Welcome to my stop on the Blog Tour for The Camelot Betrayal, run by TBR And Beyond Tours! I’m so very excited to be part of this amazing tour and group!

Author: Kiersten White
Series: Camelot Rising
Series #: 2
Genre: fantasy, retelling
Age Group: young adult
ARC?: yes

The second book in a new fantasy trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White, exploring the nature of self, the inevitable cost of progress, and, of course, magic and romance and betrayal so epic Queen Guinevere remains the most famous queen who never lived.

EVERYTHING IS AS IT SHOULD BE IN CAMELOT: King Arthur is expanding his kingdom’s influence with Queen Guinevere at his side. Yet every night, dreams of darkness and unknowable power plague her.

Guinevere might have accepted her role, but she still cannot find a place for herself in all of it. The closer she gets to Brangien, pining for her lost love Isolde, Lancelot, fighting to prove her worth as Queen’s knight, and Arthur, everything to everyone and thus never quite enough for Guinevere–the more she realizes how empty she is. She has no sense of who she truly was before she was Guinevere. The more she tries to claim herself as queen, the more she wonders if Mordred was right: she doesn’t belong. She never will.

When a rescue goes awry and results in the death of something precious, a devastated Guinevere returns to Camelot to find the greatest threat yet has arrived. Not in the form of the Dark Queen or an invading army, but in the form of the real Guinevere’s younger sister. Is her deception at an end? And who is she really deceiving–Camelot, or herself?

Review

The Camelot Betrayal is the sequel to The Guinevere Deception and was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Much like it’s predecessor this book was a 4 star book for me. I really enjoyed it overall, and I am excited to read the next book in the series. Much like TGD it is a slow paced book filled with characters slowing learning, and finding themselves. There are a few moments of action in this book that breaks up the slower paced character driven portions. I love a good character driven story, and so this book really fills my needs in that regard.

Guinevere is back as Queen in this one, and still struggling with Arthur and their relationship. If you know the story of Camelot, you know what happens, but I like White’s take on their relationship, even if Arthur is a little boring (for my tastes!). Is he too good? Too modest? I don’t know. But Arthur of all the characters, does not stand out so strongly. Is this intentional? I don’t know, all I know is that I am intrigued by her relationship with Arthur.

Guinevere and Lancelot. Another relationship that is…interesting. And I can’t really talk about Arthur without Lancelot and in this book Mordred as well. Guinevere has a complicated relationship with the three of them, and it seems they are all poised to be her love interests. <s>I know exactly who I would pick for her to end up with…</s> Anyways I love how we are given these relationships because I loved watching them play out. They were some of the most delightful aspects of the the book.

Other delightful relationships is Guinevere’s friendship with Brangien, which I loved. There are so many moments between them that are delightful. I love female friendships, and I love how this one was depicted in this book. It was nice to see that even with the romance portion there was a good amount dedicated to her friendship.

As I mentioned earlier the plot in this book was heavily focused on still trying to find out who she was (being more character driven) and what is going on with her memories and Merlin. A bit more is revealed in this book, and I am so excited for the third to see what new secrets will be revealed! We also see Guinevere taking more action in this one versus the first and her struggle with that. There were some amazing moments in here.

That ending though!!!!

White’s writing is still one of my favorite things. There is something so readable about it, and so enchanting that it is easy to get lost in it. I absolutely cannot wait to own this book!

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Book Links

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Author Info

Bio

Kiersten White is the New York Times bestselling and Bram Stoker award-winning author of the And I Darken trilogy, the Paranormalcy trilogy, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, Slayer, The Guinevere Deception, and many other novels. Kiersten lives with her family in sunny San Diego, California, where she perpetually lurks in the shadows.

Links

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Tour Schedule

To see the rest of the tour schedule please click here!

Giveaway

Finished copy of The Camelot Betrayal. The giveaway ends on November 16th.

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Author: Kiersten White
Series: Slayers
Series #: 1
Genre: paranormal/supernatural
Age Group: young adult
ARC?: yes

Nina and her twin sister, Artemis, are far from normal. It’s hard to be when you grow up at the Watcher’s Academy, which is a bit different from your average boarding school. Here teens are trained as guides for Slayers—girls gifted with supernatural strength to fight the forces of darkness. But while Nina’s mother is a prominent member of the Watcher’s Council, Nina has never embraced the violent Watcher lifestyle. Instead she follows her instincts to heal, carving out a place for herself as the school medic.

Until the day Nina’s life changes forever.

Thanks to Buffy, the famous (and infamous) Slayer that Nina’s father died protecting, Nina is not only the newest Chosen One—she’s the last Slayer, ever. Period.

As Nina hones her skills with her Watcher-in-training, Leo, there’s plenty to keep her occupied: a monster fighting ring, a demon who eats happiness, a shadowy figure that keeps popping up in Nina’s dreams…

But it’s not until bodies start turning up that Nina’s new powers will truly be tested—because someone she loves might be next.

One thing is clear: Being Chosen is easy. Making choices is hard.

Review

Nina and her sister are part of the Watchers. The group that Buffy has had a falling out with multiple times. Nina suddenly finds herself a Slayer – -the last Slayer and she has all problems that go along with it. But she must learn to use them quickly, or those she loves can be danger.

Into every generation a Slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a Chosen One. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons and forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.

Ever iconic: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There isn’t quite anything like it that resounds with so many people. It dealt with growing up issues, family, relationships and a greater evil. It was a staple for a lot of people. Which means, people are going to be very critical of anything based off of it. That was me: I was very nervous about this book. So much so that I kept putting off reading it. And putting it off. Because how can anyone do Buffy justice? Buffy is Buffy! It wasn’t until I began reading some of White’s other works that I got the nerve to read Slayer.

Darkness was the great equalizer. Everyone was the same in the dark. Colorless. Featureless.

I’m glad that it didn’t feature Buffy. I think if it had, it would have been totally different and wouldn’t have worked. Instead, we get a book following Athena “Nina” and her twin sister Artemis. (Besides the point but I love the names.) This apparently takes place after the comics. I’ve never read them so I was a little bit lost at some points. Overall, any references to the TV show like “William the Blood” and Kendra I understood. I really do think anyone reading this needs to have seen the show. So much of this book relies on Buffy’s past and the Watchers Council.

Her face is like looking in a mirror — if that mirror were a prophecy of who I’d be in another life.

I enjoyed the plot. It was very similar to what we got in the TV show. Full of comedy but also serious parts as well. The balance of it was done really well. I think that it hit the right spot for what I remember Buffy as. It was also nostalgic, vampires, demons, hellmouths, what more could you want? Nothing honestly. This tripped all the good nostalgia parts for me.

And I hate none of them as much as I hate Buffy.

I like Nina too, because it was so interesting seeing her feelings on Buffy and her irritation at her. I really loved Nina’s point of view on it. Buffy is beloved, but to other characters she really might not be because of all the problems she caused. But Nina also has a journey of her own, and it was a lovely one that we were able to follow through the whole book.

“Yeah, your skin condition got all over my shirt and my hair when I carried you in here.”

And of course, we have mentions of old character favorites. But none of them really play a part in this novel. It generally sticks to mostly “new” characters which helps breathe new life into this series.

Finally, White is a talented writer. White makes the world come alive in her own way, and her style works really well with this book and Buffy in general. I was impressed overall with this book, and it hit the spot for me!

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Author: Kiersten White
Series: Camelot Rising
Series #: 1
Genre: fantasy
Age Group: young adult
ARC?: no

There was nothing in the world as magical and terrifying as a girl.

Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur. With magic clawing at the kingdom’s borders, the great wizard Merlin conjured a solution–send in Guinevere to be Arthur’s wife . . . and his protector from those who want to see the young king’s idyllic city fail. The catch? Guinevere’s real name–and her true identity–is a secret. She is a changeling, a girl who has given up everything to protect Camelot.

To keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old–including Arthur’s own family–demand things continue as they have been, and the new–those drawn by the dream of Camelot–fight for a better way to live. And always, in the green hearts of forests and the black depths of lakes, magic lies in wait to reclaim the land. Arthur’s knights believe they are strong enough to face any threat, but Guinevere knows it will take more than swords to keep Camelot free.

Deadly jousts, duplicitous knights, and forbidden romances are nothing compared to the greatest threat of all: the girl with the long black hair, riding on horseback through the dark woods toward Arthur. Because when your whole existence is a lie, how can you trust even yourself?

Review

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, I received an eArc of this book in exchange for a honest review.

I love Kiersten White’s Conqueror Series, it was brilliantly written, and so I was so excited to be able to read The Guinevere Deception, because I have always loved King Arthur legends. And on top of that, White’s last retelling was fabulous! So I was extremely excited for this one. What made it even more exciting is that White turned the tale on its head and changed some parts – and I will go over that briefly in this review.

I want to start with White’s writing. This book was still top-notch writing. There is something so evocative in White’s language, she is such a great storyteller, and the Arthurian Legends are really something that needs to be told well, and she does it! She uses such description and such feeling for her characters you can’t help but believe that this world she is describing was real at one point. I kept getting lost in the pages, and I was very much unwilling to put the book down. She lures you in and keeps you with this writing!

Now, this is a heads up. You may think this book is going to be action packed with battles and adventures galore: it is not. This book is about more than the action and adventures. It is from Guinevere’s point of view, and so she misses a lot of the action with Arthur. This doesn’t mean she doesn’t have adventures – she does. There are a few in this book. But don’t think of this like an epic saga, because it isn’t. This is more like her slow build Conqueror Series with politics going on. If that isn’t your thing, you’ll need to be prepared, because this book is very focused on characters and the choices they make. I happen to like that kind of thing, so this book was perfect to me.

Speaking of characters, I liked Guinevere. She wasn’t your typical Guinevere from the legends. She was given agency, and overall she was a strong character, but did have flaws. I enjoyed how she was changed from the original Guinevere of legend – she was a sorceress in this one. I’m not going to say anything else on that as I want people who read this to be surprised by Guinevere just like I was! It was so much fun to read this Guinevere. In some ways she reminded me of Guinevere from “Merlin” and while this wasn’t exactly like that, it did mix up the characters quite a bit as well.

I also loved the Patchwork Knight. LOVED. LOVED. I’m not saying anything else (but I guessed it at the beginning!) but this book was also totally worth it because of that. Seriously amazing.

But so were the other characters, Mordred, Tristan, Brangien and Arthur. They were all great characters, and were somewhat different than their legend counterparts! It was all very enjoyable!

The plot itself is a little difficult to explain without giving away too much, but essentially it dumps the legends on its head, takes what it wants, reworks it and makes it awesome. Guinevere must essentially navigate Arthur’s court, and pretend she doesn’t have magic or risk being banished. As Queen she begins to learn that not everything in Arthur’s court is perfect. And she must protect him and Camelot from destruction. Or so she thinks.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I think it is going to be an interesting series, and I am excited to see what comes next!

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