The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

Published by Viking on July 16, 2024

The Bright Sword takes place at the end of the time of magic. King Arthur is believed to be dead. Without his guidance, Britain is changing. Change is irreversible, but the future can be shaped. The few remaining knights of the Round Table feel a duty to choose Arthur’s successor and to defend Camelot from attack by lesser kings.

After the battle in which Arthur was lost, the Round Table is 94 knights short of a quorum. Having failed to save Arthur, Lancelot is living in a monastery, where he plans to spend his life in total seclusion. He is trying to atone for his many sins. Canoodling with Queen Guinevere seems to be high on that list.

The rollicking story begins with and focuses upon young Callum, who journeys to Camelot with a plan to beg Arthur for a position as a knight at the Round Table. Callum acquits himself in an unexpected encounter with a knight as he travels to Camelot. The knight’s identity, when finally revealed, fits well within the tradition of Arthurian tales.

Callum is dismayed to learn of Arthur’s death. The surviving knights seem to have lost their purpose. Britain has been forced into an early version of Brexit by the loss of its unifying force. Competing claims for the throne distress the knights, who aren’t used to making nakedly political decisions.

After winning a challenge, Callum is invited to join the group and to undertake new quests that will eventually determine Britain’s leadership. Adventures ensue, including encounters with magicians, giants, gods, the Lady of the Lake, and other characters drawn from Arthurian legend. From jousting competitions to farmers armed with pitchforks running across a field toward knights in armor, Lev Grossman assures that action scenes will keep the story from dragging. Yet the novel’s real interest lies more in its characters than in their adventures.

Backstories occupy much of the plot. We learn how Callum acquired the skills of a knight when he wasn’t being abused by his employer. We learn about the eventful lives of Sir Bedivere, Sir Dinadan, Sir Dagonet, Sir Constantin, and Sir Scipio. Gawain plays a small role in the story, but it’s appropriate for some of the lesser knights to enter the spotlight.

The knights were a diverse bunch. Bedivere’s physical longing for Arthur explains his loyalty. We hear less about the well-known past of Sir Lancelot, but we see him in the present, where living up to his legend proves to be his greatest challenge.

We don’t hear much about Merlin’s past but he plays a key role, often in battle with his former apprentice, Nimue. The story’s gossipy style exposes Nimue’s plan to seduce one of the knights. Whether she needed the assist of magic is not quite clear, even to Nimue.

The most interesting backstory belongs to Sir Palomides. The former prince of Baghdad is more intellectual than the other knights. Still, he found the struggle between Islam and Christianity to be less troublesome than his struggle for the love of Isolde.

By the end, most characters are transformed by adventures that expose them to miracles and force them to do (or attempt) great deeds. Just when it seems that their lives will normalize, along comes another invasion. That’s British history in a nutshell. “Change is the only certainty.” That’s also the ultimate lesson that the reader — like each character — is invited to internalize.

Yet the novel’s most profound question is one a knight contemplates in the moments before his death: “why it should be that we are made for a bright world, but live in a dark one.” In that respect, the world of Arthur parallels and continues to illuminate the modern world.

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