This novel is already a New York Times bestseller, because Lev Grossman is also the author of the very popular series “The Magicians.” It has cover blurbs from George RR Martin, Rebecca Yarros, Oprah Daily, and the Wall Street Journal. It is also nominated for a World Fantasy Award. I expected to hate it. I didn’t think the world needed another King Arthur story. Now I think it should win the World Fantasy Award.

The plot does not follow King Arthur himself, not really; but the tragic shadow he casts is large enough to be visible on every page. The hero is Collum of the Out Isles, a seventeen-year-old of no particular parentage who happens to be the best fighter in a tiny village. (I think he is the only character in the novel that Grossman invented.) With no other options, he steals a horse and armor from his abusive guardian, and heads for Camelot, as heroes do. He is just in time to miss the final battle between King Arthur and his son Mordred. He finds himself set upon the final quest of the Round Table, with the few remaining knights of Camelot.

Like Collum, the remnants are a suspect bunch, none of whom really live up to their legendary counterparts. Sir Scipio is a Roman legionnaire lost in time, Sir Palomides the Saracen is a minor prince from Bagdad, Sir Dinidan is a trans man trained under a lake near a convent. They are knights in shining armor, in an age where magic is real and armor shouldn’t have been invented yet. They get drunk and sweaty and piss in unsavory places. Their moments of heroism are often misguided, and always bloody, but nonetheless guided by courage and attempted righteousness. They’re doing their best, like Arthur did.

The legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, in all its many versions, is a centuries-long conversation about loyalty, power, and morality. Every generation adds its own message to the story. This retelling has all the tragic resonance of The Once and Future King, mixed with some of the absurdity of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Grossman’s Arthur is caught between the old magic of Fairy and the new magic of the Christian God, and ultimately abandoned by both. The Bright Sword is a brilliant retelling of his story, made for these troubled times.