The Magic of Camelot

by Gabrielle Gilkison

Isabel is a natural-born witch, chosen to be the bride of Mordred, the illegitimate son of King Arthur and his half-sister Morgause. As the wife of the king’s only son, a member of the powerful Orkney Clan, and the apprentice of the mysterious Merlin, Isabel finds herself constantly in the middle of everything, whether she wills it or not. From the death of the Lady of the Lake, to Lancelot and Guinevere’s affair, and even Galahad’s drawing of the sword from the stone, she finds herself drawn into the intricate web of court politics and personal vendettas that abound in Camelot. Through it all there are only two her irrational and obsessive love for the unpredictable Mordred, and her resolute desire to keep and build upon her magic power, even at the expense of her own happiness. Neither a meek damsel in distress, nor a feminist would-be warrior woman, Isabel is really an ordinary woman in extraordinary circumstances, in a time when only men are allowed to shine. As she becomes older and wiser, she takes Merlin’s place at Arthur’s side, becoming embroiled in the Grail Quest and ultimately, the fall of Camelot. Central to the plot are her relationships with members of the Arthurian Mordred and his brothers Gawain, Gaheris, Gareth and Agravain; Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere; enchanters such as Morgan le Fey, Morgause and Merlin; and stalwart knights including Balin, Bors, Percival and Galahad – and many others besides. This book is written in the first person, and gives an interesting twist on many of the Arthurian legends, seeing them through the eyes of a woman who is mostly outside of the various factions. It provides a creative means of explaining the conflicting versions that abound in Arthurian literature, essentially that certain memories were altered in the survivors of the Battle of Camlann. This story has been extensively researched to make it as historically accurate as possible, with clothing, food, weapons and entertainment all authentic for the time period. Each and every name in the book was taken from a legend about Camelot, down to household servants and squires, and even dogs! Only Isabel is unique and is found nowhere in the legends that abound about Camelot – and that is actually the premise of the story itself. In a time when fantasy and Arthurian literature and movies are very popular, and with the new King Arthur movie coming out, this story will stand out as a distinctive look at that most famous of legends.

Genres: Arthurian

676 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2003

About the author

Gabrielle lives in Omaha, Nebraska. She has received a Master’s Degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Currently, she teaches at several area universities as an adjunct professor. An avid reader, she has special interests in history and historical fantasies, as well as in science and science fiction. The subject of Camelot has been an obsession for nearly twenty years.

Reviews

[Mariana · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 ⭐️

The Magic of Camelot was an arthurian retelling that I was excited to read, but unfortunately I didn't liked it as much as I thought I would.

Plot

Basically the plot is the arthurian legend as we know, with some twists. Here the main character is a character invented by the author. Her is Isabel and she is Mordred's wife.

I love the legend about King Arthur and his Knights, so of course I liked the plot. The problem here was the characters.

Characters

For me the most important thing in the book are the characters. If I don't like them, if I don't care for them, it would be really hard for me to enjoy the story and the book. This was exactly the case.

I didn't like Isabel at all. She was so annoying, stupid and really judgmental. Isabel is the perfect woman, beautiful, with powers, loyal to her husband. However, the other women are completely stupid, selfish, bad. Apart from Vivien, I think all the other women were bad.

I didn't like how she portrayed Lancelot and Guinevere and even Arthur was just there for the most part. Mordred could have been interesting, but the way the author portrays him inside Isabel's head was bad, I didn't like him.

Writing

The writing wasn't exactly bad. I found a few typos in my edition, but I think the main problem here was the fact that the book was a lot of telling and not showing. For example, for the most part of the book we are told that Isabel and Mordred are absolutely in love with each other, that they were soulmates. Unfortunately, I never saw that portrayed in the book.

World-Building

The world-building was good. I like how she portrayed people's lives and Arthur's struggle with the kingdom. The magic system was fine.

Romance

The main romance was Mordred and Isabel. The reader gets some glimpses of Lancelot and Guinevere, but because this book is from Isabel's perspective, the main romance is between her and her husband.

I don't like them as a couple. It's very difficult to cheer for them. I think they were so toxic together.

Final Thoughts

If you are a fan of King Arthur, you could probably give this a chance. It wasn't my cup of tea, but maybe you can like it.

[Nicole Ambers]

The only good thing about this waste of ink & trees, is that it has been written a million other different ways. How I inderstand the love for the era, but lets stop writing it the same way , a half a million times.

Assuming the book is used for an 8th grade book report, skip the gruelling read & just buy the cliff notes. If someone actually gave you this waste of time as a cruel joke, then sift through the book quickley and then you will have the idea, just like the million other books that are wrote about this book,

C/mon lets stop killing trees!