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Cursed

by Thomas Wheeler and Frank Miller — 26 Oct 2020

Another needless, tiresome and convoluted spin on Arthurian legend. On a positive note, the book had some lovely illustrations by the always excellent Frank Miller

I read a review online which eseentially said:

Cursed is an overloaded, bloated mess that promises a unique spin on classic Arthurian legends, but does nothing to fulfil those promises, is bursting at the seams with unnecessary garbage, and completely betrays nearly all of its source material to an unforgivable degree.

I believe this reviewer was not strong enough in their criticism. The story promises some measure of interest in the opening chapters because the refreshing perspective, that of the lady of the lake. But that interest entirely squandered because of the way it strays from source material, and builds up all the established characters in entirely contrived and ridiculous ways.

I struggled to finish this book. I found it slow and not exciting. I couldn’t connect to the main character and had a hard time staying focused on what was going on. There were no reference points, no character growth seen even in the key protagonists (or at least, what should have been the key protagonists).

Perhaps the only thing which kept me going was the beautiful artwork.