BLOG TOUR: The Camelot Betrayal – Kiersten White (ARC Review)

Welcome to my stop on the The Camelot Betrayal book tour! Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours for organizing the tour and allowing me to participate as a tour host!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: The Camelot Betrayal (Camelot Rising #2)
Author: Kiersten White
Release: November 10, 2020
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Genre: YA Fantasy

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?

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REVIEW

ARC provided by Random House Children’s through NetGalley.

The Camelot Betrayal takes place shortly after the events of the end of The Guinevere Deception and it was surprising how easily I was able to fall back into the world of Camelot and this story. This book focused a lot on Guinevere and her character development and I was 100% here for it.

Guinevere continues to struggle to figure out how she belongs in Camelot and her place as Queen. Throughout The Camelot Betrayal, she has to make tough decisions and she ends up questioning herself, especially when it came to the use of her magic. Character-driven books are either hit or miss for me, but since I was so invested in Guinevere I absolutely loved the focus on her growth.

Another aspect of the story with a heavy focus is Guinevere’s background, thanks to the arrival of Guinevach, the real Guinevere’s sister. New pieces of information are revealed and speculated upon, but nothing is confirmed. Guinevere’s background is one of the thing’s that intrigues me the most so I was hoping for more concrete information, however, even with the small crumbs we were given I was happy that I had guessed one of those pieces correctly. I’m really looking forward to learning the whole picture in the next book!

I know I’m in the minority with this opinion, but I really loved Guinevere’s budding romance with Arthur! Maybe it’s because I was never a fan of Mordred, but I found it to be very sweet and realistic. There is clearly a lot of respect, trust, and friendship already between theme, and the spark of desire that has now been flamed was perfect. I don’t believe they’re without flaws and I’m not sure if I even believe they’ll actually fan into anything more, but a girl can dream!

For the most part, the plot was pretty forward moving. There were a few spots where it seemed to slow down too much for my liking, but it picked back up pretty quickly afterward. I will admit that I had expect a bit more action-wise regarding the Dark Queen and magic and struggled to find the “main plotline” for this book. Once I came to terms that there really wasn’t more going on other than important character development for Guinevere and other smaller plots involving beloved side characters, I was able to move past my reservations and enjoy this more fully.

The Camelot Betrayal was an excellent installment for this series and continued to be full of all the Arthurian folklore I love. The story is more focused on Guinevere’s character growth than anything, but it was all beautifully written. I cannot wait for the third book!

★ ★ ★ ½

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kiersten White is the New York Times bestselling and Bram Stoker aware-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. She lives with her family in sunny San Diego, California, where she perpetually lurks in the shadows.