Book Review: The Excalibur Curse by Kiersten White

The Excalibur Curse by Kiersten White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The ending of a series is something I sometimes dread but I greet it with a smile. The Excalibur Curse was an okay book, but there was nothing to run home and tell Mama about. It was a fun time reading about Guinevere's growth and how she could love a lot of people, like Branigen, Isolde, Lily/Guinevach, Mordred, and Arthur. I still think that Guinevere and Arthur had the driest relationship throughout the series, so I felt like I was reading about a dry wine. Guinevere wanted some romance, and I felt like she got it with Mordred before he left them (I was worried that Mordred was gonna die, but thank god that he didn't) and Arthur not listening to Guinevere when it came to her unmaking herself because she wanted to give the Guinevere she thought was dead and wasn't her a life she deserves, and I'm glad that it didn't go that way, because I don't think I would be interested in the new Guinevere and she just goes back to being Nimue.

The addition to the new characters was actually pretty fun to read about. I liked reading about the Picts and the Saxons, and also how Fina joined up with them so she could become a knight. When Guinevere wanted to betray Arthur so she could go and free Merlin at the end, I thought it was a great plan. But how it was executed was very weird and odd and it really didn't make any sense at all, even when Lancelot used Excalibur to break the spell on the rocks so she could go inside and confront Merlin, only for Guinevere to turn around and create a devil's trap for the Dark Queen. Then when Merlin asked for the sword, over and over again, Guinevere said no and she killed both of them...which was fine, though I really didn't want Merlin to die, tbh.

I did like it when Guinevere, thanks to Morgana, went through her friends to see how they're doing, only to find out that Morgana was just using them to get information and to kill Arthur, but when they were in the Green Church, it got flipped around and she was killed by Arthur, all because Merlin told him to and to not listen to anything she said, which was fucked up but I was sad that Morgan died.

Was I happy about the ending? Not...really. It fell flat for me, and I wanted more from the book, and Kiersten White making Guinevere choose both Lancelot and Arthur was okay, I guess. I wanted more, but when it ended like that and everyone was happy that Guinevere didn't unmake herself and become a new Guinevere, and also Arthur gave Excalibur back to the Lady of the Lake. Oh, and Guinevere has no more magic.

I really enjoyed this book series and I don't know if I'll read it again, but it was really fun reading it.

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Book Review: The Camelot Betrayal (A Camelot Rising Novel) by Kiersten White

The Camelot Betrayal by Kiersten White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second book was pretty good. I enjoyed watching Guinevere grow in the book and how she was such a badass, but at the same time, she was thinking/worried about her knight Lancelot and how she's always protecting her and is always around her, talking to her and what not, and also thinking and dreaming about Mordred, which she's like, "I really shouldn't be thinking about him, I should be thinking about Arthur and how much I love him." and, to be fair, she does. I'm happy about that, but to be very honest, I feel like her relationship with Arthur is dry, like very dry, very respectable, but at the same time, it feel like love but to me, it doesn't for some reason.

The love between Guinevere and Arthur feels flat and boring, but at the same time, it feel like Arthur really loves and cares for her, but she wants to fall in love and have a kiss. When she brought up children, I'm was surprised and glad that they talked about it, and that Arthur wants to wait until she was ready for it.

At the same time, she was trying to figure out her sister Guinevach. At first, she thought that Guinevach was working with the Dark Queen, and she tried so hard to suss her out, with everything she had, but it turns out that Guinevach, or Lily as she wants to be called, was actually trueful and she knew the real Guinevere, and Guinevere thought and feared that Lily could see right through her, but she didn't, and the two became like sisters.

The relationship between Branigen, Isolde and Tristan was perfect. I really loved the twist on the Tristan and Isolde story and made Isolde gay. I really loved it and I'm glad in the third book they are together. I hope they do stick together forever, because I love them so much.

Now when Morgana le Fay appeared, first as a old maid named Anna who followed Lily to Camelot to her true form...tell me why the first person I thought of IMMEDIATELY was Katie McGrath?? I was wondering what she was doing, as Morgana, in this book, but then as I kept reading and found out what happened with her and Mordred, I was shocked and I wanted to know more. I wanted to see how powerful she was, even though she escaped.

With Hild and the dragon, I was happy about it, seeing Hild for the first time, even though I never heard of her before. But when it came to the dragon and how all of Hild's brothers hunted it down and killed it, I was so mad when they did that....but when they went to free Isolde from her terrible husband King Mark, I was worried that it wasn't going to happen, but when Guinevere tried to escape, the king nearly hurt her, but then she erased his mind and now she feels guilty about it.

Now that she made a barrier to hide Camelot from the Dark Queen, only for it to backlash and for Mordred tell her that the Dark Queen was coming for her, and to make Lancelot mad...how would Guinevere get out of this one?

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Book Review: The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is a fascinating retelling of Arthur and Guinevere, and the twist that Guinevere is a changeling sent to protect Arthur was very interesting indeed. I found that I enjoyed this book more than I thought, mostly because of how we see this Guinevere learn and struggle with her position of being a queen, then trying to be a wife to Arthur and also trying to protect him at the same time. I feel like this is quite refreshing to see, instead of just Guinevere marrying Arthur, and then oh she meets Lancelot and oh she betrays Arthur by being with Lancelot and all that good stuff.

I also liked the romance that blossomed between Arthur and Guinevere. It was quite refreshing to see two people learn to love each other instead of just knowing each other and then hop into bed. This romance between Arthur and Guinevere is sweet, kind, and gentle, and then Mordred appears almost every single time next to her, acting like he was "protecting" her, saying little things like "Oh, I know what you are" and all that jazz. But when Malagear, I think his name is, kidnapped her, he did show up...and he gave her an idea about waking up the trees.

Well, Guinevere did do that, spilling her blood so she could wake the trees up, but then it backfired on her, when it turns out Mordred tricked her into summoning his mother/grandmother, I believe. I was shocked when that happened because I wasn't expecting it. But I still enjoyed it nonetheless, and I now want to finish reading the series to find out what happened next.

Bringing up legends like Sir Tristan and Isolde and making Sir Lancelot a girl (in which I wanted them to get together, but ah well), to making Merlin, shockingly, look like the villain in the book about what happened to her and why she only knows knot magic and not actual magic to help protect Camelot, I enjoyed myself. Seeing Guinevere struggle in Camelot and try to hide everything she is while doing so, also trying to figure out her feelings for Arthur, it was actually pretty darn good and I cannot wait to read the next book in this series, because I need to know what happened and how Camelot survive, and also how Arthur and Guinevere get on in their blooming relationship.

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