Tristan and Lancelot Archives - The Blog That Nobody Knows

So last month, I unfortunately didn’t get to read as much as I’d wanted to. But I kind of expected that, what with going on vacation and all – it always completely destroys my schedule and productivity whenever I go out of town. Without fail. (Plus, I don’t read when during vacation. I dunno why.)

But it’s a new month, and I’ve got a good feeling about July. Heck, even though I haven’t posted as much as I’d have wanted to here so far this month, I’m posting Monthly Reading Wrap-Up for June 2024 within the first week of July, which is waayyy butter than last month. And I’ve got a solid TBR lined up of stuff I’ve been meaning to read that I’m excited about – not to mention whatever new releases catch my eye – so I think that this month’s reading is gonna be good.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get into my StoryGraph statistics from last month.

June Reading 2024

I read 2 books and 960 pages

😐 MOODS: Not as many Moods as in May, but that comes with reading less books. Adventurous was of course number one, as it always is. The other three Moods were Tense, Hopeful and Funny, and they were actually pretty equal on the chart.

👢 PACE: My books from last month were all either fast or medium paced.

🔢 PAGE NUMBER: Everything I read was between 300 and 700 pages.

📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: It was once again all fiction this month. As is usual.

🎭 GENRES: There weren’t as many Genres in June as there were in the month before. (Again, it comes with reading less.) The Genre king for last month was once again Fantasy as is almost always the case – I don’t think I’ve ever had a month where it wasn’t. The other four genres were Romance, Middle Grade, LGBT+ and Young Adult. (It bothers me that StoryGraph lumps in reading demographics with genres though – they’re not the same thing!!)

📄 FORMAT: This particular pie graph is once again wrong. (As usual.) All of the books that I read were ebooks.

⭐ RATING: My median star rating for last month was 4.0. The two ratings I gave were 3.0 stars and 5.0 stars, so 4.0 is exactly in between them.

📉 PAGES READ DAILY: I didn’t read as much as I’d have liked during June. The only days I read were the 7th and 8th, as well as the last three days of the month. June 28th thru the 30th was also my biggest reading spike.

The Books I Read in June

★★★☆☆ • my review

★★★★★ • my review

Wrapping Up the Wrap-Up

So yeah, June wasn’t the best month I’ve had this year in regards to reading books, but it certainly wasn’t the worst (I’m looking at you January and February). I’m excited about the books I’ve got on my TBR, and looking into the new releases as well.

As I’ve said, I’m really hoping that July is a good reading month. I’m starting the next arc of One Piece tonight, and I’m looking forward to reading the books that are out in the Legendborn Cycle and the Unorthodox Chronicles. And whatever comes out this month and catches my eye, of course.

Anyway, thanks for joining me in checking out my StoryGraph stats for my June reading in 2024. Thank you also for reading, and I hope you have an wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Tristan & Lancelot: A Tale of Two Knights (An Arthurian Love Story) by James Persichetti & L.S. Biehler

LENGTH: 336 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, YA, LGBT+, Graphic Novel, Fiction

PUBLISHER: HarperAlley

RELEASE DATE: 4 June 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In this queer reimagining of Arthurian legend, Knights of the Round Table Lancelot and Tristan set out on a quest to find the missing magician Merlin, but instead discover an unexpected romance. An inclusive, magical twist on the enduring legend of Arthur that is a tale for the ages.

Merlin is missing, and Camelot is under attack.

When King Arthur calls for aid, Morgan le Fay answers her estranged half brother’s plea—for a price. She’ll locate Merlin in exchange for the mysterious magical sapling their father bequeathed to Arthur on his passing. Much to her chagrin, Arthur insists on sending two Knights of the Round Table with her.

Sir Lancelot has carefully built himself a reputation as the most well-liked of Arthur’s knights, but he can’t crack quiet Tristan’s brooding exterior. Sir Tristan is silently battling a curse—one that has bound him to the lady Isolde against his will, and one he grows ever more desperate to break.

As the trio journeys through Albion, sparks begin to fly between the two knights. But before they can unravel the tangle of feelings and secrets between them, they will have to face a threat that could destroy all of Camelot—unless they and Morgan can learn to work together to destroy it first.

My Review

I love retellings. Fairytale, classic fiction, legends – it doesn’t matter. I love reading reinterpretations of old works, as well as stories based on or inspired by them.

Regarding Tristan & Lancelot: A Tale of Two Knights however… I found it very mid. It wasn’t even close to being a bad book, but I didn’t really enjoy it that much either. I guess it was just another book that wasn’t for me. The art is fantastic though – it was my favorite thing about the graphic novel! (I gave my rating an extra half-star because I loved it so much.)

Aside from the great art, I kind of felt that the rest of the stuff the novel had going for it was pretty meh. The characters were very, very basic and weren’t well defined, and the plot and “twists” were extraordinarily predictable. It just wasn’t a book that I super enjoyed. Also, the title is way too long.

This graphic novel also felt like a fanfiction, not gonna lie. (And I mean, technically I guess it was…) Especially with how the story was presented and the way it was written. There wasn’t really much to establish the background or world (because everyone knows about King Arthur and stuff right?), and it all felt kinda rushed. Like, I’m all for a fast paced adventure, but you gotta establish your world and characters first.

I also wasn’t sold on the romance. I never really understood what Lancelot initially saw in Tristan. The latter was mostly irritable and standoffish and didn’t interact with anyone if he could help it. Was it just because Tristan was hot? Because that’s not good enough for me sometimes when it comes to books and stuff. I need something more than that. And Lancelot spent a good amount of time mooning over Tristan for (what I felt) was seemingly nothing.

Morgan and Arthur’s slight animosity didn’t make sense to me after I finished reading A Tale of Two Knights either. Like, I get it, in Arthurian lore they’re antagonistic. But they didn’t really have a reason to be here. And the mystery of why they put each other off was one of the more interesting things about the novel, and I didn’t feel like it had a good payoff. Also, everything regarding the plot resolved just a little too nicely.

Anyway, I don’t really have anything else to say. This clearly wasn’t for me, but others might enjoy it. And the art was amazing.

As always, thank you for reading and have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Some Interactions I Liked

[Guinevere] “I miss being out in the field. And I miss having you around. Camelot could use you.”

[Morgan] “I’m here now. All it took was my brother’s kingdom to fall into utter chaos.”

[Arthur] “I do wish we could meet under better circumstances.”

[Guinevere] “Maybe if you had invited her for dinner every once in a while.”

[Arthur] “I…”

[Morgan] “Careful. It’s a long drop. And we don’t know what’s underneath the water.”

[Lancelot] “Don’t tell me. Something isn’t right about this place.”

[Morgan] “What gave it away?”

[Morgan] “It doesn’t matter where you come from… Or who you are… Or what you struggle with. You don’t do it because you’re a knight. You don’t do it for a title or glory or for Arthur to pat you on the back. I don’t do it just because I’m getting paid. We do it because it’s the right thing to do. It doesn’t matter who was born a peasant or noble. It doesn’t matter if I’m part fae or if I’ve lost most of my magic. We don’t get to sit around and mope.

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Monthly Wrap-Up: June Reading 2024