A review by declaired
The Book of Mordred by Vivian Vande Velde
4.0
3.5 stars, rounding up
things I liked:
-ladies! Arthurian tale ladies with agency, that aren't Guinevere or Morgana (not that I would mind more Gwen or Morgana, just that they get real tied up in their own pinned down mythology)
-i think this is one of the very few (if any?) Vivian Vande Velde books I haven't read; I truly enjoy her as a storyteller and she succeeds here, using three narrators with three different arcs that tie together across the golden years and fall of King Arthur.
-and they are heroic stories with terrible monsters
things I care less for:
the overwhelming dread of fighting enemies who lie and lie and somehow keep winning is emotionally exhausting. and the dread of childhood, of having so much be out of your power. (like, it's rendered well, and in doing so it tears at the spirit)
Arthurian drama always tears at my spirit though, and even getting into the idea and the arc of a tragedy as something enjoyable, I find it hard to enjoy specifically this mythology.
things I liked:
-ladies! Arthurian tale ladies with agency, that aren't Guinevere or Morgana (not that I would mind more Gwen or Morgana, just that they get real tied up in their own pinned down mythology)
-i think this is one of the very few (if any?) Vivian Vande Velde books I haven't read; I truly enjoy her as a storyteller and she succeeds here, using three narrators with three different arcs that tie together across the golden years and fall of King Arthur.
-and they are heroic stories with terrible monsters
things I care less for:
the overwhelming dread of fighting enemies who lie and lie and somehow keep winning is emotionally exhausting. and the dread of childhood, of having so much be out of your power. (like, it's rendered well, and in doing so it tears at the spirit)
Arthurian drama always tears at my spirit though, and even getting into the idea and the arc of a tragedy as something enjoyable, I find it hard to enjoy specifically this mythology.