July 1, 2024
This spirited, intelligent mashup of Arthuriana puts Morgan Le Fay -- now Ancient Crone, cheerfully saggy-bosomed and thin-haired -- and her granddaughter, Young Hag, at the center of a fresh new story. At her ceremonial naming with her mother and grandmother, Young Hag learns from Ancient Crone that the ways between Faerie and the human world have been severed and that it is their task to return the broken sword Excalibur to Avalon to mend that rupture. As they traverse the wild countryside, Young Hag learns through Taliesin the bard and Ancient Crone just how King Arthur, Merlin, magic, and the land ended up in this predicament. When Ancient Crone disappears and Young Hag's recently met traveling companion, Tom, is magically ensnared, Young Hag is on her own, piecing together stories, "fragments, questions, faces, threads all gathering, and me at the heart" -- to bring all to a new beginning. Greenberg's drawing style is comic but has a skillfully naive, seemingly unpracticed quality that enhances the protagonist's poignant, youthful courage. Epic tragedy and grave betrayals are conveyed with a light touch, while Young Hag's arduous personal growth and development have a heartwarming gravitas. "It takes a whole life to come of age," says Ancient Crone -- robust words of wisdom for any reader. Greenberg's play with her sources -- medieval Arthuriana, Edmund Spenser's Britomart (here wonderfully queer and pink-haired), Christina Rosetti's "Goblin Market" -- has satisfying imaginative and critical depth. Deirdre F. Baker
(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)