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I, Morgain
Six years after her life had ended, Morgain, King Arthur's half-sister, was subjected to unremitting calumny by the 'recorders of Arthurian History', beginning with Geoffregy of Monmouth and Sir Thomas Malory. For them and subsequent writers, Morgain was the thorn in Arthur's career, invariably described as sorceress, a troublemaker, envious and in short, as a woman of less than one dimension. Geoffrey and Malory wrote to entertain noblemen and the high clergy, who appreciated the implicit approval and encouragement of their status as men.
190 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 29, 2011
Like many fantasy nerds, I'm a big fan of all things Arthurian. Like many pseudo-goth dark fantasy fangirls who approach the world with a healthy dose of feminist rage, I am also a big fan of Morgan LeFay. I've been searching a long time for a really good book from Morgan's point of view in which she also retains her villainous role, something you don't see often in the post-Mists-of-Avalon landscape.
This is not that book.
Oh, it's definitely from her perspective, and she's definitely the villain. It's just that this book is, in no way shape or form, good. For starters, this Morgan suffers from the blandest form of insanity imaginable. She's mad, yes, but her madness has no depth, no character. It reads like an authorial excuse to have her just...do random things with no good reason. At the end of the book, I still had very little sense of who this Morgan was, other than "crazy"--no mean feat, as she's the exclusive first-person narrator.
The supporting characters around her are no richer. Merlin is a two-dimensional charlatan, Arthur a cardboard king. I'm fairly sure I was supposed to read Merlin's trickery as a critique, a demonstration that the "heroes" are in many ways just as questionable as the "villains" of any story. Considering Arthur is conceived when a wizard tricks a woman into thinking she's sleeping with her husband when in reality she's sleeping with the man who killed him, I'd say this is a pretty good body of legend for such an exploration. But in I, Morgain, all characters lack depth to begin with, making it near-impossible to play with contrast (or the lack of it). When no one has much of a discernible character, it becomes very difficult to think of anyone in relation to anyone else.
So I'm still waiting for my good Morgan-as-narrator-and-villain book. Who knows, maybe someday I'll find it. In the meantime, though, I figured I'd do a favor to all the other pseudo-goth dark fantasy fangirls with a healthy dose of feminist rage and a love of the ultimate fictional witch, and warn them off this one.
(Unless you want to make a drinking game out of all the faux-Olde-English sex terminology, that is. Then the book doesn't get any better, but at least you've started your weekend.)
This is not that book.
Oh, it's definitely from her perspective, and she's definitely the villain. It's just that this book is, in no way shape or form, good. For starters, this Morgan suffers from the blandest form of insanity imaginable. She's mad, yes, but her madness has no depth, no character. It reads like an authorial excuse to have her just...do random things with no good reason. At the end of the book, I still had very little sense of who this Morgan was, other than "crazy"--no mean feat, as she's the exclusive first-person narrator.
The supporting characters around her are no richer. Merlin is a two-dimensional charlatan, Arthur a cardboard king. I'm fairly sure I was supposed to read Merlin's trickery as a critique, a demonstration that the "heroes" are in many ways just as questionable as the "villains" of any story. Considering Arthur is conceived when a wizard tricks a woman into thinking she's sleeping with her husband when in reality she's sleeping with the man who killed him, I'd say this is a pretty good body of legend for such an exploration. But in I, Morgain, all characters lack depth to begin with, making it near-impossible to play with contrast (or the lack of it). When no one has much of a discernible character, it becomes very difficult to think of anyone in relation to anyone else.
So I'm still waiting for my good Morgan-as-narrator-and-villain book. Who knows, maybe someday I'll find it. In the meantime, though, I figured I'd do a favor to all the other pseudo-goth dark fantasy fangirls with a healthy dose of feminist rage and a love of the ultimate fictional witch, and warn them off this one.
(Unless you want to make a drinking game out of all the faux-Olde-English sex terminology, that is. Then the book doesn't get any better, but at least you've started your weekend.)
August 9, 2011
Read this right after Mist of Avalon, a hard act to follow, when I was on a Arthurian legends kick. It's a nice simple read that is very by the numbers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews