Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Cursed, by Thomas Wheeler (author), Frank Miller (artist)

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, ISBN 9781534425330, October 2019

I tried to like this book. I really did.

It's an Arthurian story in which Things Are Different, and the Sword that empowers the True King has gone to Nimue--designating, instead, a True Queen.

I ought to love this.

There are a whole range of Fey peoples, of different types and features and magic. Nimue is one of them.

I ought to love this.

Nimue and Morgan and others are interesting characters.

I ought to love this.

Unfortunately, the bad guy characters are stereotypically, cartoonishly evil. It renders them unbelievable and, in my opinion, not worth the reader's time.

The culture and society we're shown, at least above the village level, is not consistent with any time frame within which it's consistent with any version of the Arthurian myth to picture Arthur, Uther, Merlin, Morgan, and the others existing.

Burning witches as other than an occasional local, small-scale event was not a thing at any point in a plausible range for Arthurian stories, as this presents itself.

Red Paladins were not a thing, ever. The Red Paladins caused me to consider the possibility that this is based on a role-playing game, but I haven't been able to substantiate that. That doesn't mean it isn't, though, and if it is, this might be a lot more fun for people familiar with the game. So if there is a game, bear that in mind. This might have a background that is not the one I expect for Arthurian mythos stories.

As things stand, though, I don't like the book, and can't recommend it.

I do have to say that I do like the interior artwork.

I received a free electronic galley of this book, and am reviewing it voluntarily.

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