The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman is a deeply intimate retelling of the Arthurian legend, of the rise and fall of dynasties, and of the meaning and power one person can hold over kingdoms, countries, and his dearest friends and relatives.
I picked up this book on Audible without any prior knowledge of it, and I greatly enjoyed it.
Grossman pulls all of the legends of the Arthurian tales – Bedivere, Gawain, Gallahad, Lancelot, Morgan, Morgase, Guinevere, and many others – and brings them into a grounded story of the final days of Arthur’s reign.
Without giving away any spoilers, Grossman does a great job of blending the main plot with flashback chapters to explain how each of the main characters got to where they are in the story. This structure served to drive the narrative forward while helping contextualize and humanize the larger-than-life figures one expects to meet in a tale of Arthur.
The story’s use of both fae and Christian mythology was fascinating and only added to the world-building. This is a true high fantasy tale, and the author (as he admits in his note) takes some liberties with historical accuracy.
This is all fairly smooth in the actual reading; the overarching plot and abundant appearance of magic mean there are no illusions about this attempting to be historical fiction.
Would definitely read again, as well as Grossman’s other novels.
Steve D
Evening Satellite Publishing 