Grossman, Lev- The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur
I was so stoked for this book, and it did not disappoint. I almost fell off my chair when I saw that the guy who wrote The Magicians was coming out with a King Arthur story.
It's a chunky door-stop at nearly 700 pages, but I flew through it. I don't think it's a bad sign for a book if I read it slowly- those can be great- but if I go through something fast, that's always one of my favorites. I could hardly put this down. (And it was so heavy, I could hardly pick it up. hahahaha). It was a roller-coaster- it kept feeling like the main conflict was over, and then, nope, it has expanded in some other direction! But I wasn't annoyed. Some of the characters were, but I was happy to be along for the ride. The Merlin-Nimue storyline was much more satisfying and made more sense, magic notwithstanding, than any other version I've read or heard. I also loved that it addressed all the turbulence in the period in history that Arthur would've lived in if he was real (maybe?). The Romans had colonized and left, the order they made was falling apart, the Old Britain (with fairies!) was trying to make a comeback, the Anglo-Saxon foreigners were flooding in. There's so much going on! Wild.
I think that not everyone who loves Arthur stories will love it because it does break from the Canon and also in tone. I personally like the medieval-style trappings and the formal language and all that. When I first started reading this, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it just because of my personal taste and what I expected from an Arthur story, but it reeled me in quick. So, maybe not for everyone, but I liked it.
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