The Faerie Morgana

• Author: Louisa Morgan
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: September 16, 2025
• Publisher: Redhook

Thank you to Orbit, Redhook, and Oliver Wehner for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In this atmospheric and bewitching novel, Louisa Morgan reimagines the story of Morgan le Fay, one of the most enigmatic and powerful women in Arthurian legend.

To the other priestesses of the Nine, a powerful council at the Lady’s Temple, Morgana is haughty and arrogant as she performs feats of magic no human should be capable of. Rumors start that she must be a fearsome fae.

To King Arthur, Morgana is a trusted and devoted adviser, but his court is wary of her prodigious talent at divination. And his wife sees Morgana as a rival and a malevolent witch.

To Braithe, Morgana’s faithful acolyte, she is simply the most powerful priestess Camulod has seen.

Morgana doesn’t know why she’s so unlike everyone else, and she doesn’t much care. But when she aids Arthur to ascend the throne before his time, she sets off a series of events that will change not only the future of Camulod but also everything Morgana believes about her power.

My love affair with Arthurian legends began with a gifted version of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain and Disney’s The Sword in the Stone. It continued on into adulthood, branching into female-centered tellings, among others. Some were more enjoyable to me than others, and some were more heavily inspired by the classical tales, but none of them have managed to quench my low-key obsession with the tales of Camelot. So I was excited to see what Morgan did with her positioning of Morgana as powerful priestess misunderstood.

The first thing I really liked about this novel was Morgan’s writing. It was lyrical, lush, and atmospheric, and I found it easy to get lost in. There’s always a familiarity with female agency in this setting of priestesses who dwell on their own isle, and I loved that Morgan offers such a supportive friendship between Morgana and her acolyte Braithe. It feels like we are finally moving past that catty-frenemies type of friendship between women on the page. The author even twists the Morgana-Gwenvere dynamic so that Gwenvere is the potential dark influence, while Morgana will do anything to help her half-brother Arthur. 

Although there aren’t many male characters, the ones who are present are beautifully rendered and well-rounded. Her writing shines most brightly when she portrays interactions between the character. I enjoyed seeing how thoroughly all of the ‘bad Morgana’ views were subverted into a positive female character who was constrained by the world in which she lived, rather than the old, tired trope of evil witch/sorceress. Instead, there are people who view Morgana’s gifts as a potential evil rather than the  power for good that Morgana does. She’s also the victim of circumstances, being born in a world where magical abilities are viewed negatively instead of seen for the positive uses of these powers. 

Morgana is a complex and nuanced take on a woman who is often painted as a one-dimensional antagonist, and it was so interesting to see how this version of Morgana was much more easy to empathize with, once she learned how to reign in her haughty arrogance. And while it is easy to view her through that lens, it is even easier to see her as a flawed young woman who is growing into her power and simultaneously is devoted to the isle and kingdom around her, and one who is going to make mistakes along the way. The stakes are higher for Morgana, positioned as a powerful priestess and sister to  a future king.

However, there were some things that led me to be a little less enthralled with this particular book. The inconsistent pacing was one of my biggest issues with this book, and parts of it were very slow. Like glacially slow where nothing was really happening. The author did a lot of telling rather than showing readers what was occurring, and it started to feel like all of the good, interesting, and faster paced parts of the book occurred off page. Stakes felt lowered in this version as well, with the conflict occurring within the political realm as the sister and advisor to Arthur, as well as within the isle, where Morgana has to use her magical powers to protect the king and logically the kingdom.

Overall, this wasn’t a bad read, but it wasn’t one of my favorite retellings. The political maneuvering within the kingdom and within Avalon was a focus here, rather than the typical takes on these characters. It was a little confusing that at times, historical elements were included in a story that is typically placed through the mist or a veil to separate it from the regular world. The lower stakes and slow going really had me missing the emotional pull that other works have had on me. But I still enjoyed seeing a completely different side of a female character who is maligned in classic version of the tale. Although this wasn’t the book for me, I did appreciate the unique portrayal of a character who is always viewed negatively.

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