Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman is the author of the No. 1 New York Times bestselling Magicians trilogy—The Magicians, The Magician King, and The Magician’s Land—which has been published in 30 countries and adapted as a TV show that ran for five seasons on SYFY. He is also a screenwriter and the author of two children’s books: The Golden Swift and The Silver Arrow. From 2002 to 2016 he worked as a staff writer at Time magazine; his journalism has also appeared in Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, The Believer, The New York Times, and many other places. He lives with his wife and children in New York City.

The Bright Sword

A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a spot on the Round Table, only to find that he’s too late. The king died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, leaving no heir, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table survive.

They aren’t the heroes of legend, like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Table, from the edges of the stories, 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. Together this ragtag fellowship will set out to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance.

But Arthur’s death has revealed Britain’s fault lines. God has abandoned it, and the fairies and monsters and old gods are returning, led by Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay. Kingdoms are turning on each other, warlords lay siege to Camelot and rival factions are forming around the disgraced Lancelot and the fallen Queen Guinevere. It is up to Collum and his companions to reclaim Excalibur, solve the mysteries of this ruined world and make it whole again. But before they can restore Camelot they’ll have to learn the truth of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell, and lay to rest the ghosts of his troubled family and of Britain’s dark past.

The first major Arthurian epic of the new millennium, The Bright Sword is steeped in tradition, full of duels and quests, battles and tournaments, magic swords and Fisher Kings. It also sheds a fresh light on Arthur’s Britain, a diverse, complex nation struggling to come to terms with its bloody history. The Bright Sword is a story about imperfect men and women, full of strength and pain, who are looking for a way to reforge a broken land in spite of being broken themselves.

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Lev Grossman Takes His Time. –Vulture

Lev Grossman on Adapting Arthurian Legends for a World in Turmoil. –Lit Hub

A thrilling new take on Arthurian legend. –The Washington Post

King Arthur is dead. Long live King Arthur! –The New York Times

Astoundingly, a fresh take on an extremely well-trodden legend. –Kirkus Reviews

Lev Grossman

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The Bright Sword