This retelling of the legend of King Arthur’s court is not just the perfect summer read; it is the perfect read for any season. Lev Grossman, who wrote the Magicians Trilogy, which followed the adventures of teenage sorcerer Quentin Coldwater, has a brilliant knack for creating credible fantasy. How the author manages to make a young knight named Collum seeking a seat at the Round Table as relatable as a college grad looking for a dream first job is its own magic trick. The story of King Arthur is 1,400 years old, and it is a testament to Grossman’s talent that he makes the tale as fresh as the morning dew in Camelot.
The classical world has so often been defined by Pericles, Alexander, the Caesars, and other men that its women are frequently treated as sideshows or as only part of a couple. (Cleopatra, meet Antony.) What Daisy Dunn has accomplished is to adjust the camera slightly, so the men are not excluded but the women come into sharper focus. Sappho, Octavia (wife of Nero), and Cornelia (wife of Tiberius Gracchus and mother of two famed sons, Tiberius and Gaius) are just a few of the historical figures brought to life in this fine and entertaining book. What better way to prepare for the Paris Olympics than to celebrate Cynisca, a Spartan princess who in the fourth century B.C. became the first woman to win at the Olympics. The charioteer was a man, but she trained and owned the horses.
Much has been written about the Western Front during World War I (including by Nick Lloyd himself, whose first volume in his planned trilogy was published in 2021) but shockingly little about the battlefields that claimed millions of lives in both the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires. The front line was far longer in the East than in the trench warfare in the West, so warfare was more traditional, with calvary charges and dramatic maneuvers. And the civilian population was at much greater risk, with Jews especially targeted. Lloyd is a graceful writer who wears his considerable scholarship lightly, and his narrative skill is such that he makes the Battle of Caporetto, which pitted Italian forces against those of the Central Powers, as thrilling as any account of Verdun.
Jim Kelly is the Books Editor at AIR MAIL
