I wonder what the king is doing tonight
So. It's been a little while since I last posted (a hint of what life might be like once I'm in grad school). But that doesn't mean I haven't been reading! It just means that between decorating, buying presents, and generally getting into the Christmas spirit, things are kinda busy.
But this book was a surprisingly engrossing read, which is why I finished it before Little Women and The Market. It was a recent purchase, a cheap treat for myself courtesy of Half-Price Books. It'd caught my interest months ago, and stuck out primarily because this seemed to be a Meg Cabot book that dealt with fantasy.
Ellie has just moved to Annapolis, outside of Washington, D.C., because her professor parents are taking a sabbatical to write a book about the legends of King Arthur and the sword Excaliber. Ellie would much rather spend her time floating in their new pool, going out for track at Avalon High, and finding out more about Will Wagner - the most popular and friendly guy in school. And even though he has the perfect girlfriend, cheerleader Jennifer Gold, for some reason Will seems interested in Ellie - he drops by her house unexpectedly, laughs at her jokes, and finds himself pouring out his heart to her. She likes that they're good friends and wouldn't dream of revealing that she's badly crushing on him, since he has enough problems of his own, like a strained relationship with his dad and a trouble-making stepbrother. But being the daughter of two intense academics, Ellie begins to recognize the parallels between her high school and Arthurian legend, especially as events grow more dramatic and distressing. And if any of it's true, it might mean that Ellie is playing the part of the Lady of Shalott, a woman who fell tragically in love with Lancelot. Ellie's not about to stand for any of that.
Overall, this is a fun, interesting reinterpretation of the story of the fall of Camelot with a sensible, strong main character. Ellie is funny and not annoying, and my favorite of the three Meg Cabot books I've read. Will also makes a strong impression as the guy who seems to have it all, but is struggling with the drama in his life; the way he talks to Ellie is sweet and realistic, and makes him more genuine. He has no actual faults, though I can't tell if this is because of Cabot's sloppy writing or because he is meant to be the reincarnation of King Arthur. Once again, I found that there was something off about the pacing of the story, but it wasn't that bothersome. And I appreciated the twist at the end regarding Ellie's role in the unfolding drama. Cabot was obviously trying to make Ellie as active as the Lady of Shalott was passive, and she succeeded very well.
But getting back to another point, I find that her style of writing is so generic and boring that it drags down the story. She's a big fan of fractured sentences and paragraphs that are only one sentence long. This is a lazy trick to build the suspense, and it loses its effect if it's used too much (like, every few pages). I realize the all authors have a writing style that shows up in every book they write, but it makes Cabot's heroines seem very similar to each other, so they don't sound like they have distinctive personalities. Yes, all teen girls think and worry about the same things, more or less, but they do so in different ways. The dialogue is a lot like this - everyone here speaks the same way; there's a part where one of Ellie's teachers is explaining something to her and at some points he uses the same words and rhythm that Ellie does. It's distracting and confusing, pulling the reader out of the story. Still, I like that Cabot chose to write a book that didn't center around the importance of popularity or looks.
Rating: 3.5 pool rafts out of 5.