Kindle Price:	£4.80
Sold by:	Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.

We will pre-order your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships and Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

Juliet E. McKenna

The Cleaving Kindle Edition

by Juliet E. Mckenna (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.1 36 ratings

See all formats and editions

Amazon Price

New from

Used from

Kindle Edition

"Please retry"

£4.80

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

£9.19

£7.27

Kindle Edition
£4.80 Read with Our Free App
Paperback
£9.19

2 Used from £7.27 1 New from £9.19

Four women, four destinies – the future of King Arthur's court…

A fresh, feminist retelling of the Arthurian legends

The Cleaving is an Arthurian retelling that follows the tangled stories of four women: Nimue, Ygraine, Morgana, and Guinevere, as they fight to control their own destinies amid the wars and rivalries that will determine the destiny of Britain.

The legendary epics of King Arthur and Camelot don’t tell the whole story. Chroniclers say Arthur’s mother Ygraine married the man that killed her husband. They say that Arthur's half-sister Morgana turned to dark magic to defy him and Merlin. They say that the enchantress Nimue challenged Merlin and used her magic to outwit him. And that Arthur’s marriage to Guinevere ended in adultery, rebellion and bloodshed. So why did these women chose such dangerous paths?

As warfare and rivalries constantly challenge the king, Arthur and Merlin believe these women are destined to serve Camelot by doing as they are told. But men forget that women talk. Ygraine, Nimue, Morgana and Guinevere become friends and allies while the decisions that shape their lives are taken out of their hands. This is their untold story. Now these women have a voice.

File Under: Fantasy [ Once and Future | A Woman's Work | Out of the Shadows | Cutting Edge ]

Juliet E McKenna is an expert on medieval history and warfare and brings this expertise as well as her skills as a fantasy writer to this epic standalone novel.

Print length

407 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Angry Robot
Publication date

11 April 2023
File size

5023 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

Juliet E McKenna
438
Kindle Edition
1 offer from £4.99
T. Kingfisher
769
Kindle Edition
1 offer from £6.02
Juliet E. McKenna
734
Kindle Edition
1 offer from £4.99
Ian McDonald
99
Kindle Edition
1 offer from £0.99
Juliet E. McKenna
643
Kindle Edition
1 offer from £3.95
Martha Wells
1,788
Kindle Edition
1 offer from £0.77

From the Publisher

Product description

Review

"The Cleaving is an inspired reimagining of Arthurian myth told from the perspective of Nimue. Through her eyes we see how these well-known stories play out, giving a voice to the women whose stories we've only seen through the eyes of men. McKenna deftly weaves a mythological retelling that is grounded in historical reality and is perfect for fans of Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls and Anya Seton's Katherine."
- Shauna Lawless, author ofThe Children of Gods and Fighting Men

"McKenna's writing immediately makes readers identify with the characters, and the strength they draw together fights against the weight of helplessness."
- Booklist

"With this impressive fantasy, McKenna brings a fresh, female perspective to the story of King Arthur while retaining all the magic and grandeur of the original tale... Fans of Arthurian legend and female-centric retellings like Circe and Ariadne will find much to enjoy."
- Publishers Weekly

"McKenna tells a compelling new story from an old tale that is timely, giving the women of Arthur's heroic tale a voice and place in this world. Give to fans of Michael J. Sullivan and David Dalglish who appreciate stories with swordplay, revenge, and medieval adventure."
- Library Journal

ADDITIONAL PRASIE FOR JULIET E MCKENNA

"If you're not reading Juliet McKenna you should be"
- Kate Elliott

"The thinking fantasy reader's writer"
- Charles Stross

"Her many characters are thoroughly engaging and her plots tight"
- Joanne Harris

"McKenna creates real tension"
- Time Out

"Written with verve and style"
- SFX Magazine

"Magically convincing and convincingly magical"
- Dan Abnett

"If your appetite is for fantasy in the epic tradition, with compelling narratives, authentic combat and characters you care about, Juliet E McKenna is definitely the author for you" Stan Nicholls
"Everything just sings in these books."
- Charles de Lint in F&SF

--This text refers to the paperback edition.

About the Author

Juliet E. McKenna is the author of 15 epic fantasy novels set in the world of Einarinn, as well as several novellas and countless short stories ranging from SF to steampunk and alternate history. She has been a judge for the World Fantasy Awards, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the James White Award and the Aeon Award, and has, herself, been shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award and the BSFA Award for Best Novel. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B96NL726
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Angry Robot (11 April 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 5023 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 407 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 216,671 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 175 in Celtic, English & Welsh
- 188 in Celtic, English & Welsh Myths & Legends
- 354 in Folklore (Kindle Store)

Customer reviews:
4.1 36 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Juliet E. McKenna

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Juliet E McKenna is a British fantasy author living in the Cotswolds, UK. Loving history, myth and other worlds since she first learned to read, she has written fifteen epic fantasy novels so far. Her debut, The Thief's Gamble, began The Tales of Einarinn in 1999, followed by The Aldabreshin Compass sequence, The Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution, and The Hadrumal Crisis trilogy. The Green Man's Heir was her first modern fantasy rooted in British folklore, followed by The Green Man’s Foe, The Green Man’s Silence, The Green Man's Challenge and The Green Man's Gift. There will be more books in this series for as long as Juliet has new ideas, and readers are enjoying them. Her shorter stories include forays into dark fantasy, steampunk and science fiction. As well as reviewing for various magazines, she promotes SF&Fantasy by blogging on book trade issues, attending conventions and teaching creative writing. Her Arthurian novel The Cleaving will be published in April 2023.

www.julietemckenna.com

@JulietEMcKenna

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5

36 global ratings

5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from United Kingdom

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Tej Turner

Enjoyable book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 July 2023

Verified Purchase

An Arthurian novel told through the perspective of the women, and it manages to give them all agency whilst staying faithful to the much of the cannon. I don’t read historical fantasy based in our own world (or at least a legendary version of it) as it can be difficult to pull of but McKenna has clearly done her research and all the details are rich, consistent and help to bring this tale to life.

Helpful

Ioanna

A Fantastic feminist Arthurian retelling

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 August 2023

"The Cleaving" was such a treat! I was jumping up and down because I was so excited that I was selected to have an advanced reading copy of this book through NetGalley. Arthurian folklore but from the point of view of Nimue and focusing on the women’s stories of Camelot.

"The Cleaving" by Juliet E. McKenna is a feminist Arthurian retelling, that narrates the tangled stories of four famous mythological women: Nimue, Ygraine, Morgana, and Guinevere, as they fight to survive against the patriarchal, war torn Britain and determine their future, and the destiny of their land.

How I loved reading this book! Such a treat to get the early copy! I loved the characters, the pacing, the elements that were explored through the narrative. It had probably been nearly 10 years since I last read an Arthurian retelling, but this one re awakened in me the fascination I once held for that magical, mythical Camelot and the future it promised

I was especially drawn to two characters reading the novel. Ygraine, Arthur’s mother, and Guinevere, his wife and the Queen of Camelot. Their storylines mirrored each other even though I don’t think in the book the two women ever met. And yet, their stories were depicted differently. Ygraine was a major character in the first half of the book, which was dark and gruesome but had a sub element of fairytales amid all the injustices that happened to the Queen. In contrast, Guinevere suffered similarly to Ygraine in the second half, but the tone of her story had lost the magical fairytale element that dominated the first half. So, every injustice she experienced was more rooted in reality, as if the book slowly travelled from Britain’s mythological past to a more historical one.

I would absolutely recommend picking up The Cleaving. A grIat fit for those who love mythology or fairytale retellings. The writing is beautiful,and the s,ory takes you floating in this world, made of both myth and history.

Helpful

An interesting but enjoyable addition to Arthuriana

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 June 2023

For those who don't know, The Cleaving is a new retelling of the legend of British folk-hero, King Arthur. Told primarily from the point of view of Nimue, one of the more unfamiliar (and often overlooked) characters from the mythology, the narrative starts with Uther Pendragon, Arthur's less-than-heroic dad, claiming the title of High King of Britain, and then proceeds to tell a somewhat abridged version of a story that most fantasy readers should have at least a passing familiarity with.

This one is something of an interesting addition to the ever-growing pile of Arthuriana out there. It's a feminist retelling, so of course it's going to get compared to the likes of Mists of Avalon, but to be honest that would be like comparing Granny Smith apples to Conference pears; while they're both quite similar, they're adequately different enough that most people are going to prefer one over the other.

Likewise, the setting is delightfully anachronistic. A lot of Arthurian readers these days have come to expect some sort of historical accuracy in the retelling. With this one, the author bypasses that convention completely and goes back to a more traditional approach. Instead of 5th Century post Roman Britons in period-appropriate armour, we get the classic fully-armoured knights in shiny tin cans. The people are the English, Welsh, and Scots, even though those names weren't due to be used for a few centuries yet. It's refreshing to have an Arthurian tale that just focuses on the story, rather than trying to get bogged down in details and then losing the essence of a good narrative.

I have to admit, I was something of a fan of McKenna's writing before I picked this book up, and overall it didn't disappoint. It didn't quite grab me the same way her Green Man series has, though I suspect that's because the story is already one I'm already familiar with. Even so, whether you're new to Arthuriana or a long-time scholar of the once and future king, I'd definitely say give this one a read.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Ben Jeapes

Manages to make a familiar tale new and unexpected

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 July 2023

The author shifts the usual emphasis on the Arthurian legend over to the women – primarily Nimue, but also Morgana, Ygraine and Guinevere. Arthur is a well meaning boor, Merlin is seriously overconfident in his own abilities, never quite taking the hint when his foreseeing of events constantly fails to turn out true, to the extent that he is a liability. The author manages to make all this, most especially the Arthur / Guinevere / Lancelot triangle, unexpected and tragic. Within a few pages of the end I still had no idea how the book would finish.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

scottish_terrier

A different view of familiar tales, I really enjoyed it.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 April 2023

Short Version: A different view of familiar tales, I really enjoyed it.

Long Version: I really enjoy having my view of a classic tale challenged and this book does that perfectly - not in an “everything you thought you knew was wrong and you are evil for not noticing” way but a more gentle “ok, lets look at this from a different perspective” way. Some Arthurian purists might be dismissive but I think this is an excellent addition to the Arthurian legend.

Plot: Familiar enough at the major beats with enough detailed nuance to keep it interesting.

Characters: I loved the characters and their depiction with a twist on common narratives was superb, Merlin as a bad guy and Arthur as an insecure neurotic? Perfect. I loved watching the evolution of Morgana and I was a bit frustrated that this wasn’t her story - it’s very much Nimue’s and this isn’t a bad thing, Nimue is the perfect character to carry the book, I just wanted more Morgana. The interactions and dialogue worked really well and felt jarring or awkward.

Settings: Described just enough for me to visualise and never got in the way of the story. The location of events is pretty important to part of the plot and the where of events is signposted nicely.

Prose: A really nice book to read, it flows from start to finish without anything pulling me out of the story.

Pace: When we are in the guts of the story, the pacing is spot on but I found some of the time jumps a little abrupt.

Ending: The ending was fitting, and it worked for me.

Who would love this: If you liked Circe by Madeline Miller or Sistersong by Lucy Holland you should have this on your TBR.

ARC via Netgalley

Helpful

sjhigbee

Fabulous feminist retelling of the Arthurian legend...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 May 2023

I’ve been loving the Greek myth retellings by the likes of Pat Barker and Madelaine Miller – so when this offering caught my eye, I was really excited at the prospect of this one. After all, one of my favourite childhood books was King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table – I had a beautiful copy, complete with stunning pictures. But, as ever, the women in this story were simply there as ornamentation. Or those, like Morgana, were derided as evil and unnatural for taking a hand in their own destiny.

This version of Arthur’s story is told by Nimue, one of the Fair Folk, or fae. Unlike most of her kind, she has somehow ended up as part of Ygraine’s household, living alongside mortals and keeping her magical powers as small as she can. Where she encounters another of her kind, who isn’t remotely discrete – Merlin. Counsellor to the violent and ambitious Uther Pendragon, Merlin uses his powers to manoeuvre Pendragon into the position of High King, claiming that otherwise the country will be overwhelmed by wild magic of the worst sort. He’s seen it in a vision…

However, as Nimue already knows, actions have consequences – and Merlin’s meddling has a horrible outcome for poor Ygraine, who ends up bearing Uther a son. Nimue does the best she can to protect Ygraine and her youngest daughter, Morgana, from the fallout of Uther’s bid for power – and the beginnings of the legend of Arthur comes into being. What struck me this time around was the violence pervading the whole story. And just how much the women in it are utterly disregarded. McKenna’s vivid descriptions of the clothing, food and daily routine of high-born women of the time brings this medieval setting to life. I also loved her description of the battles. Her expertise in medieval weaponry shows in the brutal hand to hand fighting – and the terrible injuries sustained despite armour, and sometimes because of it.

I tore through this one, finding it difficult to put down. And if you enjoyed The Silence of the Girls or Circe – then grab a copy of this one. You’ll thank me if you do. While I obtained an arc of The Cleaving from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 April 2023

I really ended up enjoying The Cleaving by Julit E. Mckenna.
I'm not usually the biggest fan of Arthurian retellings but this book really surprised me with how much I ended up enjoying it.
I definitely highly recommend this book especially if you are a fan of retellings!

Helpful

Max Fursman

Interesting Arthurian Retelling

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 April 2023

In the host of mythological retellings there have been in recent years, it is refreshing to find one that focuses outside the Greek or Roman pantheons.

The Cleaving is a retelling of the Arthurian legends, from the POV of Nimue, a enchantress akin to the famous Lady of the Lake, as she interacts with Ygraine, Morgana, and Guinevere, Arthur's mother, half-sister and wife.

Breathing fresh new life into these myths McKenna has created a rather fantastical and enjoyable story. The tales are told from the side-line, where little details are seen and overheard that paint the events of the myths in a new light.

Much like Cornwell did with his Warlord Chronicles, McKenna shows characters that we have known for years from a new perspective, but while Cornwell chose to make Lancelot a weasel of a man, McKenna really changed the character of Merlin. While we are used to him as an old, wise advisor, who has trained a young Arthur and guides him to greatness, instead through Nimue we see a much more sinister and cunning Merlin, who is prepared to manipulate whoever he must to bring about the future he wants.

One thing I did enjoy about this book was that McKenna chose to show the harsher, patriarchal side of life at this time, and the experience that the women had to live through under this society. But while some of the character, Uther especially, were portrayed as terrible people, McKenna never chooses to religate them to a 1D "is male therefore = bad" type formula, which a lot of feminist retellings fall victim to. Instead her characters are still portrayed as a product of their time and the society within which they live, more rounded out than just being bad men.
However I did find that the character growth/development left a bit to be desired, as by 2/3rds through the book the characters had not really become much more than what we saw at the start.

The writing was very poetic and detailed, and the world of the court was really brought to life, though I found Nimue a little bland in her descriptions at times, and feel that perhaps giving POVs from the other women might have improved the book somewhat.

The last 100 pages were a rush of a story and really drag you along with it in its excitement. The whole conclusion was exciting and captivating.
But the last portion of it felt a little rushed, and the book could maybe have done with another 50 pages.

Overall though, 4* and a definite read for any fans of mythology and who want a fresh view of Arthurian legends!

Helpful

Wonderfully original take on Camelot

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 April 2023

Arthurian retellings broadly seem to adopt one of two approaches. The first is to ditch the fantastical elements and look for a foothold in history, however tenuous, typically casting Arthur as the military leader of the native Britons against the invading Saxons. This is the approach I remember from innumerable documentaries when I was growing up in the 70s and the 80s.

McKenna's reimagining follows other approach - taking the familiar medieval sources but adapting their framework. She makes a nod towards the historical approach by drawing a linguistic distinction between the Cornish language and the "English" spoken in Winchester. But when "Saxons" come raiding the "English" she doesn't worry too much about trying to explain the distinction. Similarly, this story accepts noblemen with elaborate plate armour, all called Sir Somebody, riding the countryside of Southern Britain and retiring periodically to the court at Camelot. They are often about business driven by magical interference, although (not least, I'd imagine, to keep the book to manageable proportions) many of the incidents are left out.

That all works very well with what we expect of an Arthurian tale ("Arthurian" isn't quite the right term here, but I'll come back to that) from Mallory himself to TH White. But don't be deceived by the surface impression, this retelling is actually very different.

To begin with, I felt that here there is a much clearer overall narrative, rather than a procession of wonders. And that isn't a narrative about Arthur, indeed in some ways he's almost incidental, or the Holy Grail. Yes, Arthur desires to be High King of Britain, and strives to achieve that, but behind him, there is a desperate - and actually more interesting - conflict over the role of magic. Nimue, one of the Hidden People, from whose viewpoint the story is told, sees magic as dangerous to mortals and seeks to limit its role (in line with the principles of the Hidden People). Merlin, and some others of the People, want to use it to establish Arthur's throne, allegedly so he can be a bulwark against magic running wild although sheer desire for power may also figure here.

The various eruptions of magic into the courtly business of Camelot then feature as overspills from this contest, with the balance of advantage swaying to and fro throughout the book, rather than a series of discrete, if dramatic, incidents. That gives the book a coherence, a drive, which keeps the reader turning the pages - and worrying about what will come next.

And there's a lot to worry about. The other difference here is the telling of the story from the point of view of Nimue, a character who does feature in the canonical stories, as the enchantress who seduces and imprisons Merlin. Here though we see Nimue's perspective throughout, from the early sections set at Tintagel Castle, dealing with Uther's rape of Ygraine, to her struggles with Merlin, to an endgame in which Nimue together with other powers is forced to take responsibility for the future of Britain rather than allowing warfare and anarchy to continue.

It's a very anti-heroic book - in the sense both that it explicitly disavows the simplistic "Arthur is the foretold King so anyone standing against him is evil" but also in the way that it acknowledges, indeed celebrates, the complexity of life: all those feats of arms, for example, don't just happen, the provisioning and cooking must be organised. Camelot - and the other fortresses - need to be managed and operated, a task falling on the women here, not helped by the tendency of Arthur and his ilk to announce tournaments or depart on quixotic quests at the drop of a gauntlet. Or by their proclivity for decreeing the marrying-off of the chatelaine on a whim. Napoleon Bonaparte may have understood that an army marches on its stomach, but is twelve hundred years earlier and the men haven't yet learned that lesson.

Possibly I was a bit quick earlier to place this book in the "non historical" group of retellings. Amidst all the controversy about British history in the late-antique period and about "Saxon" invasions and the evolution of "England" one point that is easily missed is the daily routine that must have continued - growing food, mending fences, preparing food, spinning and weaving, caring for children and the old - things without which the land would have soon been a desert. That activity finds its place in The Cleaving where its importance is fully acknowledged, making this book - for all its magic and wonders and mounted knights - historical at a much more fundamental level. Instead of working to find a slot for an Arthur in British history, McKenna is I think restoring a place for women and women's activity. This book is perhaps not Arthurian so much as Nimuean - celebrating the making of an ointment, the planning of a feast or care for an orphaned child, all things that belong in history as much as swordplay and marching.

So I think this is something rather different - as well, of course, as being a thoroughly good read, the pared-back story keeping up a good pace and relying on excellent characterisation and a real sense of moral ambiguity (the mess of prophecy and manipulation that Merlin has created being deeply inimical to any clear sense of right and wrong). Rather than the triumph of good, in The Cleaving the reader is just left hoping that the women we meet will avoid their possible awful fates, come through and win some peace for themselves and their country.

All in all, a masterpiece.

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	AbeBooks Books, art & collectables	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Audible Download Audiobooks	DPReview Digital Photography	Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	Amazon Home Services Experienced pros Happiness Guarantee

IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Amazon Warehouse Deep Discounts Open-Box Products

	Amazon Business Service for business customers	Whole Foods Market We Believe in Real Food

Buy for others

Buying and sending Kindle Books to others

Follow the author

The Cleaving Kindle Edition

Customers who read this book also read

From the Publisher

Product description

Review

About the Author

Product details

About the author

Juliet E. McKenna

Customer reviews

Top reviews from United Kingdom

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.