The Bright Sword

A Novel of King Arthur

De: Lev Grossman

Narrado por: Nicholas Guy Smith, Lev Grossman

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A New York Times Editors’ Choice • The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Magicians Trilogy returns with a triumphant reimagining of the King Arthur legend for the new millennium

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, NPR, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, VANITY FAIR, TIME, OPRAH DAILY, TOWN & COUNTRY, ELLE, VOX, PASTE, LIT HUB, POLYGON, KIRKUS REVIEWS

“Lev Grossman’s The Bright Sword stands out as the best fantasy of the year.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Grossman, who is best known for his The Magicians series, is at the top of his game with The Bright Sword.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A thrilling new take on Arthurian legend. . . . Marvelous.” —The Washington Post

“If you love King Arthur as much as I do, you’ll love Lev Grossman’s The Bright Sword, a fresh and engrossing take on the Matter of Britain featuring a colorful cast of Round Table knights who don’t often get as much story time as they deserve. The creator of The Magicians has woven another spell.” —George R. R. Martin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Game of Thrones

A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a place at the Round Table, only to find that he’s too late. King Arthur died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table are left.

The survivors aren’t the heroes of legend like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Table, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight, and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill.

But it's up to them to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance, even as God abandons Britain and the fairies and old gods return, led by Morgan le Fay. They must reclaim Excalibur and make this ruined world whole again—but first they'll have to solve the mystery of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell.

The first major Arthurian epic of the new millennium, The Bright Sword is steeped in tradition, complete with duels and quests, battles and tournaments, magic swords and Fisher Kings. It's also a story about imperfect men and women, full of strength and pain, trying to reforge a broken land in spite of being broken themselves.©2024 Lev Grossman (P)2024 Penguin Audio

A new twist on King Arthur

I have read & listened to many many books on King Arthur. This by far was the most entertaining and the most original King Arthur story I've encountered! It has elements of some really old and accurate information that pertains to his story, plus loads of fun bits & bobs that will make you laugh out loud! Don't hesitate on this one, it's a gem!

Absolutely PERFECT!

I’m sure I would have enjoyed the hard copy just as much, but the narration is fabulous. A real treat!

Wonderful

A rollicking adventure that I could not stop listening to. The author does a wonderful job breaking the main narrative up with chapters reveling important facts about each character.

Meh

Lots of good things but I struggled to care or stay awake. I loved the magicians but the large ensemble of characters in this one and a rather oafish main character who didn’t really transform in a meaningful way except he got good at fighting.

Great for Newcomers into Arthurian legends

as someone that only has knowledge of Arthurian legends from various media from the last decade and a half this was a great read

An old favorite in a new shiny coat

I enjoyed the retelling of the ancient tales with carefully chosen modern themes and word choices. Mr Grossman takes the ideas of self worth, chosen identity and spiritual and religious complexities, personal quests and ego struggles into “Great Arthur’s” milieu with wit and dexterity. Thank you for an enjoyable and more current version of these tales!

Brilliant continuation

I’m not a big fantasy person. I also never cared much for medieval tales. However I grew up with the Disneyfied versions of King Arthur and Robin Hood - so my familiarity with both helps to make them the exception. This being my first book of King Arthur I’ve experienced, I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve like Grossman’s Magicians trilogy and this flows much like those books do, albeit with a more likable protagonist in Collum. I cannot wait to see what Lionsgate does with the television rights.

Poor editing

Long winded and circuitous weaving of Arthurian legend with many nuggets of diver or gold.

Rambling

The story has no continuity. It just rambles along from short story to short story. It has very little depth.

Basically fantasy/sci fi

This takes a while to get interesting and even then it becomes really preachy and tedious at times. I also cannot understand why every character sounds like an 60-year-old man. And Collum has to be one of the most annoying figures in modern literature. Having said all that, it’s a good story and all of the plot lines get resolved in the end, so it was not time wasted,