Gawain & Lady Green by Ann Eliot Crompton

GENRE

YA Fantasy / Arthurian Legend / Fairytale Retelling (214 pgs.)

SYNOPSIS

Gwyneth wasn't supposed to fall in love with Gawain. Not like this. Gawain was the May King--a sacrifice offered to the Goddess for a bountiful harvest in return. Gwyneth knows this. His fate has been decided by powers beyond her control. But the warmth of his touch and the taste of his lips have blurred the lines of what she knows to be true. Now Gwyneth is willing to risk everything to keep Gawain alive, even if it means losing him forever...

MY REVIEW

I was excited when I first found this read in my local Border's. Arthurian legend? Check. Fairytale retelling? Check. Two of my favorite genres all bundled up in to one package? Yes please.

I really should have said no thanks.

This book was far from good. Even to say it was just okay is a stretch. Here's why.

The dialogue throughout the novel was clipped and devoid of meaning. After reading for a while, the character's dialogue actually became annoying to me. It had no real flow, no real meaning; it was just kind of there, you know? It just didn't go anywhere.

The characters were really poorly written. At the end of the novel, I felt myself not caring for a single one of the characters. Crompton didn't succeed in getting my sympathy for the plight of her raggamuffin characters. Neither Gawain nor Lady Green captured my imagination or my heart. There was absolutely no backstory, and without seeing where these characters had been, I couldn't possibly imagine where they could be going.

The plot skipped around everywhere! I was so confused reading this book. It wasn't until the end of the book that I really got a small sense of what was going on, and even then, I didn't care. It wasn't important to me. The whole opening of the book in media res really did not work at all.

Setting was nondescript. Definitely nothing special in that department either.

There was just no feeling in this novel. It was just an empty shell. Nothing captured my attention, or made me want to keep reading.

All in all, not a good read. In the back of the book, there was an "Coming Soon" add for another book by Crompton called Percival's Angel. I just cringed at the thought of having to read another butchering of Arthurian legend again.

MY RATING

1.5*/*