The Bright Sword

A Novel of King Arthur

First Edition, 673 pages

English language

Published July 16, 2024 by Viking.

ISBN:
978-0-7352-2404-9
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
1404059383

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4 stars (1 review)

A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a place at the Round Table, only to find that he’s too late. King Arthur died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table are left.

The survivors aren’t the heroes of legend like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Table, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight, and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill.

But it’s up to them to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance, even as God abandons Britain and the fairies and old gods return, led by Morgan le Fay. They must reclaim Excalibur and make this ruined world whole again—but first they’ll have …

2 editions

The Bright Sword (4.5 Stars)

4 stars

This was just as good as everyone said (see Bookmarks). It is long, but to me it never felt like a slog. It also has a fair amount of violence, but apparently I have a much higher tolerance for sword and sorcery-type violence than for gun violence. It's exciting, funny and very well written. The magical battle between Nimue and Merlin had me on the edge of my seat, and that chapter also provided one of my favorite quotes: It was his soul that had been lost, and like so many who'd lost their souls, he had to insist the bargain was worth it and show contempt for those who still had theirs. I really enjoyed getting the backstory for Nimue and each of the knights. Although it's fantasy, it touches on serious/current issues (e.g., diversity, mental health and immigration), and I appreciated that. Excellent storytelling, and I thought …

Subjects

  • Fiction
  • Historical Fiction
  • Literary Fiction
  • Fantasy
  • King Arthur
  • Camelot
  • Morgan le Fay
  • Round Table
  • Knights
  • England