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A review by songwind
King Maker by Maurice Broaddus
4.0
I enjoy well done remixes and extensions of classic tales, and with only a few exceptions, Maurice Broaddus has done that with the Arthur legends.
I started this book believing it to be a retelling of the story in a new setting. I quickly realized that wasn't the case after all. The events we all know from Mallory, White and others are referenced here and there in the narrative. They happened. Instead, King Maker posits a cyclic story that arises repeatedly as the conditions are right.
In the first chapter alone we see old friends' new forms - Luther White (Uther), (The) Green (Knight), Morgana (la Fey), Merle (Merlin), etc. White, a powerful street lord, has a son, King. He also has a tryst with Morgana and fathers another, before he's killed by Green and by treachery.
Some time passes, and we learn than the situation has changed. Green remains a lieutenant to a man called Night (Gwyn ap Nudd, maybe?). They are opposed by Luther's unacknowledged son, Dred. King, after a flirtation with thuggishness in his youth has stepped out of it, spending his time more with Wayne, a social worker and general do-gooder who's come up out of the same neighborhood.
The book's plot deals mostly with machinations between Dred and Night, though they have consequences for King, Wayne, and other characters. It's not until close to the end of the book that circumstances, fate, and crazy ol' Merle have convinced King that he needs to step up and protect Breton Court from the two gang lords.
The only real downside to the book for me was the writing, which was inconsistent. In many ways it was excellent; Broaddus uses different authorial voices depending on the POV characters, bringing them even more to life. At the same time, there were instances of pointlessly complex sentences, missing verbs, and other poor construction.
Still, those issues were infrequent enough to avoid making the book unpleasant. Broaddus' deft intermingling of straight and gang life, magic, and the fey made for a compelling read. The Arthurian underpinnings provided a strong foundation. Deviations from the story and the addition of crime and horror elements prevented it from feeling stale or rehashed.
I look forward to reading the second book in the series.
I started this book believing it to be a retelling of the story in a new setting. I quickly realized that wasn't the case after all. The events we all know from Mallory, White and others are referenced here and there in the narrative. They happened. Instead, King Maker posits a cyclic story that arises repeatedly as the conditions are right.
In the first chapter alone we see old friends' new forms - Luther White (Uther), (The) Green (Knight), Morgana (la Fey), Merle (Merlin), etc. White, a powerful street lord, has a son, King. He also has a tryst with Morgana and fathers another, before he's killed by Green and by treachery.
Some time passes, and we learn than the situation has changed. Green remains a lieutenant to a man called Night (Gwyn ap Nudd, maybe?). They are opposed by Luther's unacknowledged son, Dred. King, after a flirtation with thuggishness in his youth has stepped out of it, spending his time more with Wayne, a social worker and general do-gooder who's come up out of the same neighborhood.
The book's plot deals mostly with machinations between Dred and Night, though they have consequences for King, Wayne, and other characters. It's not until close to the end of the book that circumstances, fate, and crazy ol' Merle have convinced King that he needs to step up and protect Breton Court from the two gang lords.
The only real downside to the book for me was the writing, which was inconsistent. In many ways it was excellent; Broaddus uses different authorial voices depending on the POV characters, bringing them even more to life. At the same time, there were instances of pointlessly complex sentences, missing verbs, and other poor construction.
Still, those issues were infrequent enough to avoid making the book unpleasant. Broaddus' deft intermingling of straight and gang life, magic, and the fey made for a compelling read. The Arthurian underpinnings provided a strong foundation. Deviations from the story and the addition of crime and horror elements prevented it from feeling stale or rehashed.
I look forward to reading the second book in the series.