The Bright Sword

A Novel of King Arthur

By: Lev Grossman

Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith, Lev Grossman

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A New York Times Editors’ Choice • The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Magicians Trilogy and “master storyteller” (New York Times) returns with a triumphant reimagining of the King Arthur legend for the new millennium

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist • Locus Award Finalist

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, NPR, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, VANITY FAIR, TIME, OPRAH DAILY, TOWN & COUNTRY, ELLE, VOX, PASTE, LIT HUB, POLYGON, KIRKUS REVIEWS

“Lev Grossman’s The Bright Sword stands out as the best fantasy of the year.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Grossman, who is best known for his The Magicians series, is at the top of his game with The Bright Sword.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A thrilling new take on Arthurian legend. . . . Marvelous.” —The Washington Post

“If you love King Arthur as much as I do, you’ll love Lev Grossman’s The Bright Sword, a fresh and engrossing take on the Matter of Britain featuring a colorful cast of Round Table knights who don’t often get as much story time as they deserve. The creator of The Magicians has woven another spell.” —George R. R. Martin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Game of Thrones

A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a place at the Round Table, only to find that he’s too late. King Arthur died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table are left.

The survivors aren’t the heroes of legend like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Table, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight, and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill.

But it's up to them to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance, even as God abandons Britain and the fairies and old gods return, led by Morgan le Fay. They must reclaim Excalibur and make this ruined world whole again—but first they'll have to solve the mystery of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell.

The first major Arthurian epic of the new millennium, The Bright Sword is steeped in tradition, complete with duels and quests, battles and tournaments, magic swords and Fisher Kings. It's also a story about imperfect men and women, full of strength and pain, trying to reforge a broken land in spite of being broken themselves.

A new twist on King Arthur

I have read & listened to many many books on King Arthur. This by far was the most entertaining and the most original King Arthur story I've encountered! It has elements of some really old and accurate information that pertains to his story, plus loads of fun bits & bobs that will make you laugh out loud! Don't hesitate on this one, it's a gem!

Absolutely PERFECT!

I’m sure I would have enjoyed the hard copy just as much, but the narration is fabulous. A real treat!

Wonderful

A rollicking adventure that I could not stop listening to. The author does a wonderful job breaking the main narrative up with chapters reveling important facts about each character.

A real treat.

This story is a bit of a slow burn. In my opinion, you should either be into the legends of King Arthur..or/and into the type of fantasy world that this is in..which is probably a bit on the “lower fantasy” side of story’s. It can be very “blunt” and honest given the setting of the world which I found refreshing. Sometimes things are what they are and there’s nothing to be done about it. There is certainly magic, mythical creatures and fairies etc..but it’s all delivered in small doses and in a way that makes them feel like a part of the world instead of big monumental occasion as in, “oh so and so just took a trip down a magic well for 3 years all in the span of a Monday” and nobody bats and eye about it type of feeling. It is a great take on a classic story and overall made me feel like I was on the same quest and witnessing the few remaining “miracles” right along with the B-Team of the round table.

Meh

Lots of good things but I struggled to care or stay awake. I loved the magicians but the large ensemble of characters in this one and a rather oafish main character who didn’t really transform in a meaningful way except he got good at fighting.