Damosel: In Which the Lady of the Lake Renders a Frank and Often Startling Account of her Wondrous Life and Times

by Stephanie Spinner

book data

38 ratings, 3.13 average rating, 18 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		15%
4		18%
3		28%
2		36%
1		0%

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published

October 14th 2008 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

binding

Library Binding, 198 pages

isbn

0375936343 (isbn13: 9780375936340)

description

WATER SPIRIT DAMOSEL, the Lady of the Lake, glides through Arthurian legend like a glamorous wraith, shimmering and shifting between the worlds of fai...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 85)

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01/27/09

Rachel rated it:

Read in January, 2009

It’s not often that I just don’t know what to make of a book, that I just don’t get it. But that is how I feel about Damosel. It is a story of Arthur, Guenivere, Lancelot, etc. told from the perspective of Damosel – the Lady of the Lake, and Twixt - a court dwarf and jester.

The writing is excellent. At two hundered pages, my original thought was that it is intended for a younger audience, but the word craft seemed geared toward adults.

The story of Arthur is tol...more

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12/19/08

Jennifer Wardrip rated it:

(review of isbn 0375836349)

bookshelves: trt-reviews

Reviewed by Jennifer Rummel for TeensReadToo.com

Damosel plays by the rules.

The Lady of the Lake creates the sword Excalibur for Merlin's new champion. Damosel doesn't like crowds, so when she receives an invitation to Camelot, she sends her cousin, Nimue, instead.

Nimue craves power and she finds herself drawn to Merlin. When Merlin teaches her a powerful spell, she traps him in a cave with magic.

With Merlin out of the picture, Camelot could be i...more

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04/09/09

Odette rated it:

Read in April, 2009

Honestly, if this book hadn't been so short, I would have stopped reading it after the first twenty pages or so. Though I didn't, it took me a lot longer than it should have to read it, possibly because it was simply uninteresting. It tells the story of King Arthur from the point of view of the Lady of the Lake and a dwarf. Seems like a fine premise to me. Unfortunately, it does this in an incredibly boring way.

The Lady of the Lake spends most of her time away from court, so she ...more Honestly, if this book hadn't been so short, I would have stopped reading it after the first twenty pages or so. Though I didn't, it took me a lot longer than it should have to read it, possibly because it was simply uninteresting. It tells the story of King Arthur from the point of view of the Lady of the Lake and a dwarf. Seems like a fine premise to me. Unfortunately, it does this in an incredibly boring way.

The Lady of the Lake spends most of her time away from court, so she only learns about events later. The dwarf's parts are a bit better, but then only a bit. I think a major flaw is that there is nothing new that we learn about the story at all. Everything that occurs is exactly what happens in the general Arthur story, and at this point, if you're going to tell Arthur again, you need to do something different.

Besides this, the diction is sometimes very informal or strange, to the point that it feels almost like a gimmick. The Lady frequently refers to "rules" that ladies of lakes have to follow, which is fine. Magic can have rules. But the rules are so bizarre (such as the rule of two and a half, where she has to follow the request of two and a half people, no matter what it is) that they don't seem quirky, as I think the point of them was, and just seem stupid.

Finally, the villains were not fleshed out at all. In the Arthurian saga, this is one really easy thing to do to make the villains interesting. This didn't happen. We're told that Morgause and Morgan hate Arthur, but we're never told why. Then Mordred hates Arthur, too, simply because his mother told him to. All this might work, since the book is geared to a slightly younger YA audience (or at least felt that way), but it's all completely undermined at the end, when Morgan suddenly has a change of heart, becomes remorseful, and brings Arthur to Avalon. While in general I love Morgan's redemption, it was done so poorly here that even I didn't like it. There was no apparent reason for her sudden switch to the good side of things, and even the Lady says that it doesn't appear she's really changed at all.

Potentially good (if somewhat cliché) premise; horribly executed.(less)

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03/10/09

Allison rated it:

bookshelves: j-fantasy, ya-fantasy

Read in March, 2009

Damosel is the Lady of the Lake. She accepts Merlin's challenge to forge Excaliber, and to watch over Arthur when he is imprisoned by her sly cousin, Nimue. There are also some bits about a Dwarf.

I was dissapointed by this book. I really was expecting more. It read like an introductory manual to the world of King Arthur. The moral was pretty simple- "learn the rules before you break them, which makes you happy but will probably cause some major screw up IE failing Camelot."...more

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03/30/09

Connie rated it:

bookshelves: 2009, ya-fantasy

Read in April, 2009

This is the Arthurian legend from the fresh perspective of the Lady of the Lake and a 17 year old dwarf named Twixt. Chapters alternate between the first person narratives of the two. Damosel provides the magical perspective in a world that is rapidly losing its magic and Twixt provides 1st person perspective from Arthur's court where he resides as court jester. Set in 6th century Britain this retains the historical elements of the Arthurian legend as well as keeping it magical. I loved it a...more

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01/17/09

Megan rated it:

Read in December, 2008

There's a lot of wit in this book - I'm not sure some of the other readers have a sense of humor. Although earmarked for young adults, it may require an extra allotment of sophistication from the reader.

DAMOSEL is full of startling images and imaginative takes on a familiar legend. The immediacy of the narrations makes the distant past very immediate.

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06/09/09

Susan rated it:

bookshelves: arthurian, read_and_review, ya_fantasy

Spinner's version of the Arthurian legend is slight and ethereal. A reader with no previous knowledge of the stories is going to have a very hard time piecing together characters and motivations. Narrative duties are shared with Twixt, a dwarf, which adds nothing to the tale. Important events are often related second-hand, robbing them of impact.

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10/01/08

Lacey rated it:

bookshelves: arthurian, fantasy, retelling, youngadultfantasy

Read in December, 2008

So, this is hands down the most boring retelling of Arthurian legend I've ever read. It didn't even hit 200 pages, and it took me six weeks to read. I spent a lot of the book wondering why someone had even written it. It doesn't really bring anything new to the Arthurian legend except the first instance in which a court jester has played a part in the story (I think). Although the author's intent in writing this was to make sense of the Lady of the Lake's rather ambiguous role, it would have bee...more

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12/31/08

Oneheron added it

Read in July, 2008

This book, meant for teens, is a great read for any adult who hankers for new nuggets of the Arthur Legend. Who wouldn't like to know more about the creature who furnished the King his sword? Author Spinner obviously researched well and, there is no doubt, the reader will keep turning pages for her tale well told!

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05/10/09

Fashiongirlgoldberg rated it:

I'm not giving it two star because I thought it was an exceptionally horrible book, I'm giving it one star because it was an exceptionally boring book. I couldn't even finish it, and I am some one who almost always finish's books. I really was hoping to get hooked, but on chapter five, I just gave up.

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01/05/09

Patricia rated it:

Read in December, 2008

Good Arthurian legend story, about how the Lady of the Lake makes Excalibur and then how she must promise to help him, particularly after Merlin is imprisoned underground by her cousin Nimue.

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01/20/09

Brandi Rae rated it:

bookshelves: 2009, january, young-adult-fiction

Read in January, 2009

Interesting, but not the most exciting book. For teens looking for different points of view of King Arthur; it would pair will with Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell.

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12/13/08

Jenny rated it:

bookshelves: arthurian, fantasy, teen, teen-2008

Read in December, 2008

Damosel is the Lady of the Lake in this retelling of the legend of King Arthur.

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11/21/08

SpeedReader rated it:

bookshelves: arthurian-midieval, didn-t-finish

Read in March, 2009

This is a very interesting idea for a story, but it didn't keep my attention. About 1/4 of the way in, I was forcing myself to keep going. By the time I was 1/2 way in, I had skipped several pages several times, hoping I would get more interested in the story. But I didn't. So I'm done forcing myself to keep reading. I didn't really know anything about the Lady of the Lake in the King Arthur legends, other than she was in them. And after reading 1/2 of this book, I still don't really know ...more

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04/12/08

Ink Mage rated it:

bookshelves: camelot, read-in-2008

Read in November, 2008

I liked this better once I realized that there were two narrators and not just a mental author, but it still wasn't that good. Damosel's story was mainly her hearing stories about Arthur, so it told the legend (and of course the most common one of Guinevere and Lancelot's love, and Mordred and Morgan le Fay's betrayal) in a slightly different way.
I would rather that it have been a more original story about the Lady of the Lake, and only have her part in the giving of Excalibur being mentio...more

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01/11/09

Miss Clark rated it:

bookshelves: fairytale-fantasy-sci-fi-mythology

Read in February, 2009

Well, neat idea. Nothing much done with it. I would have been far more interested in more about the Ladies of the Lakes and their society and existence and instead we are forced to deal with a paltry retelling of Arthur's tragic story and ugh, did we really need another one of those? No, no we did not. Not recommneded unless you are a Camelot/Arthurian die hard.

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03/02/09

Mary rated it:

bookshelves: fantasy, historical

Read in March, 2009

Very nice touch--recounts the Arthurian story from the viewpoint of the Lady of the Lake. First person is often annoying but in this book, it works.

Teen or adults.

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