My Five Word TL:DR Review: More of Morgan’s Arthurian Tales

I read The Faerie Morgana not long ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. It brings to life the Arthurian legend with it’s very own slant. The Faerie Handmaid is the follow up to that novel – it doesn’t seem to be called book 2 so maybe this isn’t intended to be a series as such – however, personally, I think that if you’re thinking of picking this up I would advise you to read The Faerie Morgana first in order to really feel grounded in the world and characters.

The Faerie Handmaid, as you might expect focuses on Braithe, who we met in The Faerie Morgana. Braithe is Morgana’s handmaid and it could be reasonably said that Morgana heavily relies upon her. In this story Braithe has a chance to shine. The two are called upon to travel into the heart of the fey world, the White City, to try and uncover who is cursing the new king of Camelud. This isn’t a journey to be undertaken lightly. The fae are tricksy, arrogant and dangerous and their own world seems to be suffering at the moment, something that is causing certain members to become very bitter towards humans.

This was an easy and enjoyable read. I perhaps didn’t love it quite as much as The Faerie Morgana but I think that is partly because I enjoyed reading Morgana’s tale so very much. The story has moved on. Arthur has passed away for example and the Blackbird (Merlin) is dispirited, he fears for the new king and implores Morgana to help. The two set off to find the White City, soon joined by an unexpected third character.

What I really enjoyed about this, similarly to the last story, was the writing. It really is a lovely read with a perfect balance of description and dialogue to help bring everything to life without being overbearing. This isn’t particularly a fast paced book, it’s not packed with dramatic action scenes. It’s the type of book that you need to savour.

The story itself revolves around the central mystery of the cursed king but I wouldn’t say this is where the strength of the book lies. For me it’s more in the character development. This is Braithe’s coming of age story and it was intriguing to see her development and the way she was torn between her dedication to Morgana and her own desire to wield magic.

There are three POVs. Morgana, Braithe and Idhri – who is the apprentice oarsman who helps to take them to the City – he becomes embroiled when his own heritage comes into question and this feeds into the overall plot and in particular the bitter thoughts being harboured by certain fae. I liked Idhri but I preferred Morgana’s and Braithe’s povs to be honest.

I enjoyed the settings. We spend time in the Isle of Apples, Camelud and White City. White City is humming with magic and during their time here Braithe’s own abilities begin to awaken. Unfortunately there are many powerful fae who hold humans in complete disdain and this leads to a branching off – an angle I didn’t see coming.

Overall, I found this to be a lovely read. I particularly enjoyed reading of Morgana and Braithe and I could very easily revisit this world to see in what way their paths will cross again.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4 of 5 stars.