The banter in Book II is just awesome. Reminiscent of Dragon Age’s or a funny anime’s actually. I have literally laughed out loud reading the book.
Lancelot: “The duchess will need some things to wear while they’re working, though… Morgana, you’re the same size. You must have a couple of extra dresses you can lend her.”
Morgana: “I travel light! Guen and her entire wardrobe live here; why don’t you ask her?”
“Not the same size,” answers Lancelot in a this-should-be-obvious tone.
What are Morgana’s and Guen’s sizes, anyway?
Arthur being adorably useless was another plus here. The author, Jean Townsend, has done a phenomenal job in not making Arthur seem like he’s schizophrenic, bipolar or OOC. How many realistic Kings can you count on one hand that can lead, be charismatic, and respected, while being useless, naive, and goofy at another moment? It’s nice that the author hasn’t fallen on the pitfall to make a character be only this one thing or stereotype.
EDIT: However, there seems to be quite a bit of telling vs. showing in the case of Arthur being kingly and inspiring. You tell us that the crown is on Arthur’s head like it was meant to be there, yet not much more info is given to convince Guen (or us) that Arthur’s people revere him (or do they?) and not much of him doing his kingly duties is shown. A scene perhaps, in which the monarchs hear the people’s complaints? Something could be shown here to reflect the people’s view of their King and Queen.
This is just personal preference though. And the showing vs telling thing is always subject to interpretation.
Guen rescuing Lancelot from the fae wolf is a nice switcheroo on the usual and overdone Lancelot-saves-Guenever-from-hostage-taking thing. There are no damsels in distress that need rescuing here thank you. Lancelot knowing who the real Guen was and Arthur chasing after the wrong one adds more dynamic to the love triangle. It adds more second guessing on my part since I chose to be loyal to Arthur, yet agree that my Guen had feelings for Lance.