Return to Shalott

Shalott #2

by Felicity Pulman

Against her better judgment, Callie is persuaded to re-enter her father's virtual reality program in order to save the life of Howell's friend. But instead of reversing recent events, Callie, her sister El and their friends Stephen and Howell find themselves back in Camelot. Just as they meet up with their old friend Lev, Sir Bors' squire is thrown from a horse and dies. Accident - or the result of two Howells confronting each other across the centuries?
With Howell now blaming himself for two deaths, the teenagers become caught up in all the danger and intrigue marking the last days of Camelot. Callie's courage is tested to the limit as Morgan le Fay uses her terrifying dark arts to keep her from her true love, Lancelot, while Guinevere resorts to cunning and deceit in her determination to win Lancelot and conceive with him an heir for Camelot. Desperate to keep the ancient faith alive at court, Guinevere invokes the help of the Mother Goddess - and pays the penalty when the Christian Arthur sentences her to burn, along with the 'pagans', El and Stephen. It's up to the teenagers to find a way to save themselves (and Guinevere) from death as they realise that Camelot is doomed, and that Callie will lose Lancelot for ever.
As in 'Shalott', once again Australian teenagers interact with characters and events detailed in Malory's 'Le Morte d'Arthur', giving new insight into an old legend while also exploring issues of concern to teenagers today.

Genres: Arthurian, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Fantasy

Paperback

First published May 3, 2002

About the author

I grew up (a long time ago!) in a small bush town in Africa. No TV, iPods, computer games and surfing the internet – you could say I had a very deprived childhood! Not so. Instead, for entertainment I learned to read. Books became my windows to the world: they told me about dragons and fairies and magic. They told me about other countries and other cultures. They told me about myself. And I have never stopped reading, because I love stories.

I guess I always did things back to front – the hard way! In Africa, when I ran out of books to read, I wrote my own. I love writing stories, but I never thought about it as a grownup occupation. As a grownup, I had to go back to school to find out that I really was a writer. After doing the HSC at the age of 40, I went on to do a BA (Communications) degree at UTS. My major was creative writing, and suddenly I found myself experimenting with all sorts of genres and, in particular, writing the sorts of stories that I love to read – crime and timeslip fantasy back into the past.

Reviews

[Arthurianmaiden · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second novel of the series, so I'll still hold my judgment (my third novel review will be a general review).
Still, while I liked some parts of it (the idea of twins, a little more backstory for El and Callie, Morgana and Mordred), it felt rushed and already seen. The plot is the same. It's as if nothing happened before because they still end up in Camelot and they still want Callie to make Lancelot love her to stop Camlann.
Too many characters with hardly enough development and I couldn't care enough for them.
And... the age. This is pedophilia. These guys are teenagers. TEENAGERS. They go to school. It's written on the blurb and still no one has nothing to say about Callie seducing Lancelot and Lancelot being all romantic towards her, cuddling, Callie wanting to marry him. She is 15-16 and he is at least 30 (as he had already Galahad who already died. Even if Galahad died young, and even if Lancelot had him very young, he is at least 15 years older than Callie). Even Guinevere always comments how Callie is so young and lovely. I'm appalled.

[Zeal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but never picks up, same pace, a bit slow.

[Mariana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 2,5 ⭐️

This book was actually a disappointment for me.

Plot

Does Lev still reside in Camelot, or did he perish in the Tower fire? Can El endure the famine? Can Callie reverse a fatality, or will she bring forth another? Will Callie be successful in her mission to woo Lancelot and so restore Camelot, or will Guinevere fulfill her wish to produce a child and an heir to the throne? In the second book, Morgan uses her deadly magic to ensure that the teenagers are caught in the middle of the conflict between the Old Ways and the newly Christian court's ideals.

The plot was the same as the previous book. Callie and her friends go back to Camelot to try and change the legend. There's nothing new with this book and the pacing here wasn't the best, this book drags a lot in the middle and sometimes I found myself bored.

Characters

Callie is so annoying. I hate her POV and I really can't stand her. I thought Lev would have an interesting role, but he didn't, the same for Stephen (although I like him). El was actually one of my favorite characters.

In terms of the medieval characters, Guinevere was good, I liked her and her description as well as Lancelot, but Arthur, Morgana and Mordred weren't really developed.

Writing

Again, I can't say that the writing is bad, but I just don't like it so much.

World-Building

It's the second book and I still confuse about the computer program and how does that work. I just have so many questions in this part, for example, Morgana (how can she travel between the worlds?). I hope I have some answers in the last novel.

Romance

I have a huge problem here and is the fact that Callie is in love with Lancelot. So, Callie is in high school, so she is like 16, but Lancelot is at least thirty. I mean, WHAT? Seriously? I hated that part so much. I kinda like the way the relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere was portrayed, however, I wish the author would spend more time with them.

Final Thoughts

I really hope the third book and last book of this trilogy is better than this sequel.

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

So as soon as I finished the first book in this series, Shalott, I had to move onto the second one. I must say I enjoyed this. I liked the continuation and the introduction of a few new characters, Hal and Magrit. I was hanging for finding out more about what was going to happen between Lancelot and Callie if she would change the legend. I must say my heart broke with Callie when she didn't end up changing the legend and Lancelot stayed with Guinevere.

So I shall move onto the third and last book in this series and see what happens next.