 | Title: The Guinevere Deception Author: Kiersten White Publisher: Delacorte Press Pages: 352 Synopsis: (Courtesy of goodreads) From New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White comes a new fantasy series reimagining the Arthurian legend, set in the magical world of Camelot. There was nothing in the world as magical and terrifying as a girl. Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur. With magic clawing at the kingdom's borders, the great wizard Merlin conjured a solution--send in Guinevere to be Arthur's wife . . . and his protector from those who want to see the young king's idyllic city fail. The catch? Guinevere's real name--and her true identity--is a secret. She is a changeling, a girl who has given up everything to protect Camelot. To keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old--including Arthur's own family--demand things continue as they have been, and the new--those drawn by the dream of Camelot--fight for a better way to live. And always, in the green hearts of forests and the black depths of lakes, magic lies in wait to reclaim the land. Arthur's knights believe they are strong enough to face any threat, but Guinevere knows it will take more than swords to keep Camelot free. Deadly jousts, duplicitous knights, and forbidden romances are nothing compared to the greatest threat of all: the girl with the long black hair, riding on horseback through the dark woods toward Arthur. Because when your whole existence is a lie, how can you trust even yourself? |
I needed something to clear out the bad taste Cursed left in my mouth. This one has been on my to-read list, and when I heard Story was reading it too, I eagerly got it out of the library.
Spoilers, etc…
The Twist: “Guinevere” is actually someone else, sent by Merlin to look after Arthur since magic has been banished from Camelot in the wake of a war with the evil Dark Queen (this part of the premise reminds me of the TV show The Adventures of Merlin starring Colin Morgan). The real Guinevere died and was replaced by this other young woman, who is at least part fae, and she is determined to fulfill her mandate and protect Arthur by every means within her power. Even if it means secretly using forbidden magic.
Oh, and Lancelot is a woman disguised as a man, though where she falls on the gender identity spectrum I’m not sure.
The Plot: We pick up with Guinevere riding with an entourage to be married to Arthur. Only we’re very quickly told she’s not Guinevere, she’s actually Merlin’s daughter being sent to protect Arthur from some unnamed looming magical threat.
Once the marriage takes place, not!Guinevere (for the sake of brevity I’m just going to refer to her as Guinevere, since by the end she actively chooses the Guinevere identity and has forgotten her true name) has trouble juggling pretending to be someone else, hiding her magic, and keeping up the persona of a demure wife and queen. She wants badly to root out the threat to Arthur and prove her worth as a guardian, since their marriage, while cordial, is still a sham. To that end, she identifies two people, the Patchwork Knight and Rhoslyn, who seem supernatural and becomes fixated on them as the threat to Arthur and Camelot.
While she investigates, she also makes friends with her maid Brangien and Percival’s overlooked sister Dindrane, and begins a back-and-forth dance of flirtation and distance with Arthur’s nephew Mordred. Eventually she discovers Rhoslyn is a member of a small group of minor magic users who wish no harm on Camelot even though it has outlawed them, and the Patchwork Knight is actually Lancelot, a non-magical young woman with dreams of knighthood. The real threats are Camelot’s greedy neighbor Maleagant, and the Dark Queen, ruler of Faerie and enemy of mankind. Arthur and Merlin had previously bound her with the help of Excalibur, a magic-absorbing sword, leading to the outlawing of magic in Camelot to keep her influence at bay.
In the meantime, Merlin allows himself to be defeated and imprisoned in a cave by the Lady of the Lake as revenge for an unnamed but grievous slight. He and Arthur reveal that Guinevere was actually sent to Camelot to protect her from the Lady’s impending arrival, not to protect Arthur. Her purpose shattered and her mentor unavailable, Guinevere isn’t sure where she belongs or what she should do.
Guinevere is kidnapped by Maleagant. Lancelot and Mordred come to her rescue, and in the process of trying to escape Mordred tricks Guinevere into using her power to release the Dark Queen. Arthur arrives, and allows the Dark Queen to escape rather than kill Guinevere--since she is part fae Excalibur would kill her, too. Mordred tries to get Guinevere to join him in taking back the world for the wild and magical, but she refuses and returns to Camelot with Arthur and Lancelot.
This is the first book of a planned trilogy, so there is quite a bit left unresolved and a lot of hints of what else is to come.
The Characters:
Guinevere: We never find out her real name in this book, but I suspect from the evidence--she is Merlin’s daughter and apprentice--it might be Nimue, Vivian, Niniane, or some variant thereon. It’s heavily implied, though she herself is ignorant of it, that she is also the daughter of the Lady of the Lake. She is missing big chunks of her memory thanks to a mind wipe from Merlin. She is afraid of water and avoids it at all costs, a fear I suspect was planted by Merlin to keep her mother from finding her and taking her back.
She is constantly leaping to hasty conclusions and then running with them as if they were fact. This leads her to be fruitlessly chasing Rhoslyn and Lancelot for much of the book, determined that they need to be dealt with right now, and getting upset when Arthur doesn’t consider them a priority over negotiations with Camelot’s neighbors. It also means she’s blind to some things that are pretty obvious to the reader but need to be saved for official reveals later. She has an unrequited crush on Arthur--while he values her highly, he only wants to see her as a confidante and is afraid to open his heart further, while she secretly wants more from him than a pretend marriage but isn’t sure she can ask for his love. She’s also attracted to Mordred, conflicting her further, and seems to compensate by throwing herself into her female friendships with Brangien, Dindrane and eventually Lancelot.
Arthur: A good king and charismatic leader, despite being so young--he’s eighteen to Guinevere’s sixteen. He is gentle, sweet and patient, and typically for Arthur perhaps too concerned with running his kingdom and not enough with what’s going on right under his nose. The death of his first love left him very reluctant to form romantic attachments for fear that his personal feelings will get in the way of doing right by his kingdom, even though he does care about Guinevere and I suspect might be attracted to her. I actually like this interpretation of their relationship, as it makes it understandable why Guinevere would look elsewhere for her emotional (and physical) needs even though she and Arthur do like each other.
Merlin: This guy ranks pretty high up in the Manipulative Bastard hierarchy of Merlins. He kidnapped Guinevere, manipulated and wiped her memory, and lied to her about why he was sending her to Arthur, in addition to arranging the violation of Igraine by Uther. We’re told he sees the future and that’s why he’s so scattered, and also why he does all of this terrible stuff. Once she learns of his betrayals and some of his lies, Guinevere is constantly wrestling with his “ends justify the means” morality and whether she wants to follow his footsteps with her use of magic. He ends up walled up behind rock by his former lover, Nynaeve, the Lady of the Lake, and smartly takes it as his due for everything he’s done.
Mordred: (this is a long analysis, sorry) First time in awhile I’ve seen a retelling where he is not Arthur’s son. In fact, he’s older than Arthur, and like Guinevere is part fae. He is the son of Morgan, Arthur’s half-sister, and the Green Knight, but seems throughout the book to be affectionate and loyal to his younger uncle and holds the highest position of trust in Arthur’s court (the place most often occupied by Kay or Bedivere). Like a lot of Mordred portrayals, he’s described as quiet and observant, the one who stays in the background watching everything. Some people seem not to trust him because his constant observation makes them uneasy and Guinevere is wary at first because he is privy to a lot of secrets, but for 9/10ths of the book the distrust seems unfounded. He and Guinevere are attracted to each other, but they have the problem Gwen and Lancelot usually have in that they both love Arthur in their own ways and don’t want to hurt him but the chemistry between them is undeniable. Eventually they kiss, and seem to enjoy it.
If this had been the biggest conflict with Mordred, since it’s definitely not new for this character to have a thing for Guinevere, I would have been more than OK with it. It’s a refreshing take on him. Most authors just stick him with being evil, or being conflicted but trapped by Destiny into betraying Arthur. He’s a really interesting character here, especially since he’s one of the few who knows Arthur and Guinevere’s marriage is only for show and seems to recognize that she might have sexual desires that her arrangement with Arthur isn’t filling. So for once his interest in her doesn’t come off as skeevy, just morally gray. K.M. Shea’s take on him in her King Arthur and Her Knights novellas is the only other interpretation I can think of that is more a departure from the norm while still keeping believably within Mordred’s established set of traits.
Then we get to The Betrayal, and I found myself disappointed in White, who had been doing so well with keeping things fresh up until then. Like, I could make a joke about “curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!” but here it’s surprisingly not appropriate. The more I think about it, the more it actually doesn’t make sense on several levels. He is revealed to have been a mole for the Dark Queen all along, wanting to end rise of men and bring magic back to prominence. OK, even laying aside the abrupt turnaround which to me had no foundation in his character up until that point and reminded me of Hans’ poorly handled plot-convenient turn to evil in Frozen, if this really was his goal all along, it doesn’t explain why he needs to trick Guinevere into doing his dirty work. Since it turns out he’s also half-fae, why couldn’t he have just gone out and used his own blood to revive his grandmother? Or why couldn’t he at least have abused his position of trust to arrange Arthur’s death, since that would likely mean the fall of the rule of law in Camelot and magic would have a better chance to flourish in the resulting chaos? He’s had years to do just that. Nope, Mordred just betrays Guinevere and Arthur out of the blue, does a Darth Vader “come with me, screw all these other people” speech, and when Guinevere turns him down rides off somewhere, presumably to pop up again in a future book. I just...no. It doesn’t sit right with me. If Mordred has to Betray Arthur in order to Be Mordred (he doesn’t), then having a forbidden thing with Guinevere and having that blow up in everyones’ faces to me should be enough. I’m not even a Mordred fangirl like Story, and this just doesn’t fit.
Brangien (Brangwain): Guinevere’s maid, and former maid to Queen Isuelt as in legend. In the original, Brangien was the one who gave Isuelt the love potion that tragically tied her to Tristan, but here it was Brangien and Isuelt who were secretly lovers. Tristan helped Brangien escape Mark’s wrath, and now the two of them live in exile in Camelot. As one of her duties is Guinevere’s appearance, Brangien is the one who makes sure the clueless Guinevere is dressed and behaves appropriately in each situation. Brangien is also a minor magician; she can cast small spells like protection and location using herbs and knot magic. She and Guinevere become good friends and have several escapades together.
Tristan: One of Arthur’s inner circle, and the most recent addition after he and Brangien sought shelter in Camelot. He knew about Brangien and Isuelt as well as Brangien’s magic powers, and the two of them are friends and co-conspirators in trying to keep an eye on Isuelt from afar. Guinevere later saves his life with her magic after he takes a poisonous wolf bite meant for her.
Lancelot: Called The Patchwork Knight for most of the book due to his/her ragged appearance. I assume White’s choice of this moniker is a reference to T.H. White’s “The Ill-Made Knight,” the third major subsection of The Once and Future King, and de Troyes’ “The Knight of the Cart.” S/he makes a habit of saving people, when not competing in a tournament to earn the right to become a knight of Arthur’s court. I’d at least figured out it was probably Lancelot, primed by Cursed also keeping Lancelot’s identity a secret through an obvious codename for someone whose real name the readers will instantly recognize, though I did not see the gender reveal coming. About two thirds of the way through the book Guinevere learns that Lancelot is actually female, at least physically. Obviously in this quasi-historical strictly bi-gender-roled medieval society women aren’t allowed to become knights so even if she sees herself as a woman, like Mulan in order to become a warrior she’d have to pass as male. Guinevere thinks s/he is an enemy of Arthur trying to infiltrate the court, until Lancelot saves her life and tells her side of the story. Typically for Lancelot s/he’s an unbeatable fighter and has a hero complex. In the end Guinevere chooses her as her special protector, since Arthur will always have to think of the kingdom’s interests before his queen’s. Again, a clever take on the original relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere.
Dindrane: She was really fun. Percival’s maiden sister, she is sharp-tongued, prone to jealousy, and at first seems like she’s going to be the stereotypical Mean Girl. Until Guinevere decides she likes Dindrane’s spirit and cleverly befriends her instead.
Bors: A, well, boorish knight, one of Arthur’s inner circle. Guinevere tricks him into thinking he’s defeated a dragon and feels terrible about changing his memories as Merlin did to her. It looks like Dindrane is going to twist his arm into marrying her whether he particularly wants a wife or not.
Maleagant: A self-proclaimed king whose lands border both Camelot and the Picts. He was one of Uther’s knights and after Uther’s death has conquered some territory and set himself up as a rival king to Arthur. At first I thought his traditional kidnapping of Guinevere wasn’t going to happen because we had several scenes with Maleagant scattered through the book (usually that’s the only reason he appears, to be used in the Knight of the Cart kidnapping plot), but right at the very end it happened, and Lancelot did indeed come to rescue her.
Percival & Blanchefleur: One of Arthur’s knights and his wife. Dindrane is stuck in their household since she isn’t married, and she and Blachefleur despise each other.
Lady of the Lake (Nynaeve/Nimue): An equivalent in power of the Dark Queen, who seems to rule the woodlands and have control over plants and animals; the Lady of the Lake controls water. She chose to side with Merlin and Arthur in the war with the Dark Queen and gave Arthur Excalibur, but since seems to have changed her mind and is now not very happy with men. Probably because Merlin stole their daughter. It’s hinted we’ll see more of her in a future book.
Ector & Kay: Arthur’s foster father and brother. In this version they were mercenaries. When their young charge pulled the sword from the stone and they realized he was the son of Uther they ran away to hide him and themselves for several more years; as a result, Arthur grew up seeing firsthand what life for the average person under Uther was like and vowed to change it. They are rude, cowardly and uncultured (one of two typical portrayals of them, the other being wise and nurturing family to the future king), and Guinevere does not like them very much.
Backstory (characters already dead before the book begins):
Uther, Igraine and Gorlois: (trigger warning) Theirs is the grimmest version of their story: Merlin disguises the lustful Uther as Gorlois, who sneaks in and rapes Igraine when the real Gorlois is already dead. The result is Arthur, as Merlin planned. Igraine then dies. Igraine and Gorlois had a loving relationship, which Uther grew jealous of and he decided he wanted to experience what it was like to sleep with a woman who believed herself truly in love with him, even if he had to accomplish it by the worst deceit imaginable. Uther by all accounts was an awful guy, and only other bad guys like Maleagant liked his rule.
Elaine: Arthur’s first love, so I’m not sure which Elaine this makes her--none of the ones that I can find were ever Arthur’s lover. Apparently that’s now a catch-all female name in Arthurian retellings when an author doesn’t feel like either using the character’s original name or just making one up whole cloth (since Cursed did it as well, calling Arthur’s mother Elaine). In this case I think this character should have rightly been called Lionors, if she was called anything out of the legend. She died in childbirth, making Arthur wary of giving his heart again. She’s also Maleagant’s sister and had begged Arthur for mercy on her brother, while Maleagant had been perfectly willing to use her pregnancy to control Arthur, further complicating the antagonistic relationship between the two men.
Isuelt, Mark, Gawain, Morgan le Fay and The Green Knight are mentioned or make cameo appearances. Also some knight named George, who is not an Arthurian figure and seemed kind of a random addition to the Round Table. Especially since he’s not the one who “defeats” the dragon.
Overall
I wish this was the book getting adapted into a Netflix series instead of Cursed. Everything that Cursed tried to do (except be a Game of Thrones clone), this book does a hundred times better. I was constantly saying to myself, “Hmmm...interesting,” in a good way. The only thing that brought it down was the handling of Mordred’s betrayal.
3.75 stars rounded up to 4.
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