Queen of Fury

September 23, 2024
Barron’s disappointing sequel to Queen of None unsuccessfully remixes the Arthurian grail quest with the myths of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelz and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Hwyfar Adwenna, the elder daughter of King Leodegraunce of Avillion, was betrothed to King Arthur Pendragon of Carelon before Arthur threw her over for her younger sister, Gweynevere, leaving Hwyfar to hedonistically enjoy courtly life. However, she becomes regent when the king of Avillion goes mad, and must both repair the dying land and defend it from her father’s half-brother, Prince Ryence of Ys. Arthur sends a small group of knights to assist Hwyfar, led by Sir Gawain, Prince of Orkney. Gawain has two secret tasks: find the graal, a collection of relics from the Holy Land, and either “do away with or marry her off to someone who can cow her.” Instead, Gawain and Hwyfar fall in love. Unfortunately, the romance—which relies on a heavy-handed magical connection between the leads—fails to convince. Meanwhile, Barron’s reinterpretations of the stock figures of Arthurian legend baffle: Sir Gawain, the courteous maiden’s knight, becomes a “hot-headed brute,” and King Arthur a pedophilic, misogynist schemer who jettisons knights and family members as soon as they’re too injured to fight. Lovers of Arthuriana have better options to choose from.