NetGalley Review: Morgan is My Name by Sophie Keetch
Hey all, Sam here.
It is a gloomy Sunday, mixed with occasional spurts of rain…and that is making me feel quite sleepy. I know I’ve had several days of less than ideal sleep, but the past few days I’ve ended up taking random afternoon naps and it is throwing my whole schedule into chaos. So, not my favorite thing to deal with. I’m actually brewing a pot of coffee right now in the hopes that it will help me wake up a bit so I can prep up posts for the next few days.
I’m still waiting to hear back from the new job about when I can actually start my training. I turned in my application last Tuesday, got called for the interview on Thursday, turned in all my paperwork and completed the orientation videos on Friday…and now I’m waiting. I know the boss wanted to try and get me started Tuesday or Wednesday, so we’ll see what happens.
But it basically means I am trying to get some of the blog posts drafted just in case the changes to my schedule affect my usual blogging schedule. I don’t think I’ll have to miss days or anything, but I’ll probably have to figure out a new schedule for me to get all the posts typed up.
Anyway, let’s talk about books. I have another NetGalley book review ready for today, and this book will be released on June 13 in the US, so let’s get started.
My Thoughts
An atmospheric, feminist retelling of the early life of famed villainess Morgan le Fay, set against the colourful chivalric backdrop of Arthurian legend.
When King Uther Pendragon murders her father and tricks her mother into marriage, Morgan refuses to be crushed. Trapped amid the machinations of men in a world of isolated castles and gossiping courts, she discovers secret powers. Vengeful and brilliant, it’s not long before Morgan becomes a worthy adversary to Merlin, influential sorcerer to the king. But fighting for her freedom, she risks losing everything – her reputation, her loved ones and her life.
Rating: 4 stars
This is not my first Morgan le Fay story read this year. I also read The Cleaving by Juliet E. McKenna, which I also gave 4 stars, but if I had to rank these books against each other, Morgan is My Name would rank higher. It was easier to read and easier to connect with the characters. Actually, some of my rating for this book is because by the time the book ended, I felt like it was really just getting started and I wanted more.
I feel like this book deserves a sequel so we can get more of Morgan’s story and life, particularly now that King Arthur is in the story, and I’d love to see more of the relationship between the two characters.
A vast majority of this book deals with Morgan’s life from around age 7 to her mid-20s, mostly covering that time when Uther Pendragon stakes his claim to Morgan’s mother, marries off her sisters to other tribal kings in the area in exchange for soldiers, and basically asserts his dominance as man and “High King.” You can tell a bit what kind of man he is because he always calls Morgan by the name Morgana instead.
But Morgan is strong-willed and wild and defiant when she feels the need to be. She takes lessons, first from the local priest, and then after she is sent away to a nunnery, she takes even more lessons there, where she shows great skill in knowledge and in the laying on of hands, also known as healing arts. She even bonds with another Lady at the nunnery, Alys, who becomes a close friend and confidant. (Side note…Alys has a relationship with another young lady in the book, and Morgan is happy for the both of them, that they have each other and have a good and true “marriage” to each other)
There’s hints of happy romance in the story (I’m mad about how that turned out, because I wanted a resolution and it never happened), as well as magic, but mostly it is Morgan and the other women around her trying and fighting to take up space in the world, and to have some control and agency in their own lives. When Uther marries Morgan off, her husband seems at least halfway decent, but in the years that follow, it becomes clear that he is not nearly so nice.
I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’m not going to say much more, but Arthur doesn’t even show up until like 80% of the way through the book. Before that the book felt both interesting and at times slow. But by the time Morgan is starting to embrace and fight for her power more and her half-brother shows up with his desire for change and to build something new, I was really getting drawn in to the point where the end was disappointing…and not because it was bad. Just because it was there at all. I wanted more. I wanted to see what would happen with Morgan and Arthur, because Arthur listened to Morgan and thought her to be wise.
So, yeah, I want a sequel. I want to see how Sophie Keetch would handle interpreting the rest of the Arthurian legend. I want to see more of Morgan and Arthur and Merlin and the Lady of the Lake.
Well, that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
