The Bright Sword
One of the big booktok trends recently has involved choosing extremely long books to read across the entire summer. Many of the popular choices are The Count of Monte Cristo or War and Peace, and while I'm not against a good classic, I was looking for something a little more modern for my "big book" summer. I eventually settled on The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman, which clocks in at a meaty 688 pages, and while it doesn't count as a classic, it is a modern interpretation of classic Arthurian legends, which I think fills the remit.
I've never read any of the more canonical books dealing with the Arthurian legends, but I've recently been curious to try something in that vein. I really enjoyed his Magicians book series, which is a more adult interpretation of a Harry Potter/magical school trope, so I had high expectations for his take on Arthur.
As the story opens we meet our protagonist Collum, who has been living on the far away island of Mull as an orphan under the local lord's rule. At the ripe age of 17 he decides to take his fighting prowess, leave the backwater island, and offer his services to King Arthur and try to become a knight of the round table. During his journey to Camelot he is momentarily sidetracked by being forced to fight an unspeaking knight he meets on the road. He defeats the knight, who refuses to yield despite being defeated, and he is forced to eventually kill him.
After that arduous trek he arrives to the glorious court of King Arthur in Camelot, where he quickly learns that two weeks ago Arthur was killed along with many of the other most famous Knights of the Round Table, Queen Guinevere is taken to a convent, and Lancelot is believed to be a traitor in exile. The Knights that are left have little interest in Collum, and it seems like his goal in life will remain unfulfilled, until a magical appearance by the Green Knight. The Green Knight comes with news of where another Knight is still alive, but someone must best him in combat. After it kills another minor Knight of Camelot, Collum steps up and is able to defeat it. The remaining Knights agree to knight Collum, and thus the story can begin in earnest.
What follows is a long twisting tale of what comes next for Britain after the loss of its heroic king. Interspersed through the plot are numerous chapters detailing the origin stories of the other Knights of the Round Table that are still with us in the story, as well as some more backstory for Arthur as well. Other than osmosis from pop culture, I have no other background when it comes to Arthurian legend, so I can't speak for how closely these characterizations follow the canon, but I found them all to be compelling and interesting characters. Grossman's prose is also a delight to read, and even though it's pushing 700 pages I never felt the story sagging, and I wanted to read even more of the backgrounds of the characters from when they were in their prime.
For anyone that is looking for a modern interpretation of Arthurian legends, I highly recommend The Bright Sword, and if you enjoy it I would also highly recommend Grossman's other works, as they are all great. Reading this has made me even more Arthur-curious, though, so I will be on the lookout for more books in this sub-genre in the future for sure.
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The Children