DNF - many thanks to the author and publisher for the opportunity to read, unfortunately I did not get on with the novel but know it would be loved by many!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this eARC to review.

I sadly could not get into this book no matter how hard I tried. I also expected it to be a graphic novel as it was listed under this on Netgalley so it was quite the shock when it wasn't this. I wasn't the biggest fan of the art within the book either.

I love a good re-imagining of King Arthur, and with Netflix adapting this into a series, I was intrigued to see what they were going to do.

But I had the same issues with formatting, character development and plot as many other reviewers had. This had such potential, but it, sadly, never hit the heights it should have hit.

I requested this book because I loved the TV show and was really excited to see what the book was like that it was based on.

However I felt a little disappointed and cannot bring my self to read another page more.

I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

Unfortunately, I was forced to DNF this at 50 pages due to the formatting being almost impossible to read.

That being said, what I DID read was really well written and I will likely pick this up to read in full at some point. The writing style was really intriguing and I'm already super interested in the characters and setting.

I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to finish this but I am excited to pick it up in the future and I'm counting this read as somewhat of a 'sampler.'

Unfortunately I just couldn't get into this book. I contemplated dnfing multiple times. I think it was more the writing style than anything else that wasn't for me.

Sorry couldn’t get through it. A strange formatting problem. Missing letters. All jumbled. Have ordered the actual book though because I’m super intrigued and enjoyed what I could understand.

I'm sorry I can't review this. It was listed under the graphic novel section so I thought it was but it's actually not. Ebooks trigger my migraines, I can read comics or listen to audiobooks but full page text is a problem.

This was absolutely awesome and I can’t wait to watch the TV show.

I really loved the story being brought to life by the artwork. It felt like a wonderful blend of novel and comic!

Cursed written by Thomas Wheeler and illustrated by Frank Miller! Basically this is King Arthur retelling with female protagonist!

Nimue (Lady of Lake from original story) is a teenage girl from SkyFolk clan (one of the many Fey Kind of People with their lifestyles integrated with nature and magic) and daughter of the village chief. She is touched by dark magic in her young age hence she will be treated as an outcast in her own clan.

There is a puppet King Uther, who supposed to be ruling the kingdom is either deceived by Merlin the Magician or His Mother Queen Regent and there is an usurper who claims himself as true heir to the throne.

There is some religious group serving to one True God who proclaim themselves as Red Paladins. They are controlled by pope and church of Vatican. They take it upon themselves to cleanse the earth of creatures other than Human Kind. They raid many Fey villages and burn them to ashes.

When Nimue's village is put to torches, her mother set her on an expedition to hand over the Sword of Power to Merlin. When Nimue is caught in the middle of 3 powerful forces who were looking for the sword, She gains acquaintance of young mercenary named Arthur and thereafter travel together but their loyalty is tested number of times.

But soon when the time comes, will Nimue be ready to make a terrible sacrifice for the survival of the Fey Kind? Will she be able to deliver the sword to Merlin and keep her head to herself? What will be the fate of the sword? And who is that one true king? are all answered in the course of the story.

This is my first Arthurian Retelling so I enjoyed it. Its kinda slow burn and the momentum is gained only after 60%. I was kind of disappointed at the illustrations though. It was nowhere related to the story. May be if you are fan of Frank Miller you might like it. I will rate the book between 3.5 to 4⭐

Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Two Stars
I'm a filmmaker and a screenwriter. I love film and books both dearly. That doesn't mean they're formats that effortlessly blend together without some translation. And that, aside from the lacklustre story, is the biggest problem with this book. Most of the marketing around Cursed is that its publishing is coinciding with the Netflix shows' release too and that it's 'cinematic', so it's hard to see this as anything other than a marketing stunt, sadly, though I imagine at one point it may have been intended to stand on its own feet. As it is, life's too short to read unenjoyable books; I made it 31% of the way through Cursed before I decided to put it down. I am considering watching some of the TV show since it might be more bearable (this, very clearly, doesn't want to be a book, it wants to be a film - and it didn't even manage that).

There were a lot of things I wasn't a fan of as I was reading Cursed, but the thing that made me stop reading altogether was how it very quickly became apparent that Nimue, our 'heroine', was a half-assed attempt at a female protagonist. She's given a sword, magical powers and a sharp tongue, and then left to flail because she has no personality behind it. It's definitely cinematic; it's once again a man writing what he thinks is complimentary and not actually trying to uphold any empowerment in the story. Arthur does more, speaks more, is a more active driving force, has a stronger personality, and already saves her several times even in the 31% of this book I read. I didn't come here to read about Arthur, and I'm tired of putting the 'heroine' label on girls you just want for ticking a diversity box.

Another turn off was that it was so predictable. You can tell it's trying to be cinematic because it's basically a written version of a million different YA/80s films. I've heard all the dialogue a hundred time before, and it's more effective when there's an actor putting emotion behind it. And, weirdly, there's very little tension at all. Even with the really violent and life-threatening situations, it's trying to be a film and therefore working on the assumption that the images and performance will flesh out the visual language on-screen - but wait, this isn't a film! Look, screenplays and novels are different for a reason, they have different limitations and opportunities, and Cursed seems to confuse and/or miss all of them.

Also, what age is this for? It seems to be marketed as Young Adult but I don't think the tone can quite decide itself; it's dark and 'edgy' but simplistic in writing and feels silly or shallow in the plot. Usually, you have to be less violent etc onscreen because the moving image is by nature more explicit - whereas in prose it's up to the reader's imagination for how graphically they see the horrible things in their head. But strangely, this is an example where I think the writing is more graphic than necessary, and for no reason. My only guess is that it's trying to recreate a film which, once again, misses the point of both literature and cinema's unique storytelling abilities.

It's obvious that I think the 'cinematic' aspect of the book is not a selling point, despite the marketing, since it misunderstands the elements of its own medium. The illustrations, as well, don't necessarily save that - a lot of the details of scenes and/or character descriptions don't actually match up. It's a cool art style, but in a plot already flailing either from laziness or dumbness (honestly don't know which at this point), it just confuses things further. As far as a retelling of the myth of King Arthur goes, I can't really comment since I didn't read all of it - I'll just say that this is definitely still Arthur's story, and not Nimue's.

I was very excited to read cursed as i was intrigued by the concept of the lady of the lake story.
Unfortunately this book did not live up to my expectations, the plot of the story as well as its pacing is all over the place which left me confused and unable to follow the story.
Another issue I had was that the characters were kind of skimmed over and not properly fleshed out which left me feeling very disconnected from them. The story itself is very character driven so by not developing the characters properly it leads to the story being disjointed from the reader.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers Simon and Schuster books for sending me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This story wasn't how I was expecting it to go. It started off weird and was hard to get into it. I got interested when the important names started getting mentioned and thought towards the end.

I look forward to watching the Netflix drama now.

Sorry, I was unable to review this book as there is a problem with formatting. All words that begin with a 'th' are missing the 'th' and there are sections of text in a different font intersected here and there that don't follow on from the main text. Tried this on my iPad and Kindle and it's not working on either.
Also maybe I've misunderstood something, but this was listed under the 'Comics and Graphic Novels' section of Netgalley, but it's not a graphic novel.

This book was very interesting. This retelling of the Arthurian tales that focuses on a strong-willed girl, Nimue, and her quest. The many amazing illustrations helped to add context and imagery to the characters and story. This is a perfect book middle grade book!

I'm always leery of Arthurian myth retellings but this was refreshing and gripping. For one thing, there are a lot of women in the Arthurian cycles that simply get left out (thanks Geoffrey of Monmouth. Double thanks, Victorians) and this was an interesting attempt to redress that. I'm looking forward to the NetFlix series with great anticipation now.

An excellent and beautifully illustrated story that makes me excited for the upcoming Netflix series.