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NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, NPR, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, VANITY FAIR, TIME, OPRAH DAILY, TOWN & COUNTRY, ELLE, VOX, PASTE, LIT HUB, POLYGON, KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Lev Grossman’s The Bright Sword stands out as the best fantasy of the year.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Grossman, who is best known for his The Magicians series, is at the top of his game with The Bright Sword.” —The New York Times Book Review
“A thrilling new take on Arthurian legend. . . . Marvelous.” —The Washington Post
“If you love King Arthur as much as I do, you’ll love Lev Grossman’s The Bright Sword, a fresh and engrossing take on the Matter of Britain featuring a colorful cast of Round Table knights who don’t often get as much story time as they deserve. The creator of The Magicians has woven another spell.” —George R. R. Martin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Game of Thrones
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 to solve the mystery of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell.
The first major Arthurian epic of the new millennium, The Bright Sword is steeped in tradition, complete with duels and quests, battles and tournaments, magic swords and Fisher Kings. It's also a story about imperfect men and women, full of strength and pain, trying to reforge a broken land in spite of being broken themselves.
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Creators
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Awards
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Release date
July 16, 2024 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781524783013
- File size: 667397 KB
- Duration: 23:10:23
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from May 13, 2024
Bestseller Grossman (the Magicians trilogy) turns his hand to Arthurian legends, delivering a breathtaking tale that honors past iterations while producing something entirely unexpected. Young Collum escapes the lordly household where he’s been raised, liberating a suit of armor and a steed in the process, and travels to Camelot, where he hopes to serve King Arthur. He arrives too late—Arthur has already fallen at the Battle of Camlann. The few knights left at Camelot know that others will come seeking the throne but aren’t sure what to do. Grossman interweaves stories of each knight’s past with the ongoing quest to find a worthy heir to Arthur’s crown, which takes them and Collum into the Otherworld in search of a holy lance. In his historical note, Grossman acknowledges that he is among the camp of Arthurian writers “who pick and choose what they like,” producing a work “full of a lot of authentic historical detail but also a lot of anachronisms and contradictions.” Indeed, Grossman has his own take on beloved characters: Sir Bedivere is in unrequited love with Arthur, witty Sir Dinadan is trans and learned swordcraft from a fairy, and Sir Palomides is secretly a prince of Baghdad. There’s even a hint that Collum may be something more than he first appears. Grossman does a remarkable job of pulling together these disparate strands while providing enough combat and magic to keep the pages turning. Epic fantasy fans will hang on every word. -
Nicholas Guy Smith evokes the Arthurian legends of old in this tongue-in-cheek Knights of the Round Table-inspired novel. A young man named Collum dreams of joining King Arthur's Round Table, but by the time he arrives in Camelot, King Arthur is dead. Smith's narration captures the epic qualities of the story as Collum and the knights try to keep the kingdom united after the unimaginable loss. Smith shines in this grand, ambitious novel, especially as he performs the dialogue of the various knights, each of whom has his own accent and cadence. Full of humor, magic, and endless quests, this story is perfect for any lover of King Arthur tales. K.D.W. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from December 1, 2024
Grossman (The Magicians) returns with an intricately woven, richly detailed, and thoroughly researched Arthurian tale. Collum, a knight-aspirant to the fabled Round Table, finds himself drawn into the realms of magic and treachery when he arrives at Camelot in the wake of King Arthur's demise, as told in Le Morte d'Arthur. Only a handful of forgotten and misbegotten knights remain. Searching for a new king for Camelot, they set out on a great quest that challenges them beyond their usual stations. Each character has a place in the tale, and their individual backstories are interwoven with the main narrative to add depth to the ongoing quest. Don't be fooled, however--these ancient stories are given new life by Grossman, who embraces the challenge to rethink who these knights may have been and what they looked like. Grossman's skillful recreation and evolution of Arthurian storytelling is bolstered by Nicholas Guy Smith's exceptional performance as narrator, imbuing each character with a richness and fullness that will have listeners hanging on his every word. VERDICT A triumph of classic fantasy storytelling that embraces tradition just as much as it turns tradition on its head, this is sure to resonate with high-fantasy readers everywhere.--Collin Stephenson
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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