The Bright Sword

April 1, 2024
King Arthur is dead--what happens now? Collum of the Out Isles has stolen armor and a horse from his local lord, hoping to be accepted as a knight of the Round Table. But when he arrives at Camelot, the place is nearly deserted; King Arthur and a majority of his knights have died in the battle at Camlann, leaving no clear heir. With the few remaining knights and the sorceress Nimue, Collum travels across the disintegrating nation and even into the fairy Otherworld, searching for a successor to the dead Arthur and marshaling forces against the rivals who seek Britain's throne for themselves--including Morgan le Fay, Arthur's enchantress half-sister, who claims that she is the rightful heir, but mostly acts as a chaos agent throughout, helping or harming the questers as seems best to her in the moment. As the book progresses, we learn the secret backstory of each of the surviving knights as well as the nature of the relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere, the apparent spark for the civil conflict (the truth, intriguingly, is not what you think). The story of King Arthur has been told and substantially altered many times over the centuries, and explored by a multitude of contemporary novelists, but the author of the Magicians trilogy makes room for himself here. The purposeful inclusion of anachronisms recalls T.H. White's The Once and Future King, and the conflict between Christianity and pagan traditions is strongly reminiscent of Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. However, very few writers have explored post-Arthurian Britain or focused quite so much on developing the stories of the minor characters in the saga--the transgender man Sir Dinadan; Arthur's bodyguard, Sir Bedivere, secretly in love with his liege; Sir Dagonet the Fool, suffering from severe bipolar disorder; Sir Palomides, a highly educated prince of Baghdad whose not-so-secret passion for the lady Isolde keeps him in a primitive land that looks down on him for the color of his skin; and so on. This is not a realistic conjecture of how Britain would continue after the death of a charismatic leader who tried to institute new policies of standard law and justice. It's a metafiction in which the survivors of a myth attempt to extend that myth as they contend with the inner demons of their pasts. Astoundingly, a fresh take on an extremely well-trodden legend.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from April 1, 2024

Young Collum of Mull, with his pilfered armor and his dreams of knighthood, has journeyed from the Outer Hebrides to Camelot, hoping to join King Arthur's famous Round Table in any capacity in which they will have him. On arriving, he discovers that the king is dead, along with most of his knights. The few remaining knights, led by Bedivere, try to convince Collum that the glorious era of the Round Table is over, but he persuades them that they have one more task to complete--finding a new king. Following in the footsteps of the classic stage play Camelot and T.H. White's The Once and Future King, Grossman ("The Magicians") sets his version of King Arthur in that same land of not-quite-history, mixing Saracens, plate armor, and Roman occupation. The novel puts Arthur into a mythical framework that lets the legends blend into an anachronistic but harmonious whole, while giving Camelot one last quest and one last hurrah that sets England on the path of its mythical history. VERDICT Highly recommended for readers who can't resist a story featuring brave knights, stalwart queens, and magic.--Marlene Harris

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2024
Collum is a common bastard from Mull who wants to be a knight of the round table more than anything. But when he arrives in Camelot, he's just a few weeks too late. King Arthur is dead, Excalibur is gone, and the last few (oft-forgotten) knights--loyal Bedivere, the "Saracen" Palomides, mysterious Dinadan, coquettish Constantine, and rough Villiars--have no idea what to do next. Arthur's death surely means the end of the age of heroes, and the question of who should be king next is near impossible to solve. But they'll have to figure it out somehow, because a reckoning is fast-coming on the horizon, Morgan Le Fey is looming, and Britain will need to find solid ground if it's to survive a new clash between old-world faerie and new-world Christians. Grossman's first adult fantasy novel since the completion of The Magicians series is packed with magic, quickly beloved characters, punishing twists, and exciting, bold action scenes. Satisfyingly epic but also fast-paced, this novel captures everything that's grand and magnificent about the age of King Arthur while picking at its edges and delving into its darker depths. All fantasy and mythology fans will want to make time for this moving, entertaining epic. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The convergent popularity of Grossman and Arthurian legend means this epic fantasy is sure to be a hit.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from May 13, 2024
Bestseller Grossman (the Magicians trilogy) turns his hand to Arthurian legends, delivering a breathtaking tale that honors past iterations while producing something entirely unexpected. Young Collum escapes the lordly household where he’s been raised, liberating a suit of armor and a steed in the process, and travels to Camelot, where he hopes to serve King Arthur. He arrives too late—Arthur has already fallen at the Battle of Camlann. The few knights left at Camelot know that others will come seeking the throne but aren’t sure what to do. Grossman interweaves stories of each knight’s past with the ongoing quest to find a worthy heir to Arthur’s crown, which takes them and Collum into the Otherworld in search of a holy lance. In his historical note, Grossman acknowledges that he is among the camp of Arthurian writers “who pick and choose what they like,” producing a work “full of a lot of authentic historical detail but also a lot of anachronisms and contradictions.” Indeed, Grossman has his own take on beloved characters: Sir Bedivere is in unrequited love with Arthur, witty Sir Dinadan is trans and learned swordcraft from a fairy, and Sir Palomides is secretly a prince of Baghdad. There’s even a hint that Collum may be something more than he first appears. Grossman does a remarkable job of pulling together these disparate strands while providing enough combat and magic to keep the pages turning. Epic fantasy fans will hang on every word.