Many thanks to TBR and Beyond Tours for my copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest opinion and a spot on the book tour! This review was written voluntarily and all opinions are my own”
I have to confess, I went into it without reading Book 1. It’s book two in the “Camelot Rising” series, and I’d hoped I’d read book one “The Guinevere Deception” before my tour stop but reality largely got in the way.
I was lost a couple of times because I missed out on what happened in book 1, but I was able to get into book 2’s story.
If you’re into Merlin, Arthur, Camelot, and other Arthurian legend elements, then this is the book for you!
Reasons to Read This Book:
-If you’re like me and you love getting lost in the world of Camelot and King Arthur, then this book offers you the chance to revisit that world via a unique retelling.
-This book features a very unique and intricate magic system that just sets your imagination running wild.
-In the midst of the patriarchal world of kings and knights, it’s interesting to note that women are the ones that ultimately hold the power.
-This is an intriguing and suspenseful book with plot twists and turns that will keep you at the edge of your seat.
-This book also features beautiful romances, including a queer romance.
Favorite Quotes
“The tale was not as polished as that of Arthur and the Forest of Blood, or as funny as Sir Mordred and the Green Knight. It was not a tale that had been traded between bards, or even shared beyond Brangien and Sir Tristan, now clasping hands, united in the telling. It was a secret tale of love, betrayal, and failure.”
“That was a path just as treacherous as the one that had led her to the fairy queen’s meadow. It was a single path actually. A path with clever smiles and eyes like the pools of green shadow beneath a tree.”
“Never trust a beast that can fit your shoulder in its mouth.”
““But I am not a princess.”
“No, but you are a queen.””
About The Book
The second book in a new fantasy trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White, exploring the nature of self, the inevitable cost of progress, and, of course, magic and romance and betrayal so epic Queen Guinevere remains the most famous queen who never lived.
EVERYTHING IS AS IT SHOULD BE IN CAMELOT: King Arthur is expanding his kingdom’s influence with Queen Guinevere at his side. Yet every night, dreams of darkness and unknowable power plague her.
Guinevere might have accepted her role, but she still cannot find a place for herself in all of it. The closer she gets to Brangien, pining for her lost love Isolde, Lancelot, fighting to prove her worth as Queen’s knight, and Arthur, everything to everyone and thus never quite enough for Guinevere–the more she realizes how empty she is. She has no sense of who she truly was before she was Guinevere. The more she tries to claim herself as queen, the more she wonders if Mordred was right: she doesn’t belong. She never will.
When a rescue goes awry and results in the death of something precious, a devastated Guinevere returns to Camelot to find the greatest threat yet has arrived. Not in the form of the Dark Queen or an invading army, but in the form of the real Guinevere’s younger sister. Is her deception at an end? And who is she really deceiving–Camelot, or herself?
The Author
Kiersten White is the New York Times bestselling author of many books for teens and young readers, including And I Darken, Now I Rise, Bright We Burn, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, and Slayer. She lives with her family near the ocean in San Diego, where she perpetually lurks in the shadows. Visit Kiersten online at KierstenWhite.com and follow @KierstenWhite on Twitter.
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