The Guinevere Deception

The Arthurian legend is used as a slim basis for what is essentially a newly imagined fantasy world, with many elements from familiar tales (a dark enchantress, magical woods, changelings) shaken up and recombined. I liked a lot of these ideas – Guinevere's role in particular is a welcome departure from the usual, and I loved the image of Camelot as a rock-born fortress in the midst of a river – but as a whole I wasn't pulled in enough by the story or characters to keep reading. I read enough to know this is a respectably written effort that will please many readers, though it wasn't compelling for me.

It was so good. I can't wait to read book two now

This book is a Arthurian retelling where the POV character is his wife, Guinevere.

This book was fine. I feel like I am slowly growing out of YA books. As I get older, it is just getting harder for me to relate to these younger characters. The characterization and the plot were predictable, and there wasn't much that kept me interested. I'm not sure if it was just the narrator of the audiobook, but Guinevere felt like a weak heroine without much going for her. Since the book is from her perspective the whole time, I just couldn't get invested. I think I would've liked this book a lot more about 3-4 years ago.

3.5 stars. I had a lot to say about this book.

Read my full review here.
https://bookishbelle13.blogspot.com/

Overall I enjoyed it, but I think it would have been a better fit as an adult book that delved into the magic and court more. At times it felt like I was reading a long summary of a longer book, without the parts that let you actually connect to the characters.

I've been waiting so long for an Arthurian YA book, and this is so bland I want to cry. Guinevere is bland. Arthur is bland. The side characters are mostly bland. The pacing is awful. The majority of the book is so painfully slow, and not only we are kept in the dark until much later, but Guinevere also does nothing but talk to people and being afraid of water. It is so mind-numbing that when the story finally picks up, I'm simply unable to bring myself to care. You can skim through 70% of the book and not miss much.

1.5 stars
There's very little of value here. I was bored out of my mind for most of the book. The three (!) potential romances were all weak, there is hardly any plot to speak of and the protagonist remains pale and uninteresting until the end. The one saving grace was that there were some cool ideas about magic.

I love stories about Camelot. That being said, this book did not blow me away. But, I didn't hate it either. I really enjoyed the audiobook. I also really liked some of the characters. Especially Brangien. All in all, I enjoyed it enough that I will read the next one. I need to see where it goes from here.

[b:The Guinevere Deception 43568394 The Guinevere Deception (Camelot Rising, #1) Kiersten White https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551892183l/43568394.SY75.jpg 67787916] was an odd book for me. I'm sure if you watch my star rating, it'll flip back and forth between two and three several times before I actually settle on one. And then probably see it on my book list and change it a few more times. So, look, it's a solid 2.5. Rounding up or down is absolutely pointless. This book is heavy on mystery and low on plot. Guinevere isn't the real Guinevere, but a changeling witch sent by Merlin to protect King Arthur and Camelot. Is there a real Guinevere? How does she feel about this? What happened to her? What are the ethical implications of swapping one woman for another woman to pretending to be the first woman? I mean, that's more than a little troubling right? What is Guinevere supposed to protect Arthur from? I hope you weren't hoping for answers, reader. There are none to be had. Mostly Guinevere talks and runs into other famous Arthurian characters and has pretty boring conversations with them. It feels like White is taking you a meandering one note tour and hoping that occasionally running into an old friend here and there is enough to keep you interested. Oh, there's Sir Bors! Isn't he always a delight to see? etc. etc. It's not enough. Here I will admit that I kind of hated most of White's choices with the Arthur's mythos. Arthur is supposed to start the new age of man, which means getting rid of all the magic, but his right hand man is a sorcerer and his wife is secretly a witch. So a bit hypocritical. But mostly turning fairy tale Camelot into low fantasy world is kind of a bummer. Mordred gets made over into a hunky antivillian who has a brief fling with Guinevere, instead of Lancelot who gets a surprise gender reveal as female, but wait no, trans? nonbinary? IDK. They only show up for a hot minute anyway. Most importantly, where is my boy Gawain aka best knight?Still! I know that Arthurian canon is pretty much a choose your own adventure story, and while it was not personally to my taste, I was willing to at least go with it, or would have been had you know anything of interest happened. Guinevere makes no political maneuverings and spends so much time separated from her husband that the very premise of the story (changeling witch bodyguard) starts to look shaky. The last forty pages is pretty good, but it was way too little way too late.

This was incredibly disappointing. I probably should have DNF'd it, but I decided to power through. I felt like nothing happened and the plot didn't seem to matter. Very many aspects were also poorly explained and I felt as if the characters were not fleshed out enough.