Morgan is a willful, mischievous girl with mismatched eyes of emerald and violet. A girl of magic, whose childhood ends when King Uther Pendragon murders her father and steals away her mother. Then Pendragon dies and, in a warring country with no one to claim the throne, there are many who want Morgan dead. But Morgan has power, and magic. She is able to change the course of history, to become other, to determine her own fate-and, thus the fate of Britain. She will become Morgan le Fay. ( )

A very nice addition to the body of works featuring a female-centric, pagan-influenced take on the Arthurian mythos.
It's not as complex as 'The Mists of Avalon' (which it is clearly influenced by), but it shares some of the same themes.

Here, we see events from Morgan's point of view, as she grows up in tune with old magics, and discovers a stone that enhances her powers. Hurt by the traumatic events that shake her family, she is often blind to her own faults - but she is also not unsympathetic.

The events told here largely deal with Morgan le Fay's youth, her growing up, her first love, and the forces that formed her character and led her to, later, do the things her legend tells of.

The flavor of the story reminded me a bit of 'King Arthur's Daughter,' by Vera Chapman. ( )

This is a different look at Morgan, how she became Fay and what the means. It was alright as far as books goes, I didn't see her as a strong character as she has been in other books but I did like the way it looked at all aspects of her character. ( )

In the end, I have to say that I enjoyed Springer's writing and the details offered to this piece of the legends, and it was a fast and well-paced YA read, beautifully written for the most part. On the other hand, the focal points Springer chose sometimes made it feel less like a YA novel than like a bare-bones writing of an adult work, and I feel pretty sure that I'd be more likely to give the more adult versions of Arthurian works to interested teens, as opposed to this work. I also have to say that it ended incredibly quickly--for the first three quarters of the book, Springer's pacing felt perfect and controlled, but all of that felt lost in the end. On the whole, there were moments when I really enjoyed this read, but I'm just not sure that it's something I'd feel the need to pass on or recommend above others. ( )

"I am Morgan le Fay, and I will never die. I hover on the wind, and fate falls out of each slow beat of my wings. That is what my name means: Morgan the fate, Morgan the magical, fey Morgan of the otherworld, Morgan who must be feared. But I was not always Morgan le Fay. When they killed my father, I was only little Morgan. "

Quite faithful to the famous legend in places, all the familar faces are present, Morgause, Merlin, Uther, Igraine and Arthur himself. But this story is most certainly Morgan's, eschewing many events of the traditional tale in favour of following Morgan from childhood to her eventual rise as a woman of great power. This is the second of Springer's Arthurian tales, following but not necessarily linked to her first novel, I am Mordred.

Morgan herself is a feisty young girl, her father's "firebrand", and it understandably confused when her mother is bedded by a man resembling her father, at the same time of his death. Morgan's whole world is uprooted, and she and her sister Morgause are cared for by their nurse, while their mother Igraine is taken away and married to the High King, Uther Pendragon. Morgan's hatred for the King, (and his magical advisor Merlin) and his treatment of her mother, and the creation of their offspring, the boy who would be king, Arthur. All the while, her power, and the power of Avalon grows, and ultimately leads to the choice Morgan must make.

I am Morgan le Fay is a short book, with simple but effective storytelling that was surprisingly satisfying. Morgan is a great protagonist, with the reader deeply involved in her life from the start, although she is inevitably a bitter and confused young woman. It is Morgan's character flaws that make the story so readable, there is no black and white, good and evil. Springer acknowledges that human nature is far too complicated for that and her characters are very much shaped by their experiences and emotions. An interesting addition to this tale was the integration of True Thomas, Thomas the Rhymer, as Morgan's companion. This allowed us to see another side of Morgan, one that ultimately leads to its own destruction and takes Morgan down a far darker path.

A tale of love and loss, of war and grief, of power and betrayal. And a very pleasant read.