Cursed - A New Twist on Arthurian Legend

Whosoever wields the Sword of Power shall be the one true King.

But what if the Sword has chosen a Queen?

Nimue grew up an outcast. Her connection to dark magic made her something to be feared in her Druid village, and that made her desperate to leave…

That is, until her entire village is slaughtered by Red Paladins, and Nimue’s fate is forever altered. Charged by her dying mother to reunite an ancient sword with a legendary sorcerer, Nimue is now her people’s only hope. Her mission leaves little room for revenge, but the growing power within her can think of little else.

Nimue teams up with a charming mercenary named Arthur and refugee Fey Folk from across England. She wields a sword meant for the one true king, battling paladins and the armies of a corrupt king. She struggles to unite her people, avenge her family, and discover the truth about her destiny.

But perhaps the one thing that can change Destiny itself is found at the edge of a blade.

Author - Thomas Wheeler

Illustrated by - Frank Miller (That's right, this is Sparta baby)

Publication Date - October 1st, 2019

Cat's Review 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Spoiler Free!

When I picked Cursed up, it was not the arc I was most excited about from my stack of October arcs, but it was the first one that I picked up, on chance. Now it is one of the ones I'm most excited to get to hand sell to anyone that will listen.

This is an phenomenal retelling of the mythos of King Arthur in a way I have never seen before. Not only does the sword of power instead call to a woman, it calls to a woman of the land, a feykind. That's right, there are actual magical, interesting looking people in this tale of Arthur! This is not your average, Malory written Arthur tale that's meant merely to show how noble men are just for doing the bare minimum while also talking about how weak and fragile women are.

This is a book about the struggle that anyone thrust into sudden power has to go through, especially a woman considered lesser than an average peasant in medieval England. Nimue is a figure much shrouded in Arthurian Legend, whether that be as the lady of the lake, or even as a woman who merely falls in love with Merlin, left to protect his body and legacy. In Cursed, Nimue shines, she is front and center and she is real and whole and very much her own person. Her love story with Arthur is not the point but oh boy is it beautiful and tragic and helpful to show that she is indeed still a teenager struggling with the world around her that's out to kill her- literally.

The knights of the round table are there, though they are not as prominent, or so you are left to believe. They are woven naturally into the story, and, in turn, the tales that follow them through the Arthurian Mythos are also woven through them. Arthur is, once again, not the point of the story, but he is very obviously still important, and really, he reads so much better this way.

The real villain of this story, while you might think are the Red Cardinals introduced on page one, is really the infinite greed of man, something Thomas Wheeler handles so very well. The strokes of violence across the page are brutal and terrible and could be easily avoided, as you the reader know, if they would just accept that they cannot hold everything they want in their hands. But of course, humans are complicated, and none of us are ever ready to accept when the world tells us no. This I think, is what really makes the story for me, that it's so very real and genuine.

This is a fast paced read, going through the head much more like a movie than an average book, and I think that's very much a positive here. It'll be a good book to hand to anyone struggling with learning to enjoy reading, along with literally everyone else of course. It's enchanting, powerful, and terrifying with it's real consequences for power, and people are going to love reading it, and watching it when it comes to Netflix in the Spring of 2020.