2/5 stars
Open Road Media Young Readers, 2013
Originally published 1993
292 pages
YA Historical
Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
After adoring Wein's Code Name Verity (my favorite 2012 release and still highly recommended), I was thrilled to see this older release from her. My excitement only grew after reading Liviania from In Bed With Books' enthusiastic review!
Unfortunately I ended up strongly disliking this book, I think largely because of my expectations. The Arthurian legends I am most familiar with are ones involving Merlin or are light like Disney's The Sword in the Stone. They are not dark with unfamiliar names, disorienting passages of time, and a confusing narration. With character names like Artos, Ginevra, and Medraut (I was expecting Arthur, Guinevere, and Mordred), I think this book harkens deep to tradition but it wasn't what I wanted. And the novel is written as a letter from Medraut to his godmother Morgause with frequent use of "you" that kept making me think he meant me even though that made no sense.
Most of the book is about Medraut's jealousy and anger of and toward his half-brother Lleu who is a legitimate son of Artos and heir to the throne. Medraut's hatred has been nursed by Morgause and leads him to take a dark path in regards to his relationship with Lleu. Though I can understand how Medraut would have those feelings, I didn't always follow why he took the actions he did and when I was able to follow, I often found them despicable. Basically every character is pretty awful and while I don't expect characters to be perfect, I want to be able to like at least one of the important ones and that didn't happen here.
Overall: I just could not connect with the writing or characters here; it was a slog to complete and I will definitely not be finishing this, instead preferring to focus on Rose Under Fire, which will hopefully completely enthrall me.
Other Opinions:
In Bed with Books
Susan Hated Literature
The Book Geek
Sorry this didn't work for you. It really doesn't sound like one I would enjoy all that much either. :(
ReplyDeleteI was so disappointed-hopefully Rose Under Fire will bring back my Wein love!
DeleteI saw this on NetGalley and knew I probably wouldn't enjoy it because I was one of the few who very much disliked Code Name Verity. Too bad about this one, though, I usually love historical fiction.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you would like it though as I feel like it's a very different style...
DeleteWell that's unfortunate. I loved Code Name Verity and I usually love anything Arthurian. But this sounds a little too dark.
ReplyDeleteIf you're a bigger Arthurian fan, it might be more to your taste but be warned that it has some very dark parts.
DeleteI'm sorry to hear that this one was a disappointment. Hopefully Rose Under Fire will be a better reading experience for you!
ReplyDeleteI love Arthurian legend but I'm not sure I would like this one either. It is hard to like a book if you can't like the characters!
I'm not sure you would like it either but give it a shot if you can. I just hated everyone and everything.
DeleteI'm sorry you didn't like this one. I really loved the style of it, and do think Medraut's actions are understandable, and I just love watching him and Lleu change and grow up.
ReplyDeleteI think the style is where I really struggled-if I had been able to click with the writing, I think I could have followed the character motivations better.
DeleteI'm actually a much more pretentious reader than I let on. I'm a pretty big fan of highly stylized writing.
DeleteSee I'm too simple-it just goes over my head. I need more "See Spot run" :)
DeleteHm, yeah, we'll probably skip this in favor of ROSE UNDER FIRE, too. For some reason, we're not big on going backwards in authors' careers. Like, if we like an author, we'll read all their stuff moving forward, but rarely do we seek out older works. Is that weird of us??
ReplyDeleteIt's a little weird ;) It depends on the author. Like I loved Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor and Park and then went back to love Attachments so that worked out very well for me!
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