Here Lies Arthur - Philip Reeve
The title is a pun! I didn't pick up on it right away, but it totally is!
Here Lies Arthur is a retelling of the Arthur legends of ancient Britain, from the perspective of Gwyna, a young girl who becomes the assistant of Myrddin (Merlin). But rather than tell the stories in a 'straight-forward' way, Here Lies Arthur creates whole new versions: deconstructed, demythologised, and with Arthur nowhere near as heroic or noble. In fact, the Arthur of legend is shown to be a creation of Myrddin, who tells tales of Arthur's exploits to build him up and make him seem more heroic, hoping to unite all of England behind him to drive out the Saxon invaders. The 'real life' Arthur of the book doesn't deserve this praise; he is violent, stubborn, set in his ways and only out for his own rewards.
Other characters too are reimagined. Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere) is a 'pale heron' of a woman, whom Arthur never really loves, and only marries for political reasons. Cei (Kay) is a more noble figure, only portrayed as boorish by Myrddin's stories to create a contrast to Arthur. The hall that is supposed to house the round table is flawed and falls down during a storm without ever having been properly used. And Gwyna herself plays the role of the lady of the lake, creating a myth and 'magic' intentionally to make Arthur seem even more legendary.
It's all very interesting, but the main focus of the book isn't even on the Arthur legends. Rather, we keep our focus almost entirely of Gwyna. She is our narrator, and has a complex role to play. For safety reasons, Myrddin disguises her as a boy when she is younger, then installs her as a maid to Gwenhwyfar when she is too old to be disguised any more. After Gwenhwyfar falls in love with another man (also told differently to the original legends), Gwyna returns to Myrddin for a short while, before once again disguising herself as a boy and heading off to battle. This last choice is done to support one of Gwyna's friends, a boy who has grown up in the opposite lie to Gwyna, having been disguised as a girl by his mother to avoid being dragged off to war.
Does all of this sound complicated? It kinda is, and yet I really enjoyed the book. It does have a lot of violence, and a bit more nudity than you might expect from a kid's book, but it is successful in what it tries to do: looking at how myth replaces truth, looking at the ways in which our upbringing can influence or behaviour, and even looking at some of the gender norms of our day through the eyes of another time and culture.
In some ways this is a similar theme to the one found in Adam-2, but I prefer the world, story and characters of Here Lies Arthur far more.
Completed 14 March 2025.
(2025 Reading Challenge - "Ancient Times")
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