Fantastical and Well-Written
The Princess of Selgovae and The High King by Bryce Gibby is a historical fantasy type novel that centers around the beginning of King Arthur’s story. It is written like a book written in the early 1900s or 1800s, in that the writing style is older. The writing is beautiful, however, and the story is intriguing and fun to read. There were also some gorgeous illustrations for the main characters and for different settings, and honestly that might have been my favorite part. It made it easier to visualize the story and they were really pretty illustrations, even in black and white.
The story goes back and forth between a few characters, but mostly focuses on Vivian, the Princess of Selgovae, and her story. It overall covers a war between the Britons and the Saxons and how each of the different characters were involved. The characterization of each of the characters was well done.
I do struggle a bit to read books that are not written in our modern vernacular, which is a big personal flaw of mine and something I am working to correct. I was not expecting this book to be written this way, as it was published so recently, so it was a bit of a surprise. Therefore, I do not believe I got as much joy out of it as I possibly could and would love to come back to it after I have read a few more classics and am able to understand all of the things going on.
Overall, I would give this book 3/5 stars. It is beautifully written as far as I can tell, the illustrations were gorgeous, and the story itself was really interesting. The pacing was a bit slow for my taste, but again, that is something I have noticed with books written in an older vernacular and something I am trying to get used to. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes classics and wants to read something that feels historical and fantastical. I really did enjoy it and would like to read it again.
The story goes back and forth between a few characters, but mostly focuses on Vivian, the Princess of Selgovae, and her story. It overall covers a war between the Britons and the Saxons and how each of the different characters were involved. The characterization of each of the characters was well done.
I do struggle a bit to read books that are not written in our modern vernacular, which is a big personal flaw of mine and something I am working to correct. I was not expecting this book to be written this way, as it was published so recently, so it was a bit of a surprise. Therefore, I do not believe I got as much joy out of it as I possibly could and would love to come back to it after I have read a few more classics and am able to understand all of the things going on.
Overall, I would give this book 3/5 stars. It is beautifully written as far as I can tell, the illustrations were gorgeous, and the story itself was really interesting. The pacing was a bit slow for my taste, but again, that is something I have noticed with books written in an older vernacular and something I am trying to get used to. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes classics and wants to read something that feels historical and fantastical. I really did enjoy it and would like to read it again.