god forbid a woman have hobbies

Morgan’s character drew me in really quickly, and kept me hooked for the entire book. The book itself does a lot of world building and contextualising, as it’s the first of a trilogy (I think).

This is a debut and it reads as such: there are rough patches and the book falls too much on telling instead of showing. As such, a lot of elements fall flat for me, as they don’t seem to be organic developments, but more so “because that’s what the script says.” 

A lot of the romances in this book were very insta-love, but a lot of page time was devoted to them. Since the romances didn’t really change, it made for a bit of a boring read. 

Speaking of things that didn’t change, most of the characters were rather flat and one-dimensional. Our protagonist, Morgan, doesn’t really have a character arc. To be honest, a lot of her character felt very modern—which contrasted with everyone else acting more “medieval.”

At one point, she says something about not wanting to be sold to the highest bidder, which just felt out of place with the setting.

 

I’m a big fan of the Arthurian mythos, and as such, tend to read anything that comes out in relation to it. This retelling didn’t really offer a fresh take on the mythos. If you have read The Mists of Avalon (ignoring MZB, if you can, for a second), this reads like a flat rendition of that book. The most unique element of this book, in comparison to other retellings, was

the convent element. I liked the way her time in the convent was portrayed: a place of learning and refuge, a mix of scholarship and religion. It reminded me a bit of The Book of Gothel in that sense.

The other element that I really enjoyed was

how Arthur and all of those going-ons were shoved off to the side. Guinevere isn’t named in this book; it’s just presented as “Arthur suddenly got married for love.” This also goes for Mordred—we can see how both Arthur and Morgause know about this, and her child is described as blonde, but there is nothing that Morgan knows about the situation.

If you are looking for something you can breeze through in a couple hours, maybe pick this up, but if you are looking for something fresh, I’d skip this one. 

I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't necessarily this. The author refers to it as a "feminist retelling" and I don't know if I necessarily see it that way? If it is it is very much not intersectional feminism and lives more in a women's lib type vain of feminism. I also see the author tweeted this is a planned trilogy, which I didn't know going in, but makes sense with the pacing. This is very slow and it isn't until near the end that Morgan actually takes some action and things in the plot stop happening to her and her making things happen. 

The synopsis is basically noble born girl who loves her quiet secure life and her father has her whole life turned upside down. Her father dies and she ends up with a cruel stepfather who just wants her gone. Unfortunately, he's king and she's just a woman in medieval times, so she has no say in anything. She rebels under the threat of death and gets sent to a nunnery where she makes her first true friend. She is called back to be wed and shit starts getting even worse from there. 

Basically, cruel man after cruel man is presented to her. Perhaps that is the feminist angle? I did like that Morgan is a healer and has a very strong ability in it which is consistently shunned, first as being of the devil and second as being unbecoming. Her best friend though is very much supportive of it and helps her out quite a bit. However, for the fact that she is her best friend there isn't a whole lot of them actually being friends. This is kind of an artifact of the narrative style and first person, but Alice still feels kind of empty. I felt that we know more about Arthur's nature once he is revealed than we do about Alice or Tressa (I am hoping that is the spelling because I just had the audiobook). For a feminist retelling the men are described in detail while the women are not so much? Save for the woman we see with Merlin the first time he is introduced. Most of the women in the story are cruel to each other, cold and callus. It was kind of exhausting. 

Near the end when Morgan finally starts taking charge, which I kind of hate the inciting event for this, it started to pick up a bit. The pacing increased, the detail in which things were described changed and Morgan started using her abilities and her rank to her favor. I will probably pick up the rest when they come out but I am disappointed to have this as my first Arthurian tale. Especially with how much I loved the BBC Merlin show. I think I may have to go back to the OG feminist Arthurian retelling: The Mists of Avalon and give that one a go. 

“‘My name is Morgan,’ I said. ‘And there aren’t enough words for all that I am.’”

I adored Morgan is My Name from the very first page. The writing was so easy to enjoy and I felt compelled to read more of Morgan’s story – it was a really exciting promise of more to come.
Arthurian legend has traditionally been a story for men only, with brave knights and daring battles, but women do have a starring role in many ways. I was glad to see one of the women in the light, but I was also pleased with the glimpses of a young, loving Arthur who Morgan was able to be a sister to.
I enjoyed following Morgan from childhood through to adulthood. Her temper grew with her, but grew to become more resilience and determination to do right for herself and those she cares for. I loved following her through school, as she discovered skills and learning she was passionate about. We got to see glimpses of her magic, which will surely only get better with time and the space to practise.
She wasn’t a villain in this, but I can’t wait to see how she might become one – or if she even will, as it seems to have been the male-told stories that have painted her as a villain in the past.