Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Ellie, short for Elaine, isn't excited about being a new student at Avalon High, but then she meets the gorgeous Will, who seems to feel the same pull toward her that she does toward him. Though Will is firmly coupled with beautiful cheerleader Jennifer, Jennifer apparently sees things differently, as Ellie catches her making out at a party with Will's best friend, Lance; drama ensues when Will's stepbrother, Marco, maliciously reveals Jennifer's infidelity to Will. Ellie's English teacher insists, though, that this isn't just high-school Sturm und Drang but an eternal matter of good and evil, since Will is the reincarnation of King Arthur, back to try to triumph over his fate, escape murder at the hands of his brother, and thus defeat the powers of darkness. Ellie refuses to accept that her role is that of the doomed Lily Maid of Astolat (after whom her parents, medieval scholars, named her), and instead, when an enraged Marco targets Will in a murderous rampage, she determines to save Will. The tone is sometimes at odds with the book—it's light and breezy without being particularly humorous, giving a slick feel to the treatment of the darker elements—but Cabot manages to pull off her Arthurian parallels surprisingly well, even rendering plausible the revelation that Marco and Will are, in fact, half brothers. For all the talk about medieval historical underpinnings, most of this will be immediately familiar to anyone who's seen Camelot; even readers who only know the names can pick up the backstory as they go, while those with a short attention span for historic love triangles can just sit back and enjoy the star-crossed high-school romance.