Title:The Camelot Betrayal
Author: Kiersten White
Site Twitter Instagram
Genre: Fantasy | YA | Retelling
Length: 384 pages
Published: Nov 10th 2020
Goodreads link
Get the book here:
Amazon B&N BookDep Indigo Indiebound
Synopsis:
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?
Welcome to my stop on the TBR and Beyond tour! I am so excited to finally talk about this book. First of all you can find more info about the tour here. There are a lot of awesome bloggers writting so many creative posts so be sure to check it out.
Also, Spoiler alert for Guinevere Deception, if you want to hear my spoiler-free thoughts about the first book you can find the review here.
Review:
First of all this book was supposed to bring me closure, answers, and peace!! Well not really, I am well aware that this is the second installment in a trilogy and the point is to make you want to read the third book, and oh boy it did.
While the story keeps the same formula we saw in Guinevere Deception, with a slow-burning beginning and absolutely explosive ending, but this time around the dangers looming outside and inside of Camelot so much more real and present. The story doesn’t feel like a filler at all, a fault that I see too often in the middle book of a trilogy, but gives a fake sense of closure by answering some of the questions I had through the first book, like who is Guinevere and who are her parents, but at the same time bringing out even bigger question.
I love that the story mostly focuses on character development, we see more of Mordred and his true intentions and reasoning behind the betrayal from book one. He is such an excellent example of a good character doing something bad, but with good intentions. On the other side of the spectrum, you have Merlin, an asshole doing a terrible thing that has actually good results. I hope to see “the end justifies the means” philosophy explored more in the last book. I am not at all mad that the story is not centered around Merin, even if he is the one that put all the pieces in move, but around all these other people that have to live with the consequences of his actions. when some of them, like Guinevere and Arthur, saw him as a father figure and mentor.
My favorite part of the whole story was probably the relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere. They are both outsiders, women trying to make themselves heard in a patriarchal world. I’ve never been so happy for a gender-bender character because it just adds a new layer to their relationship, a way they understand each other’s struggles and something else to bring them close together.
The cliffhanger killed me, and I am already waiting impatiently for the conclusion of this trilogy.
4/5 stars
And now for the fun part, I present to you my top 5 reasons to read The Camelot Betrayal (it’s more for the whole series actually)
- Mordred
That’s it. Just Mordred, in his full sarcastic glory, is enough of a reason to pick up this series. - Grey Characters
Have you ever wished for a villain that you kind of root for? or a hero that has to make very questionable choices?? Then look no more, this is the book you. - Love triangle
It’s so hard to find a good love triangle nowadays, but this one is so well balanced that you kind of root for everyone, and honestly I can get behind any pair that becomes canon. Except for Isolde and Brangien, nobody touches my babies. - Organic Magic
I love a good magic system, and let’s be honest: who doesn’t? The magic in this universe comes with a price, from simple material components to blood magic. This is my favorite kind of magic, it just makes everything more realistic (well as realistic as magic can be). - Covers
I know this is a little bit dumb if you are not as crazy for a pretty cover as I am, but the sole reason I picked up The Guinevere Deception in the first place was because of the cover. And the cover for The Camelot betrayal is equally stunning.
About the Author:
Kiersten White is the New York Times bestselling and Bram Stoker award-winning author of the AndI 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.
The Booksnom 
One thought on “Book Review – The Camelot Betrayal”