Alex Myers takes a 13th Century French poem and transforms it into an engaging fantasy novel that explores gender identity and the idea of nature vs. nurture. The first born child of the Earl of Cornwall, Silence is raised as a son at a remote hunting lodge to retain the family's hold over Cornwall. When Silence learns he would have been raised as a daughter were it not for king's decree, he rejects this idea and goes on to pursue his dream of becoming a knight. Silence is an extremely likable character and readers will be drawn into Myers' fantastical, medieval setting filled with knights, dragons, and, of course, Merlin.

This book was such a delight, and absolutely tugged on my heartstrings. The characters were all so lovable, the plot was well done, and it was just so complex and interesting that I couldn't put it down. I also really enjoyed the exploration into gender and sex in a historical setting. I wasn't a huge fan of the pacing, but I can overlook that. Overall, I had a great time, it was a beautiful story, and I highly recommend it.

“‘Will you tell me of your birth?’ They tilted their head and looked at me as a bird might, with one bright eye.
‘Have you the whole night?’
‘I have nothing in the world but this night.’”

TITLE—The Story of Silence
AUTHOR—Alex Myers
PUBLISHED—2020

GENRE—literary/fantasy retelling
SETTING—a mythological, medieval England / Europe
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—gender; trans identity; Nature vs Nurture; animacy of Nature; Arthurian lore; English folk and faery customs and beliefs

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
BONUS ELEMENT/S—The clear reverence shown the natural world and the belief in the personhood and sanctity of the entire natural world (animals, plants, rivers etc.)
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️—“You can speak your mind with courage only if you are an honest man.”

“A woman and a man. A man as much a woman. Proof that we are all a little both, a little neither. Proof that rules hold us less tightly than we imagine! Nature speaks to us all in our own individual riddles. Haw!’”

This was an awesome retelling of a medieval French poem featuring Arthurian tropes and characters. It was a thoughtful and emotional look at not just the trans experience but the exploration of gender and identity in general. By using the dialogue between Nature and Nurture, present in the original poem, but greatly fleshed out in Myers retelling, Myers recreates not only the courtly, “morality” feel of a traditional medieval tale, but a story whose relevance is particularly apt for our current time.

Last thought: ALL I wanted though was for [redacted] to not [redacted] after [redacted]. 😭 I NEVER get what I want. 😭😭😭

“If I tell it right, it will be a story that sings on, speaking to self after self, telling the tale of what it means to be and become.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

TW // bullying, violence, sexism, misogyny, misgendering

Further Reading—
- Silence, trans. by Sarah Roche-Mahdi
- The Last Unicorn, by Peter Beagle
- The Wolf in the Whale, by Jordanna Max Brodsky
- The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell

Ooh., a queer medieval novel. I have truly read nothing like this before and I don't know if I will ever find another book like it, but I loved it so much.

Synopsis:
A knightly fairy tale of royalty and dragons, of midwives with secrets and dashing strangers in dark inns. Taking the original French legend as his starting point, The Story of Silence is a rich, multilayered new story for today’s world – sure to delight fans of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale.

There was once, long ago, a foolish king who decreed that women should not, and would not, inherit. Thus when a girl-child was born to Lord Cador – Merlin-enchanted fighter of dragons and Earl of Cornwall – he secreted her away: to be raised a boy so that the family land and honour would remain intact.

That child’s name was Silence.

Silence must find their own place in a medieval world that is determined to place the many restrictions of gender and class upon them. With dreams of knighthood and a lonely heart to answer, Silence sets out to define themselves.

Soon their silence will be ended.

Review:
This story is perfect for fans of Merlin and King Arthur retellings. I loved the focus on the gender swap you see in a lot of knight stories. Silence is such a compelling character who fights for what they deserve. Alex does a great job weaving this story together in an old setting with a new twist and a modern take.

I read this book as an ARC from Netgalley--thank you!

"Nature speaks to us all in our own individual riddles."

Born female-bodied but raised as a boy in order to ensure a father's political power in medieval Europe, Silence, a skilled knight who values honesty and virtue above all else, must clear their name, capture a wizard, and come to terms with their identity in this coming of age novel based on the 13th century French romance, le Roman de Silence.

There are many things to love about this book, especially the writing, which is humorous and charming. Silence is also a compelling and heroic lead. Gotta love Mooch the cat, and, of course, Merlin. The scenes with Merlin were definitely the high points for me, as was the way that pronouns carried so much meaning in terms of characterization and narrative. The moments where pronouns shifted were powerfully done. I also think the author did a very good job with his research of the Middle Ages.

The Story of Silence has a pacing problem--the narrative is slow, lingering on details that seem extraneous while sometimes not fully giving the character development that I really craved. I think this may have partially been due to loyalty to the source material (the author is incredibly thoughtful in explaining how he chose to tell the story).

In this case though, I think the book would have benefited from taking a little more freedom in its retelling. Le Roman de Silence is wonderful and puzzling and available in its original text and in translation for everyone to read and ponder today. The book spends a lot of energy grappling with the Nature vs Nurture binary that is a major theme of the medieval romance, but this didn't always land for me for a twenty-first century reflection on the complexities of gender identity. The tone of the ending, once the story enters the minstrel's hands, left me a bit disheartened. Still, I found this book a very engaging and certainly thought-provoking read.

I thought it was very cool that The Story of Silence was a novelization of a 13th century poem. What a great way to spread awareness of classic literature and make it accessible to a modern audience!

It was fun, but honestly, I was hoping for more from it. My main criticism was that it was very simple, primarily on two accounts 1) women were conniving, untrustworthy, and stupid (unless she’s your own dear mother-figure—who is presumably also a virgin) and men were good, honorable, and courageous, and 2) somehow Silence, as a female bodied person who has gone through puberty, was able to share a room and even a bed (platonically) for years with different men and not only was he always assumed male but there’s no mention of how he managed things like binding and concealing periods. Then I learned things related to both criticisms.

In the introduction, the author, Alex Myers, says that he wanted to “keep the troubled (and troubling) depiction of (most) women being evil and inferior, while (noble) men are greedy and glorious.” He doesn’t mention why he wants to keep this depiction. In my opinion, that’s not a very nice thing for him to do to his audience. Who does he expect will want to read a reimagined 13th century story about a girl, raised as a boy, who becomes a knight! If I was going to guess, I’d say it’s young women. So lets tell them all that they’re terrible? It might be a 13th century story but Myers has a 21st century audience. The treatment of women was glaringly rude and troublesome and it isn’t like the characters are reformed in the end.

As for Silence’s ease of concealing his Nature, when looking up the author (mostly wondering if it was in fact a straight cis-gendered man who hated women so much) I discovered that Alex Myers is transgender and a gender identity educator to boot. I would have loved to know more about Silence’s struggle to hide his Nature (it couldn’t have always been easy) and perhaps some insight into their choice to switch from male to gender neutral pronouns after just one short speech from Merlin.

Overall, if you are one of those people who are going to read 300 books this year, definitely pick it up! You’ll learn the plot of a 13th century poem and it is a fun story about Merlin and a bunch of knights, but if you don’t have that amount of time and energy to dedicate to reading, there are better girl-becomes-a-knight stories out there.

My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for an advanced copy of this book.

The Story of Silence by Alex Myers uses is 13th century poem as the basis of its story about a knight, born a woman and raised a boy in Medieval England who eventually ventures out into the world. Hidden away by her father, the Earl of Cornwell, who hopes to get a round the King's decree of only male heirs can inherit property and therefore keeping the land in the family's hands. The child, Silence is left to finds way in the world that is based on gender, leaving Silence adrift to her place. There are all the trapping of a medieval fantasy, Merlin, dragons and knights do battle but the most important part of this tale is finding who you are an an acceptance of what you are. A very thoughtful, different story.

DNF at 27%

I am. Sad this book didn't work for me. It's something that intrigues me and is absolutely something I wanted to get into - retelling a legend, exploring how it handled gender through a more modern lens. Indeed, I even liked how right from the beginning gender is already something obfuscated - the bard who is hearing (and also telling) this story forced to reexamine his own assumptions.

Unfortunately, I could not get into the book. It is a very slow paced piece and while that is not necessarily a bad thing, it didn't work for me. I found myself growing bored and not looking forward to the time I would be spending reading it, so unfortunately I have decided to set it aside.

It's an excellent concept and I may revisit it at some point, but for now it isn't working for me.

(No rating because I did not finish, star rating included so NetGalley will let me submit)

A lovely modernization of a very old tale. Well written and neatly updated. I liked the story-within-a-story framework and the very end especially intrigued and entertained.