‘Half Sick of Shadows’ is an Arthurian retelling from the point of view of Elaine, Lady of Shalott. This is a fantasy version. Avalon is home to the fey. Albion is home to Camelot. Elaine, Arthur, Lancelot (who is half fey), Morgana, and Guinevere are raised on Avalon until King Uther dies. They all go with Arthur as he tries to claim his throne. In this version, Mordred is an illegitimate half brother married to Morgause who is an alternate claimant to the throne. Arthur has several challenges to win to take the throne from Mordred.
Morgana and Guinevere both have magic in this version. Elaine is an oracle who can see multiple possible futures, many of them the tragic fates that we’re familiar with in the Arthurian legends. She is Arthur’s advisor as he takes on his challenges. The book flashes back to their childhoods, growing up together, and flashes forward to many of the different fates that shift and change as events in the present affect them. Elaine frequently sees Lancelot and Guinevere betraying Arthur, Mordred killing Arthur, Morgana using magic to threaten Arthur, and her own death by drowning.
I loved this book because a plot centered around averting a foretold disaster is one of my favorites. I adore a fate versus free will theme. Here, Elaine knows it is possible that the tragic fates can be avoided, but she doesn’t know what actions she can take or encourage others to take that will avert the tragedies. She is still tasked with trying by The Lady of the Lake on Avalon who trained her, with the end goal of getting Arthur on the throne and uniting Albion and Avalon.
I was really confused how Sebastian was going to cram the entire Arthurian legend into this book given the pace that she sets, but in the end, I needn’t have worried. Everything that needs to be there is there for the way she’s approached this story. I love how it played out, but it may be controversial for some, given the references to Elaine’s death (in most of the future visions it by her own choice). It is a very feminist retelling, with most of the focus on Elaine, Morgana, and Guinevere and their relationships. The biggest surprise difference in this version from the more traditional takes for me is how she handles Guinevere’s background and her magic. It was unique, and added a fantastical layer.
Who is this book for? If you love Arthurian retellings, especially if they are either feminist or with a fantasy twist, this may be for you. If you love a good fate versus free will exploration, you will likely adore it as much as I did. For those who like a fresh approach to the traditional tale, this will likely delight you. The characters interact differently and have different relationships. If you’re excited to hear the tale from the POV of the Lady of Shalott, this will be for you.
Who might not like it? If you dislike stories that have a lot of flashbacks and also flash forwards to outcomes that may or may not happen, this might not be for you. If you dislike anachronisms in your Arthurian legends and they need to be firmly set in a specific Dark Ages historical timeline, this will likely bother you. There are anachronisms aplenty. If a version of the Arthurian tales with fantasy elements is an unpleasant thought, you won’t like this. It is in no way a historical fiction novel. If you require your Arthurian retellings to follow the usual plot points, this may also disappoint you. It shakes things up and different things happen. If taking one’s own life as a potential plot point is uncomfortable, or you require books where it is never depicted as an acceptable option for the character in question (it was dramatically different from the treatment of the topic in The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, for instance), this may also not be the right choice for you.
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