Cursed

Cursed by Thomas Wheeler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
As a huge fan of Arthurian lore and legend I was very excited to read this book. It was a "fresh" take on the story from the point of view of Nimue. She has always been treated as an outcast in her tribe, despite the fact that her mother was the leader of their Druid village. One day after trying to make her escape, Nimue is faced with the massacre of her village, the death of her mother, the discovery of an ancient magical sword, and the meeting of a young man named Arthur. She feels her only option to save the rest of her land from the same fate her own people suffered is to get the mystical sword to a fabled sorcerer named Merlin. The story follows Nimue on her journey to find Merlin and discover for herself why fate has tied her to him, to Arthur, and to the sword.
While to book started off great, it didn't take long for the story to seem disjointed. The narrative followed several different characters, from their points of view, including Nimue, Merlin, Uther Pendragon, Morgan, and others. By the middle of the book it never felt like the story was moving to a set, cohesive point. It just felt like everyone was wandering about the countryside, wondering what they should do next. When the "climax" of the story finally came, it was underwhelming. What was supposed to be an epic moment and exciting cliffhanger just came off, to me, as a bit disappointing. By the end, I wasn't really sure what the "point" of the story was supposed to be. Without giving away spoilers, Nimue's "origin story" just left me saying, "Oh...really...that's it? Okay..."
The version I read was an ARC, so I'm sure the illustrations will change for the final version. They were very interesting, however.
If you are a fan of Arthur and the legends surrounding him, this might be worth checking out for you. Many of the characters' names will be recognizable, if not their "traditional" roles in the legends. I will probably give the next book in the series a chance, just to see if some of the things I found lacking in this book are made up for in the next installment.


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