I really enjoyed this book! I like that the magical elements blend so well with the royalty aspect of an old English feel. I think one of the best things about this are the relationships Guinevere has with the different characters and it's interesting to see how they develop over time. I hope the next book is more plot driven, but I enjoyed this because it was more of a character driven novel!

As a fan of anything Arthurian since watching Quest for Camelot as a child, I was so, so excited to pick up a copy of The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White, and it did not disappoint. White managed to bring some new twists to the age old tale,

Princess Guinevere comes to Camelot with a single mission--protect Arthur at all costs, but she isn't actually a princess and she certainly isn't Guinevere. She's Merlin's daughter and she's there to ensure Arthur's safety with her knot magic, but there's a catch--magic is illegal in Arthur's Camelot. I really loved that we got to see the story from Guinevere's perspective as she's often not the center of any Arthurian stories. Her character growth from the beginning of the tale to the end is astounding. We see her transform from a naive girl in an unfamiliar world into a completely different person. Arthur wasn't my favorite as I felt he didn't add too much to the story--but that can all change in the next book. Lancelot might be my favorite part of the story as White took that character in a new, unexpected direction.

I think White really blows the readers away with the amount of twists she manages to fit in to this book. I will say the first half of this novel felt a bit mundane with Guinevere going about Camelot, watching duels, meeting people, trying to snuff out who was plotting against Arthur, but the second half felt like a completely different story. I don't want to reveal too much as I believe this book is best experienced when you don't know what you're getting into, but I think it is a fantastic start to a new series.

I give The Guinevere Deception four out of five stars for being an exciting entry into the Camelot Rising series. The magic. mystery, and unexpected twists make for an exciting Arthurian retelling anyone can enjoy. I highly recommend this book for fans of the legend, as well as anyone who is a fan of YA fantasy in general.

This was unique. I’m not a huge fan of Arthur retellings or anything King Arthur for that matter, but I liked this. Unique plot, fun characters, slow at times but just enough fun to keep me reading. Not 100% sure I will continue the series, however I might. I have liked other Kiersten White books and I will keep reading her as an author.

A great twist on the King Arthur legend. I enjoyed this book much more than her Conqueror's Saga series. I am very interested to see what happens in the sequel.

The Guinevere Deception was a bit of a disappointment. I loved Kiersten White's And I Darken series and The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein. I even liked her Buffy spin-off, Slayer, and I'm not really into all the TV / superhero book spin-offs. I just didn't love this one.

One of the big plot points in this book is that Guinevere cannot remember who she is exactly. Books with this "forgetting" trope drive me nuts, and this one was especially bad because the reveals, when they do come, are too little too late.

Another issue is that Guinevere is in Camelot to protect Arthur from some unknown threat, but, because she doesn't know what that threat is (can someone please just tell the girl something!), it feels like there is a lot of pointless wandering around the city.

In some ways this entire book felt like set-up for the next book in the series. Jury is still out as to whether or not I'm going to read the sequel.

I think I might have had too high of expectations for this book, but White doing a Arthurian retelling centered on Guinevere seemed a recipe for perfection.

This was a fantastic book, glad I was able to finally read it. Kiersten White pulls you into all of her stories and the world building is fantastic. I can't wait for the new one.

THE GUINEVERE DECEPTION by Kiersten White is a young adult novel about the characters in the Arthurian legends. The beginning of the story was intriguing and I hoped to find out how the deception came to be. That kept me reading, despite a pretty slow middle and too much emphasis on tying knots as a means of magic. The end did get a bit more exciting and effort was clearly evident in including diverse characters and in creating strong, brave female ones, but this title did not "sing" for me. I would instead recommend Graceling by Kristin Cashore or The Crystal Cave (and others) by Mary Stewart. In fairness, I should note that the public library placed THE GUINEVERE DECEPTION in the Junior High collection and Booklist recommends it for grades 7 to 10 so perhaps middle schoolers would be more enamored of this start to the Camelot Rising series, by a prolific and popular author.

I just finished ‘The Guinevere Deception’ by Kiersten White, and I’m still positively buzzing with how freaking GOOD it was. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I started this book, but wow did it exceed even my best expectations.

Ancient magic, deception, mystery, twists, gender defying roles (my favorite part), darkness, sacrifice...there are just so many amazing elements to TGD that, combined, make this one of my favorite reads in a long time.

I loved watching our queen Guinevere work to find her place in her new world, and in her own heart and mind. She grew so much, and I can’t wait to see what more becomes of her in the next book. The connections she forms throughout the story were truly the best. And this book shows the power, the fierceness of what it truly is to be female - in friendships, in women supporting women, in choosing the paths truest to them so bravely - and is what made TGD absolutely shine (and that’s saying a lot because there honestly is A LOT that makes ‘The Guinevere Deception’ so fantastic).

There were so many characters I loved throughout this journey, but I HAVE to give a special shoutout to The Patchwork Knight. I absolutely adored them!

‘The Guinevere Deception’ is the Arthurian legend we all know and love, in a way we’ve never seen it before, turned on its head, with Guinevere at the center this time. TGD tips its hat to its predecessor, then leaps out into the wilds of the world, of our imaginations, to become its very own epic tale. And I feel like this is just the tip of the iceberg! The anticipation I already have to dive right back into this universe is something tangibly alive. 😍

It’s a straight up 5 stars from me!

In case you can’t tell, I highly, HIGHLY recommend you read ‘The Guinevere Deception.’ ♥️

I found this reimagining of the tale of Camelot to be much more to my liking than the original......
I can't wait to find out what Guinevere truly is or how she came to be! I will definitely be reading the next book!

“I do think I have more value alive than dead, but I assume most people feel the same about themselves.”
I really liked Guinevere. Most protagonists are full of passion, of emotion, and righteous fire. But Guinevere is calm, single minded, and insanely sweet. She was raised in isolation, and so she’s almost like a child. She isn’t great at reading other people, nor does she know much about the world. All she knows is how to fight, and how to protect. This makes her a very nuanced and fresh character. Arthur is painted as a golden boy, yet Kiersten White still manages to pull out the difficulties of being allied with him. His nephew, Mordred, commiserates with Guinevere in a way that feels shockingly accurate. Still, at eighteen years old, Arthur will shortly be inducted into my teenage royalty hall of fame
It also feels like it’s been forever since I’ve read a fantasy novel, and I really enjoyed journeying through Camelot. I haven’t read much about Arthur and Merlin, but I liked this retelling. The magic in The Guinevere Deception was relatively easy to understand, but Guinevere isn’t some overpowered godsend. She struggles with magic a lot throughout the novel, both mentally and physically.
The plot is rather roundabout, but I’d call it meandering instead of twisting. Guinevere spends the whole book chasing down one dead end after another; when the actual villain presents themself, the book ends. Aside from that, there are a bunch of issues that are left unresolved at the end of the book. Overall, it felt more like a convenient stopping point than the end of anything. I’m not going to lie, this is one of my pet peeves. There was, however, a couple killer plot twists, so … I’m not that mad.
I found the synopsis of this book to be very confusing. I did not see the word “changeling” used anywhere in the novel, and I have no idea why it is used to describe Guinevere. I still have no idea who “the girl with the long black hair” is (maybe Guinevere? But she’s not a threat to Arthur??).
I picked this book because I genuinely loved Kiersten White’s other book, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein. The Guinevere Deception is much sweeter and simpler than Elizabeth Frankenstein (but Elizabeth Frankenstein was a serious anomaly among … all books in the world).
At the end of the day, though I feel like the book did not end on a clear note and could have been wrapped up more neatly, I really enjoyed the fantasy, magic, and royal intrigue of The Guinevere Deception.

Disclaimer: I received an arc copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Guinevere Deception is a retelling of the Arthurian legend of Camelot. This fantasy novel provides a unique perspective of the legend of Arthur. Perfect for fans of coming of age stories, retellings, and magic.

Some day, I think we're going to get an amazing, feminist, YA King Arthur story — but this is not that day. Though don't get me wrong: I found plenty to enjoy in The Guinevere Deception, especially when I managed to forget it was set in the Arthurian universe and just read it as a fantasy novel about a girl with a secret (even from herself) past sent to magically protect a king from unnamed dangers. Dramatic jousts, good and evil knits, magic nature spells — no complaints here.
But The Guinevere Deception IS set in the Arthur-verse, and that sets a bar that's really hard to hit. The problem is partly that Kiersten White sets up this big mystery — Guinevere isn't really Guinevere, but who is she? — and then just leaves it hanging for so long that you almost get tired of it. Arthur is in danger, there's a mysterious knight bent on challenging the king, and Guinevere is kind of crushing on Mordred, but there's very little actual tension — every time it seems like something is about to happen, everyone is immediately hurried away from it. There's also the problem of time and place — there's non-stop Camelot name-dropping, but it feels too much like a generic knights-and-castles fantasy — there's very little specific Camelot-ness about it. By the time I got to the admittedly very action-packed ending, I was done with the book — and the sequel set-up, nothing-gets-resolved ending was the nail in the coffin for me.
I actually think Kiersten White is awesome and will read pretty much any new book she comes out with — except for the sequel to The Guinevere Deception because it just didn't work for me. If you adore medieval fantasy or the King Arthur stories you should definitely give it a try, though — if nothing else, it has a really awesome take on Lancelot that I really loved.

This book was soooo atmospheric- truly enchanting. In all honesty, the magic system, although incredibly interesting, needs some fleshing out, and the main character feels a little simplistic/too young. However, I truly enjoyed the book in its entirety.

While it might be considered a bit slow for some, I found myself enjoying the plot. The real standouts in this novel are the characters, however. Kiersten White always creates such a vivid cast of characters, and I find myself wishing I could know them all----especially the villains. Mordred was (weirdly) my favorite character in the entire bunch. Don't get me wrong, the other characters were pretty enticing. But I just can't resist one of her bad boys(or girls).

Overall, I would definitely recommend this to pretty much everybody I know!

(I know this review is super late, but I had to come back and RAVE once I finally finished it and had the time)

I enjoyed this, but I didn't love it as much as I wanted to - I felt that a lot of the plot twists were pretty predictable, particularly if you have a decent background knowledge of Arthurian myth.

As someone who is not super familiar with the Arthur legend besides what is known in pop culture, I’m not sure how this would be received by fans of the legend. This retelling is a mix of nature magic, elemental beings, and some gender-swapping and other twists on the original characters. This did read a little younger than I was expecting as Guinevere is 16 and acts like it with her naivety. She seems to not follow threads that will probably be obvious to most readers. There is a love triangle (this is the Arthur legend after all) but I didn’t feel particularly drawn to the romance in this either. There are some questions not answered in this book but I don’t know if I’ll be intrigued enough to continue when the next installment in the series comes around.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked the premise, and I'm a sucker for a good Arthurian setting - I was especially excited about the promised focus on the female characters of the Arthur legends. That being said, the ending felt extremely rushed with very little buildup. It was like being whacked upside the head with a copy of the book. My interest was pretty strong until then (this was a 2-night read), but at the end I was miffed. I look forward to seeing what the author does with this next, though.

I absolutely love everything Kiersten White writes and The Guinevere Deception did not disappoint. I love the dark fantasy spin on the Camelot tale and CAN NOT WAIT for the next segment!

I love Kierstin White-I'm a huge fan of her And I Darken series. But the prose here was slow and kind of confusing, and I've heard mixed things about the rest of the book. Sadly this didn't work for me, but I look forward to what she writes in the future.

KING ARTHUR RETELLING, KING ARTHUR RETELLING, KING ARTHUR RETELLING

Do you really need to know anything else? If you are like me and love a good King Arthur retelling than this is the book for you.

I loved this story because it was less about Arthur and more about Guinevere. This is the type of woman empowerment story that makes you feel strong and invincible. Guinevere is strong and confident while also being able to admit that she has her drawbacks. She is humble and caring and such a delight to read about.

My only drawback with this story is that there isn't a lot of action. The beginning is very slow and kind of hard to get into unless you're in the right mood for it. BUT, the waiting paid off because it felt like the entire story was building up to something big and it definitely did. It was worth it in the end to wait for the action because I entirely enjoyed where the story went once it took off. This did feel like a very young adult book though so the story is not incredibly dense, which i kind of wish this one was because I wanted the story to continue and the world of Camelot to be expanded! Thankfully there's two more books coming but still!

The characters are very entertaining in The Guinevere Deception, I enjoyed all of them and that is something rare to achieve. If I don't like the characters or can't relate to them it's hard for me to get into the story. The fact that I would honestly give my life to protect King Arthur should tell you something about how I feel 😂

Overall an enjoyable King Arthur retelling that isn't too dense and is a fun quick read. As usual I listened to this via audiobook and I can confirm the narrator is amazing!

4.5 Stars

The Guinevere Deception is the first book in White’s Camelot Rising trilogy. The next book, The Camelot Betrayal, is slated for a November 2020 release.

Author Kiersten White is no stranger to trilogies (And I Darken and Paranormalcy are both well-regarded trilogies). As such, she’s seasoned when it comes to pacing. I was particularly appreciative of her conclusion, which felt like one, rather than just a stepping stone to the next book.

Much like she did in The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, White tells the story of Camelot through a different lens. Instead of feeling like a prop moved here and there out of necessity, Guinevere is multifaceted. She’s flawed. She’s magic. She’s human. The story is infinitely better for it. The same can also be said for Mordred.

Merlin does come across a bit ambiguous. It’s clear there’s more to his story, and I have a feeling that will be fleshed out in future books. Arthur — the ultimate good guy — ended up being my least favorite character. For someone who has accomplished so much in a short time, he’s completely obtuse when it comes to Guinevere.

The Guinevere Deception is full of lush narrative that readers will immediately find both familiar and unfamiliar. White takes her time, letting the story unfold at its own pace rather than rushing from scene to scene. I look forward to where White takes this story.