Book Review: The Knights of Camelot Search for a New King in ‘The Shining Sword’ by Lev Grossman

A rudderless nation, lost in uncertainty, searches for its next commander in chief. There is an uneasy feeling that the country’s glory days have passed and that a monumental turning point in history is approaching – for better or worse. How do you find a leader to unite such a fractured and polarized land?

This is the restless world of Arthurian England in “The Bright Sword,” the new novel by Lev Grossman. The story begins with Collum, a poor orphan who escapes an abusive home and flees to Camelot with nothing but stolen armor and a dream of serving King Arthur as a knight of the Round Table. Just one problem: King Arthur is dead.

There are only a few remains of the Round Table left and no one has any idea who the next king will be. The theme of an anxious nation searching for a leader when no one has a clear mandate to govern gives the novel a distinctly modern sense of anguish. Wouldn’t it be a lot easier if we could have each candidate try to pull a sword from a stone and get it over with?

Despite his poor timing, Collum presses forward in his quest to join what’s left of the Round Table. He has pinned all his hopes on the idea of ​​Camelot, on the idea that he can be a hero among this glorious brotherhood of legendary knights.

However, the heroes of this book are largely embittered and broken men. Each knight in the story’s grand ensemble is given his own story in the form of a few flashback chapters, offering a tantalizing glimpse into how his past with Arthur shaped his hopes for England’s future.

However, most characters have little development beyond their brief backstories, so few knights stand out as truly compelling or memorable characters. The most interesting member of Camelot’s court is Nimue, a formidable sorceress and former apprentice of Merlin, who doesn’t provide the most glowing reviews of her former mentor.

In Grossman’s England, dueling factions compete not only for the throne of the kingdom, but also for their own identity: will this be the ancient pagan Britain, full of fairy magic, or a Christian Britain, loyal to only one God? ? This battle for the soul of a nation is a powerful theme, but Grossman sometimes gets too drawn out with clumsy monologues as characters ponder important questions about God, politics, and destiny.

The most exciting scenes are those in which the characters take action. Grossman’s strength is his deep attention to detail in battle scenes, where each blow or parry illuminates a character’s psychology.

The mix of boldness and desperation that Collum throws into any duel shows that he is fighting not only to beat his opponent, but to prove that the identity he stole is real. If he can prove he is a hero, his childhood suffering will have some meaning.

The quest to find a new king also involves creating meaning. A nation needs a founding story, some idea that unifies the people – even if that story is fiction.

Elevating politics to an ideal, however, also has its dangers. As a mysterious spirit warns: “One day you will see that it is a mistake to love an empire, or a throne, or a crown, because you cannot love these things. They can only die.”

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