Book Review: The Witch, the Sword, and the Cursed Knights

Hello dear reader, and welcome back to my blog! Today I wanted to review a book that I recently finished and loved reading! (You may recognize it from a previous blog post!) This book had action, friendships, magic, and references to Arthurian legend, which can only add up to make a supremely entertaining story!

The Story

The Witch, the Sword, and the Cursed Knights is a middle-grade tale about the danger that is returning to the twenty five and-a-half realms and the two children who must stop it. Chosen by fate and Merlin’s magic, Caedmon Tuggle and Ellie Bettlebump have to reforge the legendary sword that was shattered, Excalibur, in order to stop the growing darkness and break the curse upon the Knights of the Round Table. But it won’t be easy– the three shards of the sword are (probably) scattered throughout the realms, and they don’t have much time for searching when they also need to train in order to complete the trials and become Knights. But time isn’t the only thing against them. A mysterious witch lurks just beyond reach, waiting for something…

With a humorous and enchanting writing style and witty footnotes scattered throughout the book, The Witch, the Sword, and the Cursed Knights was a wonderful and unique read that reminded me why I love fantasy so much!

Content Warnings

I know I get upset when I pick up a book and halfway through reading it discover there’s content in it that I’m not comfortable reading. To spare you any disappointment, I want to go into detail about any potential content warnings for every book I review to make sure readers stay safe and comfortable.

WARNING: The Content Warnings section may contain spoilers for the book as well as thorough but non-explicit discussion of things that some younger readers may not be comfortable reading. I will never go into gross detail about anything that may make readers uncomfortable, but I do want to make sure that readers won’t be surprised by any potentially inappropriate content in this book.

There aren’t many content warnings in this book, but there are some things for younger or more sensitive readers to watch out for.

Caedmon, one of the main characters, struggles with grief through most of the book due to events that happened a while before the book takes place. His best friend was unexpectedly killed and no one knew why, but it is later revealed that he was killed by an evil creature called a malevotum. This isn’t shown, but Caedmon has flashbacks to the night his friend was attacked, where he says his chest hurts after running out of a cemetery that he was dared to enter (pg 209-210). In Chapter 5, Caedmon gets very angry with his parents for trying to comfort him, and says some hurtful things to them and his sister, including telling his parents and sister he wishes they would have died instead of his friend. A few pages later (pg 50-54) his sister is attacked by a malevotum and almost dies, but it is later revealed that she survived the attack. Caedmon feels regret for saying everything he said and at the end of the book he apologizes and is forgiven. This is probably the biggest content warning of the book but doesn’t play a huge role in the story. (As a very sensitive reader myself, I was not bothered by these scenes.)

Another content warning is the use of “witchcraft” as it is called in the book. It has no resemblance to real life witchcraft and is used as a term to differentiate between “fairy magic”, which the world sees as good, and “witch magic”, which the world sees as bad but later learns that the wielder is the one who makes it bad. Fairy magic is said to manipulate things that already exist and isn’t very powerful, but witch magic can make entirely new things and is much more powerful. In order to use witch magic, the other main character Ellie must say spells or incantations that rhyme. The magic isn’t anything truly witchy or demonic and is shown as your standard fantasy magic. There is also a “curse” that affects the Knights of the Round Table, cast by an evil witch, that basically creates malevotums and weakens the Knights. There are some minor scenes that include potion brewing.

The violence is very mild and focuses more on the use of magic than of weapons. There is little to no blood or gore.

Recommended Audience

I would recommend this book to anyone ages 12 and up (the worldbuilding and Arthurian references might be hard to understand) who loves good classic fantasy with a unique twist! This book is also a part of a series, so there are more adventures to be had! (Note: I have not read the other books in the series and do not endorse or agree with any content within them)

Thank you so much for reading this book review! Does this book sound interesting? What are some other books that you would like me to review? I’m always looking for suggestions!

See you among the shelves,

Emma G. McKee

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