Review of Spear by Nicola Griffith

It's obvious, but with the fantasy market flooded authors are looking for ways of keeping things fresh. One trend that has emerged in the past decade is for writers to re-tell classic tales from a different perspective. These efforts, like all writing, vary in success. Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad, for example, tells of Odysseus' wife Penelope while he was off having adventures. Pulling back the proverbial curtain on an area of history/legend for which we have less information, the book is a success for the manner which it captures the spirit of Greek myth while injecting new life into story and theme. Nicola Griffith's 2022 novella Spear likewise looks to retelling, but on the northern side of European history/legend. Let's take a look.

Spear is Arthurian legend through and through. But instead of a young man of mysterious parenthood who finds himself and gains knighthood through feats of honor and virtue, it's the story of a lesbian woman who does the same. I normally provide a short plot summary, but that's it. Replace character A with character B, and voila, the same cake but with different color frosting.

Where The Penelopiad tills fresh ground, Spear re-plows a well-used field. Like Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet, Atwood approaches the known from the unknown. Griffith approaches the known with the known. One is acute, the other parallel. Some may argue that the LGBT+ main character is unique, but even that is extremely common in today's fiction. Overall, if you read fantasy regularly, it's likely you've read a version of Spear before, and if you read modern fantasy, then its highly likely you've encountered a version of the main character. In terms of story, there is very little to distinguish the work.

There is one other element of Spear, however, which may draw readers in: history. The story is rooted in what seems to be a fair amount of Arthurian scholarship. Beyond the tale itself, Griffith uses a twenty-five page afterword to break down the history of the novella, from impetus to real-world academia. For connoisseurs of Arthurian, Welsh, Anglo-Saxon, etc. history, there are perhaps details to be gleaned in story. And for the record, the academia is anything but overt. Griffith applies her knowledge to inspire story and plot direction, not inform the minutiae of setting, horse, armor. The tone is legend not realism.

Regarding the tangibles, Spear is written in straight-forward, modern prose (i.e. no Olde English). There is more than one awkward line which disrupts flow, but overall the feel is a modern coming-of-age in a Medieval setting, nothing weak or strong.

Recommending Spear is thus relatively easy along these lines: if you are knowledgeable or interested in Arthurian legend, then Spear may be for you. It's a fantasy of knights and wizards rooted in scholarship but with a lesbian twist. (It goes without saying the niche of readers who seek modern retellings that recast majorities for minorities may also enjoy.) Otherwise, it's likely the novella will come across as highly generic. The main character/archetype, the characters she interacts with, and the developments of the story have been in epic fantasy since epic fantasy was first being written with nothing new added.