This is a solid Arthurian retelling. The publisher's description is a little misleading. The book is told entirely through Nimue's perspective. Nimue protects Ygraine, Morgana and Guinevere from the machinations of the men around them. The men in this book are at best incompetent and at worst megalomaniacs.

Overall I very much enjoyed this book. It's well paced and the characters and plot are very interesting. It's not Mists of Avalon, but what is?

Painful stories that offer more voice are not always the reading escapes that one might have hoped for. I can appreciate these stories and why they need to be told, but I struggled to make it through. I hope this book connects with the more classic fantasy audience that I know would love it. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity with the title.

I generally love a good Arthurian legend retelling or reimagining. I’ve been a fan of them since my childhood, and I think a part of me will always enjoy them. When I saw the summary for The Cleaving, I was excited to see a take on the story that focused on a few of the women from the legends.

This book was good, but it wasn’t exactly one that I disappeared into or rushed through because I was so enraptured by the writing and the characters and the pacing. This is definitely more of a slower read, at times feeling just a couple steps away from reading a history book. There was a lot of detail and description, and sometimes it felt like scenes were there to establish sort of a day-to-day feel for the lives of these women.

Sometimes they did not have it easy. They are often the victim to the machinations and desires and whims of the male characters. And sometimes what happens to them is brutal. Uther is disgustingly rough about his pursuit of Ygraine…and when he sleeps with her while magically disguised as her husband…well, it is still rape. And when she learns out the truth, we experience that shock and trauma with her.

And Merlin was honestly not like most portrayals of the character. He bends rules to suit his own purposes and uses his magic to manipulate things to reach the future he has seen, no matter what consequences come from it, or who he has to harm or destroy to do so.

I liked seeing the relationships form between Nimue and Ygraine and Morgana and Guinevere, but everything just felt so slow, to where at times it felt like a slog to get through the story. I wanted more of the magic and mysticism that often seems to accompany Arthurian tales.

This was a good read, but I wanted more depth and development of these women. Sure, they had voices, but they often seemed to be talked over, so their voices were still minimized. I want to see the women truly speak up and tell their tale. But that is not what I got from this tale. Honestly it has made me debate if the 4 star rating I’m giving this should stand, or if a 3.5 star rating is more appropriate.

The legend of King Arthur is one of violence at its core. The women in it are no more than puppets of masculine fears. Women with power are witches, women with children are forgotten. Women who refuse are meant to be conquered and women who are used are adulterers. This book gives a voice to them.

Going into this book I thought there would be more retelling. This book is true to source and you can tell how much research went into it. It gives these characters that are no more than names a true voice. But the horrible things still happen to them. We just get more of it.

This book is so well researched, the premise is super interesting, but ultimately was not for me.

There are so many trigger warnings in this book so I strongly recommend check those before picking this up !

Short Version: A different view of familiar tales, I really enjoyed it.

Long Version: I really enjoy having my view of a classic tale challenged and this book does that perfectly - not in an “everything you thought you knew was wrong and you are evil for not noticing” way but a more gentle “ok, lets look at this from a different perspective” way. Some Arthurian purists might be dismissive but I think this is an excellent addition to the Arthurian legend.

Plot: Familiar enough at the major beats with enough detailed nuance to keep it interesting. 

Characters:  I loved the characters and their depiction with a twist on common narratives was superb, Merlin as a bad guy and Arthur as an insecure neurotic? Perfect. I loved watching the evolution of Morgana and I was a bit frustrated that this wasn’t her story - it’s very much Nimue’s and this isn’t a bad thing, Nimue is the perfect character to carry the book, I just wanted more Morgana. The interactions and dialogue worked really well and felt jarring or awkward.

Settings:  Described just enough for me to visualise and never got in the way of the story. The location of events is pretty important to part of the plot and the where of events is signposted nicely.

Prose: A really nice book to read, it flows from start to finish without anything pulling me out of the story.  

Pace: When we are in the guts of the story, the pacing is spot on but I found some of the time jumps a little abrupt.

Ending: The ending was fitting, and it worked for me.  

Who would love this: If you liked Circe by Madeline Miller or Sistersong by Lucy Holland you should have this on your TBR.

ARC via Netgalley

I was so excited to read a new Arthurian retelling, especially with the premise of focusing on the female perspectives. The last one that has had an impact on me was written by, unfortunately, an author I can no longer support. So I had lots of expectations for this book. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get into the style of writing or any of the characters. Especially Nimue POV felt flat, sort of an outsider narrating the events. Even with the historic limitations, there was such a stronger focus on men's evil deeds (though mostly focused on the product of the time/society) rather than on the actual actions of the powerful women involved. Considering the feminist retelling premise, I was expecting to read less about women being treated awfully and more about their own development and actions.

Before author was even born The evil wizard Merlin was around but thankfully so was it good which name Numanie. The Cleveland tells a story of not only King Althors relationship with his mother Maryland but all the strong women that played apart and his young childhood and young adult life. From his sister to his relationship with his mother it’s all explained in this book and what a great book it it is. I thought I had read everything when it came to Camelot in King Arthur but thanks to Juliet E McKenna there’s another great story to read. I love this book and highly recommend it it is a definite five star Camelot read if you’ve never read about his birth in the misery his mother endured then you definitely need to read this book. I received it from NetGalley and a publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Arthurian retellings broadly seem to adopt one of two approaches. The first is to ditch the fantastical elements and look for a foothold in history, however tenuous, typically casting Arthur as the military leader of the native Britons against the invading Saxons. This is the approach I remember from innumerable documentaries when I was growing up in the 70s and the 80s.

McKenna's reimagining follows other approach - taking the familiar medieval sources but adapting their framework. She makes a nod towards the historical approach by drawing a linguistic distinction between the Cornish language and the "English" spoken in Winchester. But when "Saxons" come raiding the "English" she doesn't worry too much about trying to explain the distinction. Similarly, this story accepts noblemen with elaborate plate armour, all called Sir Somebody, riding the countryside of Southern Britain and retiring periodically to the court at Camelot. They are often about business driven by magical interference, although (not least, I'd imagine, to keep the book to manageable proportions) many of the incidents are left out.

That all works very well with what we expect of an Arthurian tale ("Arthurian" isn't quite the right term here, but I'll come back to that) from Mallory himself to TH White. But don't be deceived by the surface impression, this retelling is actually very different.

To begin with, I felt that here there is a much clearer overall narrative, rather than a procession of wonders. And that isn't a narrative about Arthur, indeed in some ways he's almost incidental, or the Holy Grail. Yes, Arthur desires to be High King of Britain, and strives to achieve that, but behind him, there is a desperate - and actually more interesting - conflict over the role of magic. Nimue, one of the Hidden People, from whose viewpoint the story is told, sees magic as dangerous to mortals and seeks to limit its role (in line with the principles of the Hidden People). Merlin, and some others of the People, want to use it to establish Arthur's throne, allegedly so he can be a bulwark against magic running wild although sheer desire for power may also figure here.

The various eruptions of magic into the courtly business of Camelot then feature as overspills from this contest, with the balance of advantage swaying to and fro throughout the book, rather than a series of discrete, if dramatic, incidents. That gives the book a coherence, a drive, which keeps the reader turning the pages - and worrying about what will come next.

And there's a lot to worry about. The other difference here is the telling of the story from the point of view of Nimue, a character who does feature in the canonical stories, as the enchantress who seduces and imprisons Merlin. Here though we see Nimue's perspective throughout, from the early sections set at Tintagel Castle, dealing with Uther's rape of Ygraine, to her struggles with Merlin, to an endgame in which Nimue together with other powers is forced to take responsibility for the future of Britain rather than allowing warfare and anarchy to continue.

It's a very anti-heroic book - in the sense both that it explicitly disavows the simplistic "Arthur is the foretold King so anyone standing against him is evil" but also in the way that it acknowledges, indeed celebrates, the complexity of life: all those feats of arms, for example, don't just happen, the provisioning and cooking must be organised. Camelot - and the other fortresses - need to be managed and operated, a task falling on the women here, not helped by the tendency of Arthur and his ilk to announce tournaments or depart on quixotic quests at the drop of a gauntlet. Or by their proclivity for decreeing the marrying-off of the chatelaine on a whim. Napoleon Bonaparte may have understood that an army marches on its stomach, but is twelve hundred years earlier and the men haven't yet learned that lesson.

Possibly I was a bit quick earlier to place this book in the "non historical" group of retellings. Amidst all the controversy about British history in the late-antique period and about "Saxon" invasions and the evolution of "England" one point that is easily missed is the daily routine that must have continued - growing food, mending fences, preparing food, spinning and weaving, caring for children and the old - things without which the land would have soon been a desert. That activity finds its place in The Cleaving where its importance is fully acknowledged, making this book - for all its magic and wonders and mounted knights - historical at a much more fundamental level. Instead of working to find a slot for an Arthur in British history, McKenna is I think restoring a place for women and women's activity. This book is perhaps not Arthurian so much as Nimuean - celebrating the making of an ointment, the planning of a feast or care for an orphaned child, all things that belong in history as much as swordplay and marching.

So I think this is something rather different - as well, of course, as being a thoroughly good read, the pared-back story keeping up a good pace and relying on excellent characterisation and a real sense of moral ambiguity (the mess of prophecy and manipulation that Merlin has created being deeply inimical to any clear sense of right and wrong). Rather than the triumph of good, in The Cleaving the reader is just left hoping that the women we meet will avoid their possible awful fates, come through and win some peace for themselves and their country.

All in all, a masterpiece.

Arthurian mythology with strong female characters narrating, I had to read it. First I loved how the new point of view on the story changes almost everything. And although I did love the portrayal of four women I already loved. I did need to scream from time to time out of frustration. Not because of them but because of the unfairness they got to face. Which is in a Way good because it means i was super invested on the story. But it wasn’t a easy read.
The story is the same one some of us know an love, Camelot. Yet the perspective makes everything different. To be able to get inside the minds of the ones that so many times have been left voiceless was a unique experience. How man hold all the power and to have them left to only try and make their lives tolerable. Misogyny and trying to fight back are the true protagonist of this tale. It is really incredible to see how four women that are often put as rivals as a team.
The world building is really good. The narration is fun to follow. The characters of Ygraine, Guinevere, Morgana and Nimue are unlike any other representations of them I’ve encountered before. How magic and the rules of it mix in the politics of the story is incredible. The forces at play oppose and help each other in away that makes the story move pretty organically. It is truly a tale word reading.

When I first saw this was an Arthurian legend retelling, I was really excited. I wish I could say it lived up to the excitement, but alas, I found the prose to be pretty dry. The characters felt flat to me, and it was more as if I was reading a historical telling of events, rather than embarking on an adventure in Camelot. Since this was marketed as a feminist retelling, I was expecting more from the female characters, but I felt like they were overshadowed in some aspects to other male characters. I thought there was a lot of potential here, and I can see the author growing into a more evocative writing style.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this eARC!

I really enjoy a retelling of the Arthurian Legend, which is a good thing as I have read a fair few. Each author tackles the story in a unique way looking to put their own spin on a well-known tale. Do you follow the classic beats making the likes of Morgana the villain? Perhaps it is Merlin's fault or Lancelot, even King Arthur? They have all been at fault at one point. Juliet E McKenna retells the legend via four female characters, not always at the centre of events, often pushed to one side by their male counterparts, but in The Cleaving their story will be told, and their roles revealed.

They say behind every great man stands a great woman, but in the courts of King Uther and King Arthur the woman are often made to be seen and not heard. The great Queen Ygraine, tricked and forced into marriage to Uther, bearing a son she never wanted. Morgana, the trusted aid, and sister to Arthur until she is needed no more. Guinevere, another Queen, ignored once it seems she cannot bear children. And another woman, Nimue, one of the hidden people who lives for centuries. She protects the woman of Camelot from harm and does what she can to prevent the meddling of Merlin.

It is too easy to concentrate on the major beats of any legend and forget about some of the smaller characters. The Sword in the Stone, The Lady in the Lake, The Knights of the Round Table. So many compelling and longstanding images to choose from, but how did Arthur get there? With the help of Merlin and a willingness to do what it takes to bring peace to England. Even if this means deceit, magic, or manipulation. Often those harmed are the women, the liked of Ygraine, Morgana and Guinevere all forced into marriages by men.

McKenna has done a fantastic job of reframing the Arthurian Legend in a new way by concentrating on the female characters. It does not give them the power they never received in the original tales, but it does show the impact they had, even from the shadows. The Knights of the Round Table are not painted with quite the rosy glow as films from the golden age of Hollywood would have us believe. This was still a feudal society where women were used as bargain chips to benefit the Kings. McKenna has a way of making the reader feel the insult, pain, and impotence of the female characters as they are forced against their will. Things are made even sadder when the woman often choose to remain in their predicament for the benefit of the greater good.

The one character who stands apart from the royal woman is Nimue and she is key to the story working. Nimue has hidden in the court of Kings for centuries as a chambermaid for the Queens. She hides her magic and only uses it as a last resort, therefore, when Merlin comes out of the shadows and shows the world his sorcery, it places Nimue in a tricky situation. Her first loyalty is to her people, then her Queens. Nimue will find herself on the periphery of all the major events, gently guiding events as best as she can. We see the secret role that Nimue and the other woman played, but not always for the best.

Cleaving is a fantastic retelling of a story that many will know well. McKenna is sure to mark all the major events, but they are sometimes told from afar or the shadows. Nimue’s magic is key to allowing this. The book is pacy and is full of drama. It can be an uncomfortable read in places but is also empowering and entertaining. I would place it up there with the best modern interpretations of the Arthurian Legend, a refreshing retelling that would work for new readers to the myth, but also those that know the stories well.

Being a fan of the Arthurian Legend, I had high hopes for this retelling. Unfortunately, I did not like the book and DNF'd around 58%.
What irked me most was that for this feminist/female retelling, with main characters like Nimueh and Morgana (I didn't get to the Gwen part), so much focus was on the things that men did to women without their permission. That is important to mention I guess and I am not saying to change the myths, but for me there was too much attention for that and not enough on what the women were doing about it.

In the host of mythological retellings there have been in recent years, it is refreshing to find one that focuses outside the Greek or Roman pantheons.

The Cleaving is a retelling of the Arthurian legends, from the POV of Nimue, a enchantress akin to the famous Lady of the Lake, as she interacts with Ygraine, Morgana, and Guinevere, Arthur's mother, half-sister and wife.

Breathing fresh new life into these myths McKenna has created a rather fantastical and enjoyable story. The tales are told from the side-line, where little details are seen and overheard that paint the events of the myths in a new light.

Much like Cornwell did with his Warlord Chronicles, McKenna shows characters that we have known for years from a new perspective, but while Cornwell chose to make Lancelot a weasel of a man, McKenna really changed the character of Merlin. While we are used to him as an old, wise advisor, who has trained a young Arthur and guides him to greatness, instead through Nimue we see a much more sinister and cunning Merlin, who is prepared to manipulate whoever he must to bring about the future he wants.

One thing I did enjoy about this book was that McKenna chose to show the harsher, patriarchal side of life at this time, and the experience that the women had to live through under this society. But while some of the character, Uther especially, were portrayed as terrible people, McKenna never chooses to religate them to a 1D "is male therefore = bad" type formula, which a lot of feminist retellings fall victim to. Instead her characters are still portrayed as a product of their time and the society within which they live, more rounded out than just being bad men.
However I did find that the character growth/development left a bit to be desired, as by 2/3rds through the book the characters had not really become much more than what we saw at the start.

The writing was very poetic and detailed, and the world of the court was really brought to life, though I found Nimue a little bland in her descriptions at times, and feel that perhaps giving POVs from the other women might have improved the book somewhat.

The last 100 pages were a rush of a story and really drag you along with it in its excitement. The whole conclusion was exciting and captivating.
But the last portion of it felt a little rushed, and the book could maybe have done with another 50 pages.

Overall though, 4* and a definite read for any fans of mythology and who want a fresh view of Arthurian legends!

I love Arthurian retellings and was so excited by The Cleaving which promised a feminist retelling while keeping the medieval setting....but I was delivered a very boring story with surface level characters. Maybe I just need to rewatch Merlin to scratch this itch...
I was so excited by the prospect of this title and others by Juliet E. Mckenna so I'm very sad that this ended up as such a disappointing read.

Appreciative I was able to access this arc because while it isn’t for me there are some customers I know will enjoy it!

I’m going to start with ripping off the bandage and say upfront that I DNFd The Cleaving 52% into it. Not because it was horribly bad, but because I was kind of bored and I was not invested in the characters or the plot, at all. But let’s take a closer look at things.

The Cleaving was my first book by Juliet E. McKenna, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was on the fence about whether to request an eARC, because I usually don’t gel well with feminist stuff, and also because I’m very picky due to having limited time to read in the first place. Eventually, the history and mythology buff in me won, and I decided to give it a go. Side note, while I’m familiar with the names and some of the stories within the Arthurian legends, my knowledge is pretty patchy as I never dug deeper. Honestly, the bulk of my knowledge comes from the Merlin TV mini series from the late 90s, so… yeah, I wouldn’t call myself an authority.

The Cleaving tells its story through Nimue’s POV. It’s an interesting choice, because on one hand, the way the story is being told, she is there for most of the events, being a first-hand witness and thus can give us all the details. On the other hand, we don’t learn much about her as a person and that makes it hard to get invested in her story. She also comes across as a very passive character, only following the events, and reacting to whatever happens, but never being proactive which makes reading about her a frustrating experience.

Since Nimue is acting as a servant to Queen Ygraine in the beginning, and later to Morgana from what I could tell by the point at which I DNFd, the story is mostly focused on the female characters of the Arthurian legends – Ygraine, Morgana, and I’m guessing Guinevere later on. The story is told from how Uther deceives Ygraine, following their marriage, how Arthur becomes king with the help of Merlin, and beyond. As I never read to the end, I’m not sure where the story ends, but I’m guessing sometime around his death. Arthur being still very young and under Merlin’s influence, it’s hard to tell yet what type of character he’ll become, but up to the 52% mark, we rarely got to see him, and the other male characters, except Gorlois, Ygraine’s first husband are depicted as villains. This is to say, they are everything that’s bad, and the women are everything that’s good, and there aren’t many grey areas. In my experience, people are rarely only good or only bad, and I generally prefer characters with depth. Which these characters lack.

Another thing that bothered me was that there is just not enough worldbuilding. Things happen and we get just enough info for context, but it feels like those painted backgrounds on stage, they give a good enough illusion, but they are still a far cry from being real. It didn’t help to get myself immersed.

The Cleaving, in the end, proved to be a disappointment for me. It’s a shame, because I wanted to like it, and it seemed for a while that I might, but in the end, it seemed to be better to part ways. If you like Arthurian legends, and feminist retellings, then you might end up being a better audience for The Cleaving than I.

Another book that sounded exceptional and unfortunately fell far short.

First of all, what an amazing cover for this book! The premise? Chef’s kiss! I love a feminine retelling of an ancient myth.

However, everything felt meh when I actually dove into the story. None of the characters felt like they had depth, the plot felt dry, and I was plain upset. If you’re going to do a revamping of lore right, it’s got to capture a reader’s heart and soul whilst being true to source material. It didn’t even seem like the author did her research on the timeframe in history.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, & Angry Robot for a copy, but I just couldn’t love this one!

The Cleaving is an absolutely fascinating book. Juliet McKenna, no stranger to fantasy, delves deep into the lives of the women of Arthurian mythology: Nimue, Ygraine, Morgana, and Guinevere. Each of them are made victims of fate and worse.

But McKenna allows them a strong voice and gives them agency together. The action is tense, the politics fascinating. But the relationships between the women make this book vibrant and vitalized. Nimue is a joy of a character and it is the strong characterization that keeps the reader going.

The Cleaving is a Arthurian retelling through the eyes of four women - Nimue and Morgana the enchantresses, as well as Ygraine and Guinevere the queens. While much of the story covers the familiar parts of Arthurian legend, we also get to see behind the scenes from the perspective of these four characters.

I enjoyed the different viewpoint of this novel, and McKenna writes in an engaging way. I will admit, my Arthurian knowledge is limited to the Disney version of The Sword in the Stone, so I can’t comment on accuracy. However, I definitely found this story interesting and easy to read, and I think it would definitely appeal to casual enjoyers (and maybe hardcore Arthurian aficionados too, who knows).

I did find it very plot-driven, and there wasn’t a whole lot of character development. I would have liked to become more invested in Nimue, and the other main characters as well, but I felt the same about her at the end as I did at the start.

Thanks to Angry Robot and NetGalley for providing me with a proof copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.

The Cleaving by Juliet E. McKenna is a feminist retelling of the Arthurian legends. It follows the intertwined stories of four women: Nimue, Ygraine, Morgana, and Guinevere as they fight to control their own destinies in a male-dominated world of sub-Roman Britain.

“Then let’s craft stories of our own. (…) Let’s tell tales of tragic folly when mortals get entangled with magic.
Let’s show how unearned power deceives and corrupts even those who have the best intentions. Let’s convince the people of these isles and beyond to look to their own strengths and to work with each other. To be the masters and mistresses of their own fates rather than blindly following the loudest voice.”

McKenna’s choice to (re)tell the Arthurian legend through the character of Nimue and focus on the characters of women is as intriguing as it is refreshing. By choosing to focus on the lives of Nimue, Ygraine, Morgana, and Guinevere and centre the story on them, instead of the usual (male) suspects (Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, the Knights of the Round Table, etc.), McKenna does not only brings a new perspective into the familiar Arthurian mythos but also breaths a new life into them.

However, despite the interesting new perspective McKenna brings to the Arthurian legend, the story itself is not the star of the show. Her version(s) of the characters are. The author’s skill is shown in their portrait, character development, actions, and interactions with others. A good example of that are the characters of Nimue and Merlin; McKenna masterfully compares and contrasts the two characters through their thoughts, desires, intentions, actions, and position in society. As an older man in a position of power (compared to Nimue), Merlin has more options available to him and he is able to openly use his magic without (much) censure. Nimue, on the other hand, is not; and the limits imposed on her by society and her social position determine her actions and approach to various events.

“Use your magic sparingly, and always with caution. You can never know what consequences might follow.”

 Interestingly enough, although the Arthurian mythos contains a wealth of morally reprehensible (male) characters (Uther Pendragon being one such example) McKenna never (ab)uses their vile behaviour nor does she bash these male characters to show her female protagonist in a better, more sympathetic light. All of her characters are human, imperfect, and imbued with virtues and flaws. Some of them are repulsive, their actions irredeemable and the readers will most likely despise them. The majority of them are in the morally grey territory and the readers’ sympathy will depend on the reader themselves. All are well-written, nuanced characters that enrich this retelling.

The Cleaving is a wonderful, masterfully written novel that gives a new perspective to a familiar legend. Readers, regardless of their level of familiarity with Arthurian mythos, will most certainly enjoy the beautiful prose and excellent characters. The Cleaving is a resplendent book and certainly, a must-read for all mythology lovers.