Lev Grossman dives into Arthurian myth via a simple premise: what if you showed up just as the party is over? The story begins by following Collum, a young man from the Isle of Mull in Scotland, as he travels to Camelot to pledge his sword to King Arthur. Only Arthur…isn’t there. Neither is Merlin. Instead he meets some of the members of the Round Table, and the story takes off.
Along the way Grossman ponders what it means to be a knight while expanding and reshaping the story around various knights. As with his Magicians trilogy I found the supporting characters much more interesting that Collum, but I’m starting to think that’s maybe how Grossman works, using a straight white guy as a narrative McGuffin. I’m still deciding how well that worked for me. When it ended I was glad for the journey, but not necessarily hungry for more. Instead I had the urge to reread Nicola Griffith’s Spear, Hild, and Menewood.