Review: Spear by Nicola Griffith (a genderbent Arthurian retelling)

The girl knows she has a destiny before she even knows her name. She grows up in the wild, in a cave with her mother, but visions of a faraway lake come to her on the spring breeze, and when she hears a traveler speak of Artos, king of Caer Leon, she knows that her future lies at his court.
And so, brimming with magic and eager to test her strength, she breaks her covenant with her mother and, with a broken hunting spear and mended armour, rides on a bony gelding to Caer Leon. On her adventures she will meet great knights and steal the hearts of beautiful women. She will fight warriors and sorcerers. And she will find her love, and the lake, and her fate.

You all know I love a good retelling right? So obviously when TorDotCom asked me to review Spear by Nicola Griffith, I couldn’t say no. I hadn’t read anything by this author before, but now I will definitely be looking forward to more from her. And picking up her backlist works! Her prose is beautiful, and I love how she took Arthurian legend and made it genderbent and queer.

Admittedly I am not all too familiar with the Arthurian cannon. When I started reading this I didn’t know who our main character was supposed to be. The synopsis mentions Caer Leon and Artos – aka Arthur, so I knew those basics. When the name of our hero is revealed as Peretur, I did a little googling to familiarize myself with the story. I don’t think knowing her name or the history of the hero Percival is a spoiler. The legends are reasonably vague, and Griffith takes the stories and makes them her own.

However, I will say that this novella is probably more impactful for those who have some understanding of Arthurian legend. If you go into this without knowing anything, it can definitely still be a lovely story. It is just much richer if you know a little backstory. But not to worry – as I said, I myself am not an expert. The little I do know was enough to make this a great retelling for me.

One of the major strengths of this novella is Griffith’s prose. It is lyrical and enchanting, and really evokes the feeling of a tale from long ago. I almost felt like I was listening to someone tell a story at the fireside on a cool evening. It felt somewhat dreamy and had the weight of a story passed down for generations.

The other major strength is the addition of queerness to the traditional stories. Queer people have always existed and it feels right to include them in our legends and myths. I love the sapphic relationships and the side polyamory rep. I really hope that more folks follow the example of Griffith and retell the classics including the diversity of the real world.

Since this is a novella, I won’t get too length with the review. Spear is out on April 19th! And if you preorder it, you can get an awesome pin (check it out here).