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A review by rachelbookdragon
The Camelot Betrayal by Kiersten White
4.0
Okay, this book took me forever to finish, but about halfway through, I couldn’t put it down and I thought the pacing was great. The first third was slow for me, hence the taking a month to finish a book issue.
To preface this review, The Guinevere Deception was only a three star book for me (personal preference in tropes was the main factor), which normally means I don’t continue with the series, but because I received an ARC and this book has a stunning cover, and I love the author, I read on and I’m glad I did! I love Camelot stories. I went through a phase where I read only Camelot stories including the Once and Future King. I think this series is wholly inventive in changing up expectations of the story I’m familiar with, yet also subtly sliding in characters and plot twists I should have seen coming, yet never do. This makes this series fresh and fun.
Telling the story from Guinevere’s perspective is a strength as well. There are so many hidden parts of history, but in historical fiction daily life, city functions, and women’s work can finally be seen, not just the glamor of quests. There are so many hidden nuggets of wisdom about women written in the story, like how they use their wits to be seen and respected. Arthur even comments on how the existence of witchcraft excuses crimes against women when they are blamed for the unexplained, which I thought was a smart assertion by the character/author.
There are far more external factors and politics playing into this story than I’m used to in Camelot tales. Arthur’s reign is known to be a golden age and peaceful, but the author skillfully weaves in oppositional groups like the Picts, Saxons, and other groups who want money and power, which present many obstacles, in addition to magic, to face in the story.
I’m still having trouble connecting to the characters, which weighs down my star rating for the book. I typically dislike books where the main character has lots of secrets from themself and this series falls into that trope, but the book does well in showing Guinevere’s thoughts, feelings, and character as she makes mistakes, tries to fix them, and then makes more. She is humanized by her compassion for others, guilt at the consequences of her actions, and confusion about who she is as she tries to figure out her past, yet remains present in being who she wants to be and internalizes the needs of her trusted friends (p.118 and p.194). She has much more agency in this book, which improves her character, but I am still bothered by the idea that she figures out who her mother is early in the book and then doesn’t do anything about it. I still don’t feel like any of the other characters are as fleshed out as I’d like. The romance doesn’t have a memorable foundation from the previous book, but I am falling into familiar patterns with this book because of familiarity of how it should be.
In terms of formatting, I don’t know what they’ll look like in the final book, but I love the italicized tidbits from the Lady and the short chapters of stories told by various characters. It’s very like the source material to title these sections thusly and present them akin to the original text.
Kiersten White’s writing is fantastic as always, despite my small critiques and personal preferences when it comes to storytelling. I marked 10 passages for beautiful writing and smart observations as I was reading. One for example is when she points out how you never see what happens to people after the quest and that as humans, trauma lingers (p.201) or how men, scared of their own weakness choose to hate anything weaker than them (p.246).
Overall, I’d say this is a strong entry in the series that makes me want to read the third book and finish off the series, even if I’ll have no idea what happened in the previous two books by the time the third releases. Please make summaries in the front of books in a series a thing, publishing industry.
To preface this review, The Guinevere Deception was only a three star book for me (personal preference in tropes was the main factor), which normally means I don’t continue with the series, but because I received an ARC and this book has a stunning cover, and I love the author, I read on and I’m glad I did! I love Camelot stories. I went through a phase where I read only Camelot stories including the Once and Future King. I think this series is wholly inventive in changing up expectations of the story I’m familiar with, yet also subtly sliding in characters and plot twists I should have seen coming, yet never do. This makes this series fresh and fun.
Telling the story from Guinevere’s perspective is a strength as well. There are so many hidden parts of history, but in historical fiction daily life, city functions, and women’s work can finally be seen, not just the glamor of quests. There are so many hidden nuggets of wisdom about women written in the story, like how they use their wits to be seen and respected. Arthur even comments on how the existence of witchcraft excuses crimes against women when they are blamed for the unexplained, which I thought was a smart assertion by the character/author.
There are far more external factors and politics playing into this story than I’m used to in Camelot tales. Arthur’s reign is known to be a golden age and peaceful, but the author skillfully weaves in oppositional groups like the Picts, Saxons, and other groups who want money and power, which present many obstacles, in addition to magic, to face in the story.
I’m still having trouble connecting to the characters, which weighs down my star rating for the book. I typically dislike books where the main character has lots of secrets from themself and this series falls into that trope, but the book does well in showing Guinevere’s thoughts, feelings, and character as she makes mistakes, tries to fix them, and then makes more. She is humanized by her compassion for others, guilt at the consequences of her actions, and confusion about who she is as she tries to figure out her past, yet remains present in being who she wants to be and internalizes the needs of her trusted friends (p.118 and p.194). She has much more agency in this book, which improves her character, but I am still bothered by the idea that she figures out who her mother is early in the book and then doesn’t do anything about it. I still don’t feel like any of the other characters are as fleshed out as I’d like. The romance doesn’t have a memorable foundation from the previous book, but I am falling into familiar patterns with this book because of familiarity of how it should be.
In terms of formatting, I don’t know what they’ll look like in the final book, but I love the italicized tidbits from the Lady and the short chapters of stories told by various characters. It’s very like the source material to title these sections thusly and present them akin to the original text.
Kiersten White’s writing is fantastic as always, despite my small critiques and personal preferences when it comes to storytelling. I marked 10 passages for beautiful writing and smart observations as I was reading. One for example is when she points out how you never see what happens to people after the quest and that as humans, trauma lingers (p.201) or how men, scared of their own weakness choose to hate anything weaker than them (p.246).
Overall, I’d say this is a strong entry in the series that makes me want to read the third book and finish off the series, even if I’ll have no idea what happened in the previous two books by the time the third releases. Please make summaries in the front of books in a series a thing, publishing industry.