters' multiple POVs crippled this story, because it gave us a vague overview of almost every character but never gave us an in-depth look at any of them. There were a couple of almost laughable clichés, which hindered my ability to enjoy the story.
Over all, the book was interesting enough for a quick read to fulfill a class requirement. But the changes it made to the story added no depth, and sometimes little sense. Though some of this is to be expected from a young adult novel, with such a history of legends to work from I would have expected more.
Many of the noteworthy characters from the Round Table make an appearance throughout the story, though the story itself does not have a clear main character. Several of the characters only step in and out of scenes, which would not matter so much to someone who does not know them. I was a little troubled that Lancelot has a gray streak in his hair (meaning he is old, I assume) and that Galahad is already a full-grown man, but Lancelot has not properly met Guinevere. Perhaps this is just another twist on the story, but knowing the legends I had a hard time not stubbing my toes over it.
Though some of the backstory in this book has ties to the traditional Arthurian tales (Arthur's origins, Morgause's marriage), most of the story itself is an original take (albeit clogged with clichés). But even with this original spin, I found the book stale and predictable. No main character was focused on, with the point of view switched between characters several times even within a chapter. Morgause was a characteristically evil witch, with very little real depth. Though Arthur was quite human and sometimes funny, he was not as well developed as he could have been. The boy character was very annoying before I realized who he was (take one letter out of his name and you'll have it), and after I figured it out the character was annoying because all the characters in the book had to turn a blind eye not to see through his/her disguise. Arthur's love for her, and hers for him, was incredibly rushed in the last ten pages, and left me feeling unsatisfied.
There were several adult concepts eluded to and a few swear words tossed about. If I had been a few years younger, I would have stopped reading after the first few chapters. The sexual references/cussing either did not have bearing on the story, or were not developed into a useful plot point (for instance, Morgause's mention of Uther using her when she was a child). I feel that the use of the characters' multiple POVs crippled this story, because it gave us a vague overview of almost every character but never gave us an in-depth look at any of them. There were a couple of almost laughable clichés, which hindered my ability to enjoy the story.
Over all, the book was interesting enough for a quick read to fulfill a class requirement. But the changes it made to the story added no depth, and sometimes little sense. Though some of this is to be expected from a young adult novel, with such a history of legends to work from I would have expected more.