Hardcover, 192 pages
Published April 19, 2022 by Tordotcom.
The girl knows she has a destiny before she even knows her name. She grows up in the wild, in a cave with her mother, but visions of a faraway lake come to her on the spring breeze, and when she hears a traveler speak of Artos, king of Caer Leon, she knows that her future lies at his court.
And so, brimming with magic and eager to test her strength, she breaks her covenant with her mother and, with a broken hunting spear and mended armour, rides on a bony gelding to Caer Leon. On her adventures she will meet great knights and steal the hearts of beautiful women. She will fight warriors and sorcerers. And she will find her love, and the lake, and her fate.
This one fell short for me, despite the lovely prose and the fascinating main character. I never felt connected emotionally, and so I lost out on much of what was intended. I also didn't understand the ending (major plot hole? or just me being dense?). This felt more like a novella, and I really wish there'd been more to it - both deeper emotionally and more developed plot-wise.
First the positive: I have a bit of a soft spot for retellings of the Arthurian legend, and this seems a particularly good one. Not only does it do a really good job of tying in Welsh/Irish life and legends, but much of the prose is beautiful and dense. The less satisfying aspects of the book, however, include the pacing and the incomprehensible motivations of some of the characters. Worst of all, though, is that the main character comes across as a bit of a Mary Sue and, while that kind of makes sense in the context of the story, it does feel a bit... I don't know, 'YA', which is very much at odds with the other aspects of the book. I guess I'd say that I'm glad I read it, but I'm also glad it's over :(
I tried listening to this as I was painting. It didn't grab me. I realize there's mythology behind a lot of the choices, but the protagonist being amazingly good at everything, and having very little understanding of human nature, made for a boring read. Like "oh she has defeated that guy? Of course. She won but they still reject her? Of course. She doesn't understand why? Of course."
I got 26% (thanks, e-reader) into this book before I quit. I really wanted to like it, with its queer heroine and beautiful writing style. But ultimately it’s a lone hero story and I’m practically allergic to those.
