An amusing satirical take on the tale of maid Marian. I had not heard of this author before so thank you netgalley for bringing this author to my attention. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for a good read.

To say that this was a book of two halves sounds silly since there are two complete manuscripts in this edition. However I thoroughly enjoyed the Maid Marian text, which was funny and smart. Perhaps it is because it is familiar to me. To say this was written in the 1820s it felt quite modern.

I found The Misfortunes of Elphin quite complicated and, despite the blurb saying it encompassed Arthurian legend and put Arthur himself in a different light I didn't see much of the legendary king and there was far too "songs" for me.

Worth getting simply for the Maid Marian part and if you are Welsh or interested in history pre Norman Conquest then you will probably enjoy the story of Elphin.

Thankyou to Netgalley and P-Wave Press for the advance review copy.

In this collection of two nineteenth-century satirical texts about medieval legends, readers discover Thomas Love Peacock’s Mad Marian and The Misfortunes of Elphin. In Maid Marian, he reimagines the legend of Robin Hood to give Marian the spotlight as a competent, capable leader that outsmarts her opponents and social equals, and in The Misfortunes of Elphin, Peacock brings readers to sixth-century Wales where Prince Elphin, his wife Angharad, and bard Taliesin live in a world of floods and drama under the incompetent leadership of King Arthur. This collection is a great book for fans of medieval and Arthurian legends or fans of nineteenth century literature, and this book also offers an introduction and notes by LA Davenport that provides new insights into Peacock’s satirical writing. The stories themselves are charming, witty, and entertaining, and readers will love the protofeminist take on Maid Marian and the humorous depiction of King Arthur. Peacock’s prose is, admittedly, flowery and of its time, but this only adds to the charm, whimsy, and epic nature of these two narratives. Entertaining, fun, and compelling, these two satirical texts, in one convenient volume, are must-reads for fantasy and literature fans alike given the overlap between the genres in Peacock’s work.