Review of The Bright Sword by LEv Grossman

Grossman's reimagined Arthurian legend gives center stage to a ragtag band of misfits, celebrates diversity, and builds a patchwork of adventures, discovery, and widened horizons culminating in a satisfying new, reimagined path forward.

Collum is an instinctually gifted, strong knight who has literally fought for sword training as a lowly ward; his family has little use for him; and his heart is set upon joining King Arthur's court.

But when he finally makes his way to the Round Table, only elderly, impaired, has-been knights are left, and he learns that Arthur was killed weeks earlier. But Collum refuses to believe that a life as a knight is no longer possible for him. Along with Merlin's apprentice, Nimue, he becomes determined to usher in a new age, where Excalibur will be reclaimed, Camelot will be secure from would-be usurpers, and the kingdom will be inspired again by bravery and might.

I loved the twist on Arthurian legends, in which an unlikely young upstart and a ragtag group of aging, grumbling, disillusioned knights try to do right by Camelot and by their idol, Arthur.

I appreciated the epic length of the book (688 pages), in which each remaining knight gets page time and a recounting of key adventures. But the many points of view and meandering stories also felt a little broad at times, and I wished for more focus on Collum, while understanding that his early-days position didn't warrant the majority of the storytelling.

The Nimue-Merlin-Morgan le Fay conflicts were an intriguing side plot, and I enjoyed Grossman's unexpected take on the (misunderstood) Lancelot-Guinevere dynamic--and Guinevere's own power and promise as a leader.

Grossman addresses issues of diversity in satisfying fashion; a transgender knight, a Muslim knight, and a gay knight are all represented. The full roster of knights--and the women who hold important roles in the tale--are all misfits who don't inspire great confidence, but collectively, they fight to find a path forward in a world that is changing around them.

I listened to The Bright Sword as an audiobook (it was twenty-three hours long).

More from Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman is also the author of the Magicians trilogy. I read the first in that series, The Magicians, for but me it was short on magic and fantastical elements and long on unsympathetic characters' entitlement and malaise.