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nmcannon 's review for:
The Guinevere Deception
by Kiersten White
For Christmas 2019, my partner's family gifted us an Owl Crate subscription, and The Guinevere Deception was the first book to arrive. I've been writing so much vampire fanfiction that I'm only getting to it now whoops
The first in the Camelot Rising trilogy, The Guinevere Deception is an interesting, feminist reblending of TH White's Once and Future King, Geoffrey of Monmouth's Merlin writings, and Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur. Rest assured, the Arthurian nerd within me was very pleased. In this story, Guinevere is not a Roman princess, but Merlin's mage daughter. The wizard sends her to protect Arthur. The how's and why's of this decision is a major question of the book, since Merlin's idea of answers is less than helpful.
When "Guinevere" arrives in Camelot, she is confronted with the bizarre culture of civilization and humans for the first time. Magic as well as her father have been banished, and she's got her work cut out of her. It seems the price of Camelot's existence was to conquer and quell various magical ladies, including the Dark Queen of the Forest, and Guinevere has to keep these nature deities from devouring her husband's legacy.
The thematic and literal tug-of-war between wild nature and ordered civilization was very confusing to my feral bisexual heart, lemme tell ya. What do you mean it's bad that the trees swallow misogynists whole? Are we--are we not supposed to want to date the Dark Queen? This confusion was intensified by the current environmental crisis. The civilization Arthur is building will eventually hit the Industrial Revolution corporations, which will decimate the planet. Britain in specific perpetuated a metric ton of colonizer harm across the globe. Is it worth beginning that process? Surely there's a better way, one that will keep magical nature and human technology in balance? One that will build a better future than the one we currently inhabit? Why do humans have such an ordained right to conquer and tame? These questions nagged and distracted while reading.
My other quibble with the book came to the characters. As I've discussed in other reviews, it's a personal flaw of mine that I get frustrated with teen characters for making bad decisions. Partly because teen!Natalie would made mistakes of a different sort and partly because the mistakes seem sudden and inauthentic to an otherwise rational character. The Guinevere Deception, unfortunately, had this phenomenon in spades.
This is YA, so everyone is 16 to 18 and ruling a kingdom. Which is fine, whatever, but the high intelligence and low wisdom aspect of that age was maddeningly intense. In her narration, Guinevere was mature, thoughtful, and cautious. An old soul sorrow haunted her. She can do incredible feats of magic, play a crowd, adapt to Camelot culture with grace, and gain allies with ease. But put a boy in front of her, and she loses her head because she's a teenager I guess? Even if I didn't know Arthurian myth, having a man watch you all the time is not romantic and makes Mordred a f*cking creep. Towards the end of the novel, Guinevere honest-to-God pouts that Arthur isn't paying enough attention to her, and girl!!! Your bedrooms are connected! I realize the novel is coaxing Guinevere into realizing she can't just live for a man, but God, it frustrated me.
So besides wanting to date the villain and getting frustrated that the allosexuals are at it again, The Guinevere Deception was great! I loved White's mist-soaked imagery of Camelot and the forest. Her take on Arthur and Camelot's politics is excellent. The pacing is solid. I can't wait for The Camelot Betrayal in November.
The first in the Camelot Rising trilogy, The Guinevere Deception is an interesting, feminist reblending of TH White's Once and Future King, Geoffrey of Monmouth's Merlin writings, and Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur. Rest assured, the Arthurian nerd within me was very pleased. In this story, Guinevere is not a Roman princess, but Merlin's mage daughter. The wizard sends her to protect Arthur. The how's and why's of this decision is a major question of the book, since Merlin's idea of answers is less than helpful.
When "Guinevere" arrives in Camelot, she is confronted with the bizarre culture of civilization and humans for the first time. Magic as well as her father have been banished, and she's got her work cut out of her. It seems the price of Camelot's existence was to conquer and quell various magical ladies, including the Dark Queen of the Forest, and Guinevere has to keep these nature deities from devouring her husband's legacy.
The thematic and literal tug-of-war between wild nature and ordered civilization was very confusing to my feral bisexual heart, lemme tell ya. What do you mean it's bad that the trees swallow misogynists whole? Are we--are we not supposed to want to date the Dark Queen? This confusion was intensified by the current environmental crisis. The civilization Arthur is building will eventually hit the Industrial Revolution corporations, which will decimate the planet. Britain in specific perpetuated a metric ton of colonizer harm across the globe. Is it worth beginning that process? Surely there's a better way, one that will keep magical nature and human technology in balance? One that will build a better future than the one we currently inhabit? Why do humans have such an ordained right to conquer and tame? These questions nagged and distracted while reading.
My other quibble with the book came to the characters. As I've discussed in other reviews, it's a personal flaw of mine that I get frustrated with teen characters for making bad decisions. Partly because teen!Natalie would made mistakes of a different sort and partly because the mistakes seem sudden and inauthentic to an otherwise rational character. The Guinevere Deception, unfortunately, had this phenomenon in spades.
This is YA, so everyone is 16 to 18 and ruling a kingdom. Which is fine, whatever, but the high intelligence and low wisdom aspect of that age was maddeningly intense. In her narration, Guinevere was mature, thoughtful, and cautious. An old soul sorrow haunted her. She can do incredible feats of magic, play a crowd, adapt to Camelot culture with grace, and gain allies with ease. But put a boy in front of her, and she loses her head because she's a teenager I guess? Even if I didn't know Arthurian myth, having a man watch you all the time is not romantic and makes Mordred a f*cking creep. Towards the end of the novel, Guinevere honest-to-God pouts that Arthur isn't paying enough attention to her, and girl!!! Your bedrooms are connected! I realize the novel is coaxing Guinevere into realizing she can't just live for a man, but God, it frustrated me.
So besides wanting to date the villain and getting frustrated that the allosexuals are at it again, The Guinevere Deception was great! I loved White's mist-soaked imagery of Camelot and the forest. Her take on Arthur and Camelot's politics is excellent. The pacing is solid. I can't wait for The Camelot Betrayal in November.