Synopsis
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.
Review
“No mortal should taste the treasures of the Tuath, for that power would drive them to corruption and madness even as it set them as rulers over all the world.”
I loved this book. I did not know that a queer retelling of Arthurian canon mixed with Irish mythology is what I needed to rejuvenate me after a string of mixed reads but it was. Once I started I couldn’t stop and read the whole book in one day. The prose is so beautiful and accessible and flowing. The diction, imagery, pacing, figurative language- everything is on point and the illustrations in the book and the audiobook being narrated by the author herself are just added cherries on top. Plus I figured out after the fact that she is a local author. I’m definitely going to try and get a signed copy.
The beginning of the story is a bit slow but once the main character starts on her quest, the story virtually comes alive in a way that I believe might have actually been true. Coming to the main character, it is impossible not to like her. As the author notes at the end of the book, this story is the gender-bent retelling of Sir Percival, one of the legendary knights of King Arthur’s round table. I’ve known some of the exploits of Percival from some different versions but this is without a doubt my most favorite. I mean, what’s not to love- She grows up in the wild with no match for her strength and the ability to talk to horses, then comes into town and beats up bandits, challenges and wins duels with formidable knights and wins the heart of a lot of women along the way. It is also a very cozy read because it is very cheerful everytime the MC appears on the page and I felt assured that the hero would save the day and that it would have a happy ending.
“She dropped Bony’s reins, leapt for the ass and soothed it with a word, then hauled on the headstall of the pony telling it to Stop, stop, was it a gangling foal to get so confused by a mere donkey?”
While it definitely has a cozy feel, it is not without stakes. There are emotional moments and real danger and a lot of action; after all it involves multiple legendary artifacts, vengeful Tuath Dé (Gods from Irish myth,) duels to the death, sorcerers & sorceresses, soldiers & knights. While it is a quest fantasy, it is less about an actual fetch quest or good triumphing over evil and more about the MC finding a place to belong and friends & family. Overall, It was a very warm and beautiful read and I’m definitely going to pick up more books by the author. It is a short novel but is as rich and complete as any good epic fantasy tome.
Leave a Reply