Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Diversion Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Britain is reeling in the wake of Uther’s death. Prophecy declares that his true heir will draw the sword from the stone and unite the realm—but Uther has no acknowledged children. So when a young page in attendance at the memorial tournament succeeds where the kingdom’s strongest knights have failed, shock sweeps through the crowd. Yet the greatest upheaval is still to come, driven by his half-sisters: Morgan, the high priestess, and Morgause, the queen regent. Blood may be thicker than water, but what happens when your own blood is determined to destroy you?
The Sisters and the Sword is the latest novel from Sam Davey and the second entry in The Pendragon Prophecy series. Davey reimagines the Arthurian legend through a feminist lens, shifting focus toward the women so often pushed to the margins of Camelot retellings. The result is a story that blends the enchantment and intrigue readers expect from Arthurian fiction with morally fraught characters whose choices drive the novel’s darkest turns.
I give The Sisters and the Sword 3 out of 5 stars. I appreciated the ambition of this retelling and its fresh perspective on familiar mythology, but the pacing and structure did not fully work for me. Early on, the narrative feels distanced from Arthur, then shifts heavily toward him near the end, which made it difficult to find a steady emotional throughline. I also found some of the timeline jumps unclear, and at times I had to reread sections to make sure I hadn’t missed a transition.
Because the novel includes incest, sexual and physical violence against a young woman, and other scenes of brutality, it is best suited to mature readers ages 16 and up. This is the second book in the series, but it can be read as a standalone. Readers who enjoy lush, dark fantasy retellings such as A Court of Thorns and Roses or Paula Lafferty’s The Once and Future Queen may want to add this one to their list.
The Sisters and the Sword is scheduled for release on June 30, 2026. Readers interested in this dark Arthurian retelling can preorder a copy now in our Bookshop store.
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