DNF Early Review – The Camelot Betrayal (Camelot Rising Trilogy, Book 2) by Kiersten White (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: November 10, 2020
ISBN-13 : 978-0525581710
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Camelot Rising Trilogy
Source: eGalley from Netgalley.com
Rating: 3/5 stars
“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 the people around her–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?”
Series Info/Source: This is the second book in the Camelot Rising Trilogy. I got a copy of this book through NetGalley to review.
Story (2/5): I only read the first 30% of the book. This had all the same issues present that I had with the first book in this series but worse. It’s slow and I just don’t like Guinevere as a character. The book starts off promising with Guinevere and Arthur going to the woods to fight magical trees sent from the Dark Queen…then things go downhill from there.
I am not sure where the story was trying to go, it kind of just wanders. We get to see Guinevere prepping to go to a wedding and see her dodge her sister. There is also a lot of her moping around the castle worrying about Arthur (who is a fairly oblivious jerk). I just didn’t like any of it and alternated between being bored and frustrated. I finally decided just to stop and read something else.
Characters (2/5): As mentioned above I just do not like Guinevere’s character. Too much time is spent on Guinevere’s internal dialogue and the “relationship” she has with Arthur is painful to read about because it’s just so awkward…Arthur is kind of a pain in the butt. The only character I enjoyed from the first book was Mordred and in the first 30% he is in the story very very little.
Setting (3/5): While I enjoyed the Camelot setting when it was introduced in the first book, very little is added to the setting in the first third of this book. It was fine, but definitely not intriguing, magical or engaging.
Writing Style (3/5): I am a huge Kiersten White fan but this series just isn’t for me. I was so-so about the first book in this series and this one was even worse. It is easy to read technically and the writing flows fine. However, the pacing and characterization need a lot of work. The story wanders too much and I don’t see a point to any of it. The characters were do get to spend time with are annoying and wishy washy.
My Summary (3/5): Overall this series is just not for me. It’s a neat idea and technically everything is readable. I just don’t think the story is paced very well and the decisions the characters make are mystifying. I alternated between being frustrated and bored with this book and finally decided to give up the struggle to read it. If you are a huge fan and don’t mind wandering stories you might really enjoy it. I just didn’t like it and decided to move onto something else (I have enough frustration this year…I don’t need to add to it).
