The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's an understatement to say that a lot happens in this book. Indeed, we get a massive retelling of the Arthurian legend, mostly from right after Arthur's death, in a new-adventure guise of Collum, a bastard knight dreaming of courtly idealism and adventure.

All of it is good, not gonna lie. For having read many, many Arthurian legends (and occasionally tired of them) it's easy to get lost in the woods. I mean, just look at the whole mess of so many previous tellings and re-tellings pre-and-post middle ages, then the many re-interpretations for the next 600 years, including White and Disney and many crappy tv shows AND MZB, and hardly ANY of them are able to tackle the whole ball of contradictory mess without falling apart at least a dozen times.

AND YET, authors keep trying. Most are more or less entertaining, but everyone has a different opinion on where it ought to go. This one gets some of the lesser characters on the stage, including trans and gay knights, as well as many others who were left behind. I don't mind that. I love being surprised by storytelling that comes from left-field.

I will mention that this is a highly ambitious work by Grossman, and his love for the legends is clear. I think it's worthy to wield the legendary sword -- but to judge it higher or lower than others? It's different, while being the same. It takes it on in a new light, but shows great quality.

My recommendation? If you want yet another Arthurian legend, you won't go wrong with this.

If you're so over Arthurian stuff--then skip it. It's not the definitive anything. The story is messy and this one is too.



Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews might be interested in reading my own SF, I'm going to be open to DM requests. I think it's about time I get some eyes on them.

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