Guest Post: Mediavilla on The Camelot Rising Trilogy, Books 1 and 2

 

White, Kiersten. The Guinevere Deception.  Delacorte Press, 2019. The Camelot Rising Trilogy 1. 339 pages. Hardcover: $18.99, ISBN: 9780525581673. Paperback: $10.99, ISBN: 9780525581703.

 

 - - -. The Camelot Betrayal. Delacorte Press, 2020. The Camelot Rising Trilogy 2. 370 pages. Hardcover: $18.99, ISBN: 9780525581710. 

 

Guinevere is 16 years old when she marries Arthur, two years her senior. Though they have never met, the king welcomes her with open arms while the people of Camelot look on and cheer. Still, nothing is as it seems. As soon becomes apparent, theirs is merely a marriage of convenience arranged by Arthur’s mentor, Merlin, who was banished from Camelot many years before. Instead of a “real wife,” Guinevere, who has magical powers of her own, was sent by Merlin to protect the king from his enemies. Instead of saving Arthur, however, Guinevere is, more often than not, the one needing rescue as she foolishly follows her misguided impulses into danger in hopes of foiling threats against the king. Coming to her aid is usually Arthur’s older nephew Mordred, an enigmatic character for whom the queen finds herself having inexplicable feelings.

 

In a recent online bookstore event, bestselling author Kiersten White proclaimed that, because every Arthurian writer adds his or her own spin to the legend, there no longer is an Arthurian “canon.” Indeed, she herself takes every opportunity to shatter tradition by introducing unexpected plot elements. The Tristan-Isolde-Mark love triangle, for instance, is depicted here as a secret romance between Isolde and her handmaid Brangien. Likewise, Lancelot, the queen’s knight, is eventually revealed to be a woman, who may or may not be in love with Guinevere. As for Arthur, before marrying the queen, he had a short-lived affair with Elaine, the sister of Maleagant, who kidnaps Guinevere to avenge Elaine’s death during childbirth. The names may be the same, but White obviously takes pleasure in adding her own special twist to an age-old saga.

 

Although both books are written in third-person, all action is seen and interpreted (often wrongly) through Guinevere’s naïve eyes. One might think the point here is to view the usually male-dominated story through a strong feminist lens. But with Arthur constantly gone, managing the business of Camelot, Guinevere is mostly left to her own ill-conceived devices that usually lead to trouble. Instead of an intelligent, masterful heroine, the reader is left with a young, inexperienced queen who listens to her heart more than she does common sense—resulting, not surprisingly, in yet another abduction at the end of the second book, setting the scene for the trilogy’s third volume, The Excalibur Curse, due to be published in 2021.

 

Lots of unanswered questions one hopes will be resolved by the end of book #3: Who exactly is Guinevere? Is Merlin good or evil? Which side is Mordred on? And will Arthur and the queen finally consummate their marriage? Recommended for young adults who are unfamiliar with the traditional Arthurian story.

 

 

Cindy Mediavilla

 

Cindy Mediavilla is a retired public librarian who has collected, read and written about Arthurian fiction for more than 40 years. Her publications include Arthurian Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography (Scarecrow Press, 1999), "From 'Unthinking Stereotype' to Fearless Antagonist: The Evolution of Morgan le Fay on Television" (Arthuriana 25:1), and an article on Arthurian romance in Encyclopedia of Romance Fiction (2018). Cindy's MLS and PhD are from UCLA, where she also taught as a lecturer for 16 years.