Kiersten White breathes new life into the Arthurian legend with her latest reimagining, The Guinevere Deception, which brings Guinevere into the spotlight. (Minor spoilers.)

Once more, Kiersten White remains on brand with her newest retelling, The Guinevere Deception, which is the first book in a new series based off of the Arthurian legend but brings Guinevere to the forefront of the famous Camelot epic. In doing so, Kiersten White reigns supreme in her ability to write refreshing retellings of epic legends and stories.

This isn’t Kiersten’s first, or second, young adult reimagining. She knows how to take something well known and turn it on its head, making it feel brand new and never done before. Her words are spellbinding and never fail to completely sweep me away into worlds where I thought I knew what I was in store for, but always surprises me.

The Guinevere Deception is no different. In fact, it’s probably my favorite book of hers to date. Not only that, but The Guinevere Deception may very well be my favorite Arthurian retelling period.

One doesn’t necessarily have to be all knowing about the Arthurian legend to get into The Guinevere Deception. Much like her Slayer series, Kiersten does an amazing job integrating important information into the storyline without too much exposition or lengthy information drops.

If anything, The Guinevere Deception is different enough that even if you do know the Arthurian legend like the back of your hand, this new take is unique and refreshing, considering most retellings are still centered around Arthur or Merlin. Kiersten threw that out the window as well by giving Guinevere her chance to shine.

Recently on Twitter Kiersten talked about how hard it was to try to find a unified narrative to work off of, since she kept as historically accurate a timeline as she could for her And I Darken and the rest of The Conqueror’s Saga.

Likewise, she kept as faithful as she could to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with her sinister reimagining The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, which she won a Bram Stoker Award for!

The Arthurian legends, much like that of Robin Hood, are vast and all have very different variations to their narratives. Therefore, she mentioned that she couldn’t be faithful to any of them, which I love. She took the Arthurian legends and made it her own, borrowing small bits and pieces to many, as well as building her own by making Guinevere a changeling.

One of my favorite things about The Guinevere Deception is why Guinevere, or the girl who calls herself Guinevere, has come to Camelot to protect its protector. Not only that, but she marries him in order to keep up a pretense. Arthur is in on it, and it’s so endearing, I’m trying not to think about how the Arthurian legends tend to end. Arthur is a true delight, and we can’t help but fall for him right alongside Guinevere.

The usual cast of characters are all present, but in the most unexpected ways. Everyone from Mordred to Lancelot, play a new and exciting part of the Camelot Rising series, where roles are reversed and connections may change, but the feeling remains: Camelot, its knights, and magic are integral to Arthurian legend and Kiersten keeps them that way.

Magic is banned, much like most Arthurian narratives that I’ve read and watched, but there is more to it than a basic “magic is bad” premise, giving The Guinevere Deception depth and minor plot twists I didn’t see coming. In a way, knowing even minor plot points of Arthurian legends and his Knights of the Round Table may throw you off the scent of what’s really going on in this reimagining.

Kiersten keeps us on our toes, which I can only imagine gives her a sense of glee as she watches her readers essentially run around screaming in both joy and agony as we turn to the final page of The Guinevere Deception and realize that it’s just that: the end.

While we have a ways to wait for the second book in the Camelot Rising series, which is so far unnamed, (she finished line editing last week for book two!) there are plenty of other amazing reimagings by her that can be read or reread as we wait!

If you haven’t had a chance to check out The Conqueror’s Saga, a reimagining of Vlad the Impaler where Vlad is actually a girl named Lada, you should add it to your To-Be-Read immediately.

Think about it for a moment: Vlad the Impaler was known for his atrocities, so how much more gruesome will those actions become when read through the eyes of a gender bent Vlad and their brother, Radu.

I wrote about 10 historically accurate facts that I found throughout the Conqueror’s Saga, which blew me away when I realized just how seated in reality Lada’s actions were throughout the series.

I mentioned her Slayer series, which is her series based in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe that takes place directly after the final episode of the TV series. The next book in the Slayer series, Chosen comes out in January 2020, so you have time to either read Slayer for the first time, or reread it in time for the release of Chosen!

Related: 10 historical facts interwoven within Kiersten White’s completed Conqueror’s Saga, New ‘Slayer’ book series breathes new life into the ‘Buffyverse’, ‘The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein’ captures essence of its origin