Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian
Published: July 6th 2021 by Ace
Review:
Myth: 4/5
I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before I started reading this that any retelling including the women of King Arthur’s story would be terribly tragic. I’m here to say that it is and it isn’t, Sebastian found the perfect line, as Elaine finds hers on which to dance with the fates of some of the most powerful female characters.
While Elaine, as the seer, controls the story narrative, I found myself drawn to Morgana. She was the ultimate expression of one of my favorite themes, what it takes to cross the line between hero and villain.
Magic: 4/5
In this reimagining, all the key women, Morgana, Elaine and Guinevere have magic. Lancelot has an inherent magic, being part fae, but the ‘powers’ really lie with the women. As referenced with Morgana’s story, I really enjoyed the look into what you should and shouldn’t do with magic, and it was Morgana, Elaine and Guinevere that got to decide.
Overall: 4/5
The storytelling was beautiful and I loved the interweaving of the present story timeline with all the future visions that Elaine was seeing along the way. It was a great way to tell a complicated story without having to linearly go through each characters conclusion. Don’t expect a lot of warm fuzzy romantic stories, but expect young women deciding what they are and are not willing to do to help Arthur take his throne and bring peace between the humans and fae.
