Viking Books announced today the new novel from Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians trilogy: The Bright Sword, set after the fall of Camelot, which “will tell of the knights following in the wake of King Arthur, Sir Lancelot and others of the Round Table,” according to the publisher.
Instead of following Lancelot or Galahad, Grossman’s book will look at the characters on the fringes of Arthurian legend. Viking shared more information about the plot in a press release:
The Bright Sword is a novel of King Arthur unlike any other, which starts where most stories about King Arthur end: with the fall of Camelot. The king is dead, the legendary heroes like Lancelot and Galahad are gone. The only surviving knights are minor figures from the margins of Arthurian mythology. Together with Merlin’s rebellious apprentice, and a brilliantly talented young knight, this band of leftovers must fight to reforge their broken land, in spite of being broken themselves.
Like The Once and Future King and The Mists of Avalon, The Bright Sword radically reimagines the Arthurian epic for a new era. This is a stranger and darker Arthur: a Camelot for the new millennium.
The era of King Arthur is “a strangely powerful lens,” Grossman said in a statement, for examining the present “and the way we live now.” Brian Tart, President and Publisher of Viking, said, “This unique and brilliant take on the King Arthur story could only come from the mind of Lev Grossman. I am thrilled that we will be publishing The Bright Sword at Viking.”
Viking controls North American rights, first serial, and audio. No publication date has yet been announced.
