This book was a very good read!
Not only it gave adventure and magic, it also gave that slow paced romance that I much like.

The good things about this book:
- Guinevere is actually a witch, not just a fair lady.
- Arthur is lovable and sweet, as I always imagined him to be.
- Lancelot is a girl, which was an amazing surprise!! She reminds me so much of Brienne from GoT.
- The romance was slow and sweet, and I wish we could've had more of it.
- The twists and turns, pointing you to different directions.. ugh, so good!

I need the next one. Like... now!

Can a book be resilient? I don't know what it would mean, in that context, yet it's the word that repeatedly came to mind. Take that as you will. I like this Guinevere. I even like this Arthur. She jumps to conclusions too easily and he is a touch one-sided, but those are small complaints. Resilient. Resilient?

*Posted to all links (except Amazon) 10/11

Thank you to Delacorte for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For what seems like the entirety of my forty-two years on this planet I have been waiting for what I’ve dubbed the fab five.

1) Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
2) Kingdom for a Stage by Heidi Heilig
3) The Guinevere Deception
4) Toll by Neal Shusterman
5) Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

After banging down doors, offering up vital organs and one of my cats, (which normally I wouldn’t do over my dead body- and in the case of some of my organs that would be literal) I had given up on Advanced Readers Copies for all of them. Apparently, I gave up to quickly. When the widget for Kiersten White’s The Guinevere Deception showed up in my email one fine morning, my knees buckled and I had to sit down.

As of today, two of the fab five have been released. They have both exceeded expectations. As for the first book in White’s latest series, Camelot Rising? It has fallen right in line, kicking off her spin on King Arthur in epic style.

It is no secret that I have been a fan of Kiersten White since I read the And I Darken series, which was before my site ever existed. It has continued through The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, her take on Buffy with the Slayer Series (Chosen, the next installment comes out in January).

The Guinevere Deception twist Arthurian lore on its head when Merlin is banished from Camelot at the worst possible time. Magic is banging at the edges of Camelot and no one is there to protect King Arthur or the court. Tradition is playing tug of war with those would see new ways come to fruition and forge a better way forward.

But Merlin has sent in a rider in disguise, a changeling posing as Guinevere who is to marry King Arthur and protect him, the Court, and Camelot from the magic at its borders, threatening its very existence.

With mesmerizing prose White captured and sucked me right into an evil and enchanted forest that swayed with whispered evil. Camelot brimmed with action and excitement, political chess matches, and plot twists that jarred everything I thought I knew might come next.

And Guinevere was a fantastical surprise. An unreliable narrator who was an unknown mystery not just to all those around her, but to herself as well. Missing whole gaps in her memory, Guinevere endeavors to trust herself while those around offered their trust without a thought because, why wouldn’t they? She is Guinevere, after all. Or so they thought.

Having the center protagonist standout as a mystery unto herself adds a whole other dynamic to this story. I can’t imagine how it will playout or what the finality of its impact will be. There are many things yet still to be uncovered. How those points will intersect with the entirety of the mystery of Guinevere, herself, is seems an unstoppable cataclysmic event.

Front row seats! Please!

I'm on the borderline of liking this and not liking this (let's be honest I'm leaning more towards). There were so few pros and even more cons to this story that I don't even know where to begin. So I'm going to hit it where it hurts and start off by saying this was an utter disappointment. I had high expectations for this novel and it all crumpled to the ground in flames that was ignited by the lead heroine, Guinevere. There was just something about her that was off-putting and it became more than apparent when she suddenly started to 'developed feelings' for Arthur despite not being in his presence for a full 24 hours. Not joking. I'm sure the only thing that was going for her that I actually liked was the relationship that was bubbling between her and Mordred (love triangle, what joy), and that's only because Mordred was in the equation. I'm almost baffled that my time has come to finally come across a novel that I was more in favor of the secondary characters than the main protagonist themselves regardless that all the characters including the heroine fell flat and lacked depth. In addition to that, I will also mentioned that this novel started off slow in the beginning before continuing to go slow in the middle before ending in a slow lackluster end. It was a borderline borefest and I'm just a tad bit heated because this had so much potential to be a decent Arthurian legend read and it wasn't. At all. So in conclusion it's true what they say, never judge a book by its cover.

I really enjoyed The Guinevere Deception. This story follows Guinevere, except she's actually an apprentice of Merlin who travels to Camelot pretending to be Guinevere in order to protect King Arthur. I love that this story really has a new spin on the King Arthur story and does a lot of unique and interesting things with a story we all know so well. It was a very fun read and I am excited to read more in this series, I want to know what happens next!
I like Guinevere's character. She is so interesting and I like seeing her work with magic and also work through her own identity. She has a lot of gaps in her memory and isn't sure who she is at times so I liked seeing her trying to figure out what kind of person she wants to be. I also like how Camelot is described through Guinevere's eyes. She is new to this kingdom so I liked that we get to see her experience the beauty of Camelot and understanding why Arthur is so special and so important.

This book is a must-read for anyone who is fond Arthurian legend. The book features an interesting twist on the legend, with Merlin having been banished and the young King Arthur outlawing magic in Camelot. One of the things I liked about this book was how the geographic location of Camelot makes it another character in the story. I would recommend this book to teens and young adults who are looking for variations on the King Arthur legend and enjoy stories with magic and interesting settings.

I am incredibly disappointed in this book! It was so boring and it was a struggle to pick it up. I loved White's Conquerers Saga so I thought I would love this as well but nothing happened until page 250 and the issues that arose were handled so quickly and conveniently, it didn't make me sit on the edge of my seat.

The character's are all a bit flat and I really didn't care for any of them. Guinevere has no depth or substance. We know she's not sure who she is and she is incredibly naive. She has almost no interactions with anyone and if she does, they don't particularly add anything to the story. There is also the romance that didn't quite click. I think White wanted to add a shock factor of when the climax happened but it just fell flat. I didn't feel the love and attraction between the characters. We were told that there was a spark but were never shown the spark.

We don't know the plot of this new trilogy until the last 20 pages of the book which was so frustrating. This is a perfect example for me of when a book is beautiful on the outside but lack luster on the inside. It just didn't work for me and that makes me so sad.

#TheGuinevereDeception
Wow. I loved this first book in this trilogy. White's take on the Arthurian tale is a wonderful re-imagining of the tale. Guinevere in this story is unlike the legend. White has taken advantage of the legend and made this her own. The character's are likable and realistic in the story. I really enjoyed the chemistry of Guinevere, Arthur, and Mordred. I think that it is an interesting triangle of emotional dependence. Reader's will not want to put this down! I cannot wait for #2. A wonderful and imaginative read that is so much fun!
Must Read!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read and review The Guinevere Deception.

Hii bookworms!! I am super hyped to write out this review. I would like to thank the publishers: ⁣
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@penguinrandomhouse / @penguinteen and @authorkierstenwhite for the chance to review an early advanced copy of this book! ⁣
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THE GUINEVERE DECEPTION BY @authorkierstenwhite ⁣
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𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: 4/5 STARS ⁣
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𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦: Arthur, Guinevere, Modred (who honestly tore my heart apart!) and Bragien ⁣
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𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦: The Dark Queen. ⁣
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𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗔𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗦: I am a huge fan of the King Arthur stories; I loved the Micheal Murpogo version of it, the old folklore version of Excalibur, even Avalon High by Meg Cabot. Anything King Arthur related was an instant love of mine. This story does a phenomenal job of retelling Guinevere’s story from a completely different perspective. It’s not necessarily the conventional retelling, it has all the components of Camelot, the characters, the betrayals, angst, power-struggles but this gives a greater, in-depth adventure of a Guinevere who isn’t quite Guinevere the way we know her.
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The magic system is what really captured me. I don’t want to reveal any spoilers so don’t read after this!⁣
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𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐓 🚨:⁣
The knot magic was so cool. The fire and water magic resembled other forms of magic that I’d read before, but I loved how wholly a person was in connection to their magic. It was a wonderful magic system. ⁣
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𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗔𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗦: There isn’t anything to dislike in terms of plot or characters; the writing it engaging (though the number of exclamation marks was simultaneously endearing and repetitive) and altogether I think it’s going to be a very popular read! ⁣
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𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣𝗦: Maybe I am a sucker for love, but Arthur and Guinevere will always be my favourite couple. ⁣
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𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗗 𝗙𝗢𝗥: readers looking for a completely unique retelling or King Arthur—or more appropriately Queen Guinevere. ⁣
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There wasn't a chance for me to put down this book! It was addicting to read and the story of Guinevere and how she became into King Arthur's life was appealing. She likes the King Arthur and it was hard to tell if he feels the same for her. It started out with a good concept of being sent to him as a protector by her father Merlin under the disguised as the Princess Guinevere. She is a good character and it was well-developed with world building and magic. She had conflicts along the way to finding her purpose and tried hard to protect the king, which was her main mission. Struggled with being the Queen and her role as Merlin's daughter since she has to hide the fact that she's a witch, and the confusion she feels towards King Arthur's nephew Mordred.

Overall, this is a good read that has well-developed concept, world-building, hook, and characters to bind the story, adding a bit of romance suspense. Lots of twists and turns.

***SPOILER ALERT!!***

Though, she had found feelings towards Mordred, who I had hoped was a good guy turned out to be bad at the end, but his feelings for her were real! Somehow, I wished that he didn't end up being the bad guy.

Thanks to Netgalley and to the publisher for sending me an e-galley of this book!

The Guinevere Deception leads the reader through a labyrinth of well placed twists and turns until they don't know which way is up and who to trust. I felt connected to all the characters, feeling Guinevere's anxiety (or whoever she was), I had begun to adore King Arthur and enjoyed the company of his knights and felt at home walking along the characters on the streets of Camelot.

The writing was addictive. As soon as I thought I knew where the story was going, something had changed or was revealed that kept me turning the page, as many good stories do. Every twist was well placed and never forced, natural and easy but still effective.

Based on how it ended I'll be looking for the eagerly waiting the next book.

This book was received as an ARC from Random House Children's - Delacorte Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I absolutely love King Arthur and the legend it has become and it is refreshing to read a new twist on not only the tales but for the characters and in this case Guinevere. In the legends, Arthur and Merlin tend to be the main focus and all we know about Guinevere is that she is Arthur's lover but we never hear how she came to be and how she got involved with King Arthur in the first place...until now. Kiersten White eliminated the boring parts of the stories and combined the best action parts in this novel making it so exciting to read and I could not stop. Our teen book club will also be excited for this and I can't wait to share it with them.

We will consider adding this title to our YFiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.