SamoaPhoenix Guest Review: The Guinevere Deception

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…

Review: The Guinevere Deception

Title: The Guinevere Deception Author: Kiersten White   Publisher: Delacorte Press Pages: 340  Synopsis: (from the publisher) Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur.  With magic clawing at the kingdom's boarders, 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 fall. 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. The keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old - including Arthur's own family - demand that 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, knotted black hair, riding on horseback through the dark woods towards Arthur.  Because when your whole existence is a lie, how can you trust even yourself?

All right.  Back in the saddle.  Let's see if I remember how to write one of these.  It's only been... (checks notes) five years.  Yeah, okay.  Hi everyone, I'm back.

This is probably the most conflicted I've been about a book in a long time.  There are parts of it I love.  I love them so much.  They are so original and engaging and smartly done.  And then there's, well, the ending.  But we will get to that!

Warning for Spoilers

SamoaPhoenix Guest Review/Reread: The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight

Title: The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight Author: Gerald Morris Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pages: 310 Synopsis: (from the publisher) Ever since that tragic night when her mother and guardian were murdered, thirteen-year-old Sarah has been living on her own and searching for the knight who was responsible.  Her quest for revenge leads to an even greater adventure when she witnesses Queen Guinevere being kidnapped.  Soon Sarah finds herself accompanying Sir Gawain and Squire Terence on a remarkable journey to rescue the Queen.  In their travels they meet, among others, a mystery knight traveling incognito in a dung cart, a faery who becomes Sarah's first friend in a long time, a reclusive monk who plans to spend the rest of his life building a tomb for Sir Lancelot, and a princess who might have a little more gumption than she appears to. As the plot thickens, Sarah finds out more about the people she's met and befriended, as well as about herself.  She begins to learn the true consequences of vengeance and what it really means to be a princess. In this funny and unforgettable sixth novel, Gerald Morris creates yet another tangled web of magic spells, enchanted castles, mystery knights, revenge, and heart-pounding adventure.

I have nothing much to say about the covers, or commentary about the first time I read this book (which was in high school). Let’s get this party started!

Spoilers, etc…

Reread: The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight

Title: The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight Author: Gerald Morris Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pages: 310 Synopsis: (from the publisher) Ever since that tragic night when her mother and guardian were murdered, thirteen-year-old Sarah has been living on her own and searching for the knight who was responsible.  Her quest for revenge leads to an even greater adventure when she witnesses Queen Guinevere being kidnapped.  Soon Sarah finds herself accompanying Sir Gawain and Squire Terence on a remarkable journey to rescue the Queen.  In their travels they meet, among others, a mystery knight traveling incognito in a dung cart, a faery who becomes Sarah's first friend in a long time, a reclusive monk who plans to spend the rest of his life building a tomb for Sir Lancelot, and a princess who might have a little more gumption than she appears to. As the plot thickens, Sarah finds out more about the people she's met and befriended, as well as about herself.  She begins to learn the true consequences of vengeance and what it really means to be a princess. In this funny and unforgettable sixth novel, Gerald Morris creates yet another tangled web of magic spells, enchanted castles, mystery knights, revenge, and heart-pounding adventure.

SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warning for Spoilers (this got really long...)

SamoaPhoenix Guest Review: The Last Enchantment

Part 2 of 3. My review can be found here and the discussion of the book between myself and SamoaPhoenix can be found here.

~Storyteller Knight 

Title: The Last Enchantment Author: Mary Stewart Publisher: William Morrow & Company Inc Pages: 536 Synopsis: (from the publisher) Merlin, whom men call “enchanter” is the narrator of this magnificent and haunting novel of Dark Age Britain, which begins with Arthur now King by right, having drawn the sword Caliburn from the stone. He instantly plunges into fierce warfare against the Saxon enemy, fighting to achieve the “small miracle” of unity and independence that Britain alone attained among the dependencies of a crumbling Roman Empire. But Merlin’s story focuses on a different kind of warfare against more subtle and dangerous enemies. Of these the chief is Morgause, rose-gold witch and half-sister to Arthur, whom she once snared incestuously to her bed, an act resulting in the birth of a son, Mordred, who will be the most dangerous of all. In fact, the book begins with the desperate and bloody attempt to find and murder this child. It fails, and one by one Merlin’s other prophecies are realized: the passion and grief of Arthur’s marriages; his betrayal by friends and kinfolk; Merlin’s overpowering but short-lived love. The account of Merlin’s own enchanting is not, however, a tragic one. In the dark ebb-tide of his gift he finds that he is not totally deserted by the god who bestowed it. Struggling for resignation, he finds a fulfillment that even he had never dreamed of. His power and bright vision will be there at the King’s services as long as Arthur lives, and as he believes, long after. The Last Enchantment is a richly woven tapestry peopled by princes and soldiers, grave-robbers and goldsmiths, innkeepers and peasants and witches, in a finely described landscape where each forest, lake and hill is charged, not only with the natural life of the countryside, but with the twilight spirits of older mythologies—multiple threads merging into the bright promise of the future, and linked through Merlin in the archetypal themes of a fast, exciting and powerful story. A magnificent novel to put beside Mary Stewart’s best-selling The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills.

This book was hard to get through. At least the cover is more interesting than the last two and has something to do with what happens in the book. The title is also apt, unlike Hollow Hills for book 2.

Warning for Spoilers

The Last Enchantment Review

Review number three in SamoaPhoenix and my five part review series of Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy which is actually five books.  SamoaPhoenix's review is found here and our discussion of the book can be found here.

~Storyteller Knight

Title: The Last Enchantment Author: Mary Stewart Publisher: EOS (An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) Pages: 513 Synopsis: (from the publisher) Arthur Pendragon is King!  Unchallenged on the battlefield, he melds the country together in a time of promise.  But sinister powers plot to destroy Camelot, and when the witch-queen Morgause-- Arthur's own half sister-- ensnares him in an incestuous liaison, a fatal web of love, betrayal, and bloody vengeance is woven

This is going to be an exercise in how one moment can change your entire perception of a book.  I was reading a long and The Last Enchantment was going down in flames.  I was all set to give it One Star.  And then, in the course of a single page, my entire perception of the book changed and I find that I really enjoyed it.  

Warning for Spoilers

Queen of the Summer Stars Review

Title: Queen of the Summer Stars  Author: Persia Woolley  Publisher: Poseidon Press Pages: 415 Synopsis: (From Sourcebooks) In a country still reeling from the collapse of the Roman Empire, the young King Arthur and his wife Guinevere struggle to keep the barbarians at bay even as they establish the Fellowship of the Round Table. The spirited and outspoken Guinevere skillfully combats an accusation of planning to poison Arthur in a country simmering with unrest and scandal. But Guinevere’s greatest battles are dangers Arthur cannot see—ones she’ll have to fight on her own. And all the while, she must reconcile her thirst for freedom with her duties as queen, and her growing love for Lancelot with her loyalty to her husband. Vibrantly human and touchingly real, Guinevere reigns as a woman poised to discover the true peril and promise of the human heart.

So what I'm doing, when I post a review, is post the book using the cover that I own.  Of course, several Arthurian retellings have gone through multiple prints.  The Guinevere Triology has three different cover sets as of right now. 

Here are the covers for Child of the Northern Spring:

And the two remaining covers for Queen of the Summer Stars:

See what I meant in the Child of the Northern Spring review about the romance and fantasy covers?  I hope this latest set is more to Woolley's liking.

Warning for Spoilers

Child of the Northern Spring Review

Title: Child of the Northern Spring Author: Persia Woolley Publisher: Sourcebooks Pages: 537 Synopsis: (from the publisher) Among the first took look at the story of Camelot through Guinevere's eyes, Woolley sets the traditional tale in the time of its origin, after Britain has shattered into warring fiefdoms.  Hampered by neither fantasy nor medieval romance, this young Guinevere is a feisty Celtic tomboy who sees no reason why she must learn to speak Latin, wear dresses, and go south to marry that king.  But legends being what they are, the story of Arthur's rise to power soon intrigues her, and when they finally meet, Guinevere and Arthur form a partnership that has lasted for 1500 years. This is Arthurian epic at its best-- filled with romance, adventure, authentic Dark Ages detail, and wonderfully human people.

Every time I read that blurb, I find myself kinda turned-off by Persia Woolley’s rather high-and-mighty attitude towards fantasy and romance (this isn’t just the blurb, I’ve seen this sentiment in her interviews and in the author’s notes and reader questions). I mean, I get it that she’s writing historical fiction, but there’s no reason to get down fantasy or romance.

Then I remember that the hardcover of the Guinevere trilogy was published with a fantasy cover and the paperback with a romance cover and how the whole series was pretty much buried under Mists of Avalon and realize that Woolley has every right to be frustrated with fantasy and romance.

Warning for Spoilers

Merlin's Harp Review

Title: Merlin's Harp Author: Anne Eliot Crompton Publisher: Roc Pages: 298 Synopsis: (from the book) Among the towering trees of magical Avalon, where humans dare not tread, lives Niviene, daughter of the Lady of the Lake and apprentice to Merlin the mage.  Her people, the Fey, are folk of the wood and avoid the violence and avarice of man.  But when the strife of King Arthur's realm threatens even Avalon's peace, and Merlin needs his apprentice to thwart the chaos devouring Camelot.  And so Niviene will use her special talents to help save a kingdom and discover the treachery of men and the beauty of love.  This is a wondrous story of danger, enchantment, and charm... and of the greatest mystery of all, the power of the human heart.  Presented in a flowing musical prose, Merlin's Harp is a joy for followers of the legend-- and for anyone who appreciates a magical tale.

Merlin's Harp was recently republished by Sourcebooks Fire.  Cue standard YA cover. 

Oh look!  The promise of the too stupid to live heroine, a plotless tale and a sexy bady boy monster.  This book includes none of these.  The original cover is truer to the story Crompton tells. 

Warning for Spoilers under the cut