#damosel

The titular Damosel is a Lady of the Lake. She forges Excalibur, saves Arthur's life a few times, watches him in Avalon- ect. She does the helpful stuff while her cousin Nimue ends up sealing Merlin away. Damosel is an interesting character, and I genuinely liked her voice. She isn't human and I like some of the small touches of her sticking to her Rules by the letter, reminding me of fey creatures who are bound to their word even if their interpretation is a little tricky. Damosel, however, starts out incredibly dedicated to her duty of upholding the Rules and is one of the best characters, morally in this book. I think her truest connection is that to Arthur, who is portrayed in this to just be too loyal, too trusting- too good. Her dialogue with Merlin is also interesting, as when she barters for the gemstones for Arthur's sword. But mostly she keeps to herself, preferring to stay in her peaceful lake.

The beginning was awesome. I liked how the narrative started off and was suspecting a parody element that never actually came with the constant mention and naming of the Rules. Damosel smithing was probably my favorite part.

After that, I realize that it was pretty much just telling the legend from other perspectives rather than it's own original adventure. I mean, don't get me wrong, Damosel and Twixt (a dwarf who narrates events in Camelot when Damosel is elsewhere) do have stuff going on, kinda..., but it all takes a backseat to relaying the myth of what happens to Arthur. They both only have little parts and don't actually lead events. And then Damosel also has a shoehorned in romance with a knight to explain her absence from the legends for a few years...

I feel like it is here that maybe fanfiction has ruined me. You see, I really support sticking to the cannon as closely as you can, it's always a nice touch after all, but that doesn't mean that I believe cannon should be welded to a piece. You see problems like this with fics that end up just retelling events, changing as little as possible, even with completely different circumstances that would have give them chances to explore different possibilities. Reading through it all, I now understand that it was supposed to be exactly what it was- a take on Arthurian Legend through the eyes of minor characters. It's an explanation for why the Lady of the Lake's character fluctuates so much and deepening the dwarf character that seems to only show up to give messages. I get that. That doesn't mean that I didn't want Damosel, in all her Rule-abiding glory, to protect Arthur as she promised Merlin and provide extra help- maybe even changing his fate. Unfortunately, parts were literally the story telling me a story, and I kinda wanted more than that.