TITLE: Half Sick of Shadows
AUTHOR: Laura Sebastian
448 pages, Ace Books, ISBN 9780593200513 (hardcover, also e-book and audio)
DESCRIPTION: (from the back cover): Everyone knows the legend. Of Arthur, destined to be a king. Of the beautiful Guinevere, who will betray him with his most loyal knight, Lancelot. Of the bitter sorceress, Morgana, who will turn against them all. But Elaine alone carries the burden of knowing what is to come--for Elaine of Shalott is cursed to see the future.
On the mystical isle of Avalon, Elaine runs free and learns of the ancient prophecies surrounding her and her friends--countless possibilities, almost all of them tragic.
When their future comes to claim them, Elaine, Guinevere, Lancelot, and Morgana accompany Arthur to take his throne in stifling Camelot, where magic is outlawed, the rules of society chain them, and enemies are everywhere. Yet the most dangerous threats may come from within their own circle.
As visions are fulfilled and an inevitable fate closes in, Elaine must decide how far she will go to change fate--and what she is willing to sacrifice along the way.
The Lady of Shalott reclaims her story in this bold feminist reimagining of the Arthurian myth from the New York Times bestselling author of Ash Princess.
MY RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
MY THOUGHTS: I’m not sure that there are any truly “new” ways to reinterpret the core of the Arthurian mythos, but Laura Sebastian introduces some interesting tweaks to the most commonly accepted/popular versions of the story that are out there, including a couple of large and unexpected changes to character histories. These changes will probably not please readers who expect every story about Camelot to march to the standard beats of the childhood of Arthur, the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle, the Arthur/Morgana/Mordred history, the quest for the Holy Grail, and the final battle between the forces of Arthur and Mordred. But I found Sebastian’s rearranging of relationships and histories intriguing and would love to know more about how she made the story choices she made. To say “this is not your grandfather’s Camelot” is probably accurate. And I think that’s perfectly okay. (Your mileage may vary, of course.)
Sebastian riffs on the traditional idea that Arthur’s childhood was spent away from his father’s court – but instead of Arthur being unaware of his true heritage and raised by Sir Ector as younger brother to Sir Kay, Arthur is traded by King Uther to the magical island nation of Avalon as a hostage to prevent further war between Albion and Avalon (a fairly common practice in medieval times), and grows up with a half-fae Lancelot as well as fellow human transplants Guinevere and Elaine along with half-sister Morgana. She deals with the on-going confusion about Arthur’s half-sister’s name (sometimes Morgan le Fey, sometimes Morgana, something Morgause) by giving him two half-sisters, twins named Morgause and Morgana. These are foundational changes that add new breath to the story without veering too far from the familiar. She also takes the somewhat daring step of making Mordred Arthur’s bastard half-brother rather than his bastard son. I’ll admit that this particular change threw me, as it didn’t seem to add anything to this narrative other than giving Arthur a blood relative rival for his father’s throne. I didn’t hate this change, but it didn’t seem as smooth a fit as the other changes Sebastian makes, especially since Mordred is pretty ineffectual as a foil, appearing in a bare handful of scenes. Likewise, the expected Arthur/Guinevere romance is present but is somewhat tangential to the Elaine/Lancelot romance. In a book inspired by The Lady of Shallot, this should not surprise anyone. Also fair warning: Merlin fans will be disappointed. He’s in a couple of key scenes, but he is not the master manipulator/mentor figure he’s usually portrayed as.
Elaine is the narrator, and she tells the story in three time frames, only one of which is linear. The “present day” time frame starts with the friends being told it is time to leave Avalon because Arthur’s father had died and it’s time for him to claim the throne. The flashbacks to how Elaine came to Avalon, met the others, and studied under Avalon’s head oracle, Nimue, are revealed when current events inspire Elaine to remember key moments of their past – thus, not in chronological order but mirroring the way we all tell people about our pasts: “Oh, then there was the time we…” And then there are Elaine’s disjointed and sometimes contradictory visions of the future, of the ways in which Arthur will come to that final battle, and even what will happen after. These are of necessity also not linear/chronological, because in this world the nature of visions is to change as present-day decisions strengthen or weaken the possibilities the future holds. This is the way I prefer to see prophecies handled in fiction: not as a single immutable “must happen” event, but as something open to interpretation and change. One of the central ideas of the book is that the future is only solidified once it is in the past. Jumping across these time frames, sometimes in mid-chapter, kept the book interesting for me.
I’m also not sure just how much this qualifies as a “bold feminist retelling” the way the cover copy claims. Yes, Elaine is the narrator of the story, which focuses equally on her friendships with Morgana and Guinevere and touches slightly on her mentoring by Nimue. But an oft-repeated refrain in the book is that the friends must do “All For Arthur” – meaning whatever it takes to get him on the throne of Camelot. Throughout the book, the female characters (and Lancelot) subvert their own needs, sacrifice their own happiness, to assure Arthur meets his destiny – even though Arthur himself doesn’t seem really capable of accomplishing the tasks set for him without his friends’ interference. Half Sick of Shadows is definitely a bold, one could even say controversial, take on the Arthurian legend – but I’m not convinced it’s really “feminist” in the way the cover copy claims. (In fact, I’d go out on a limb and say that it possibly fails the Bechdel test, as most of the conversations between the female leads are about the two guys.) That being said, I do wonder if this is just the first book in a series, and that the major decision Elaine makes at the end of the book will in fact lead to a much broader reinterpretation that further centers the female characters. If this is a series, I’ll definitely be signing on for book two.
I received an Advanced Reading Copy via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.