The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman has got to be one of the more unusual books about King Arthur that I have ever read. The book is about a young man named Collum who comes from one of the small isles next to Briton and wishes to become a knight of the round table under Arthur in Camelot. Deciding to do just that he leaves his isle and heads across the mainland to Camelot only to start hearing some rather unusual rumors on the way. Upon arriving he discovers that Camelot and the round table are decimated after the recent death of Arthur at Camlaan. While he still wishes to eventually become a knight of the round table Collum also ends up embroiled in the search for the next monarch and the defense of Camelot from some of the minor kings wishing to take advantage of the current chaos. In doing so he ends up traveling with a mixed lot of knights from a variety of interesting backgrounds and the sorceress Nimue as they try to find the holy lance to help determine who is the next monarch.
This book was a great read as it felt faithful to the feel of King Arthur and Camelot legends while still feeling remarkably contemporary. It blends numerous disparate legends and ideas about Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, Nimue and the Round Table into one remarkably cohesive whole. At the same time it brings in some new ideas that I don’t think I have ever seen in stories about Arthur. Perhaps the best part though is the fact that the story is set in a rather unusual time period with it being immediately after Arthur passes. It allows for an interesting addition to the story as I can’t think of any other stories that cover the same time period. This story is definitely unique in that way though it is also relatively unique in terms of its narrator as Collum of the out isles is essentially a nobody who is also an outsider. He is coming into the story after the fact with no prior interaction with any of them. By framing the story this way we get an interesting perspective on the other characters. The story also interrupts itself throughout with special sections that provide a detailed background of each of the other knights that Collum interacts with as well as a background for Nimue. While this does as I said interrupt the story somewhat it also allows for a deeper and more fully fleshed out character for everybody. I feel like we really get to know them better because of these sections even if they disrupt the overall flow slightly. One of the more intriguing things about the book is that it presents the quest for the lance and the next monarch as being a rather serious thing but I often felt like it was more funny at times and sometimes struggled with laughing. Not always but sometimes. It definitely had some minor humorous elements throughout. I will say that no matter how much it reflects contemporary times in style and some of the minor elements it still feels undoubtedly like a King Arthur and Camelot story. Overall, it was pretty great and I thoroughly enjoyed it so I am happy giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
This was a great example of a fantasy novel and a great book about King Arthur so if you enjoy fantasy in general or if you enjoy reading books featuring King Arthur then I think you would probably enjoy this one. At the same time I highly doubt it would hold a lot of appeal for readers who don’t enjoy either of those things. The book is predominantly aimed at adult readers which I would mostly agree with. There is some minor violence and some minor potentially mature references that would make it slightly unsuitable for readers younger than their late teens. However, readers in their late teens would probably enjoy this as much as many adults probably would so I would suggest it for them as well. As always I hope you are willing to try it out if it sounds like it would be something you enjoy. If you do feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.