The end notes about the histories and different versions were amazing (I hope everyone reads that part) and the way Griffith wove her story using the different legends, is really impressive. I will say that this made me more interested in a subject that I thought I knew pretty well already. I actually think this is one of those rare times that this might be even better on audio because I believe hearing the words could be pretty magical.īecause this is a novella, I don’t want to go into too much and give any spoilers away by accident. This is not a light quick read that you want to fly through as you will miss too much. What I mean by that is it’s the kind of read you want to take your time with since there is a lot packed into the words that Griffith chose to write with.

I do want to mention that this is a bit of a cerebral read. It did not seem rushed and it felt like Griffith got to really pack a lot into a shorter amount of pages.

While this is novella length, I thought pace wise it worked very well. This is a novella staring a woman who wants to be “a knight of the round table” so she dresses herself as a man and goes off to prove that she belongs. While I have to be honest that I didn’t love this read, I still really appreciated it and found that it stuck with me and I kept thinking about it long after I finished reading it last week.

Griffith writes stories that are compelling, with memorable characters (Aud, I still miss you), so I’m always interested to see what she will write about next. I also happen to be a fan of Griffith so this was a must read for me. If you follow my reviews, it will seem like a broken record how often I mention loving retellings, especially queer ones. Margaret A.A very interesting take on part of the King Arthur legend.Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith, Wash Day Diaries.Mircea Cărtărescu, Solenoid (translation by Sean Cotter).Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century See the full list of LA Times Book Prize winners below. Liberation Day: Stories by George Saunders.The Mountain in the Sea: A Novel by Ray Nayler.The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings.The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran.The other finalists in the category were: Spear, Nicola Griffith’s “queer Arthurian masterpiece for the modern era,” earned The Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction. The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes winners were announced April 21.

Spear by Nicola Griffith