The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood by H.G. Parry Published by Redhook on July 21, 2026
Genres: Arthurian, Fantasy
Pages: 448
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Source: Orbit Books
From the author of The Magician's Daughter comes a captivating historical fantasy where dreams come to life and Arthurian legends are reborn.
Wales, 1941. As the second world war ravages the globe and bombs fall from the sky, people all over the world begin to dream of King Arthur. The dreams spread like a fantastical plague, flooding people's sleep night after night. Whispers arise of wonders and unexplained sights - dragons in the London Underground, and strange lights over Stonehenge. Self-proclaimed prophets claim they are miracles, heralding Arthur's return at the time of Britain's greatest need.Elaine Ambrose has never dreamed of Arthur, and she doesn't believe in miracles. A librarian at the British Museum, she wants only to protect the museum's collection from the Blitz, and is frustrated to be sent instead to catalogue a reclusive professor's private library on the coast of North Wales. But all is not as it seems. Soon Ellie must confront what she's tried to ignore: she dreams not of Arthur, but of Nimue - the Lady of the Lake. And her dreams promise not salvation, but a return to the darkness of the last days of Camelot.
Whenever a new King Arthur retelling releases, I trip over myself to read it. In the case of The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood, I was even more excited to read this one because it was written by H.G. Parry, the author of The Scholar and The Last Faerie Door, and The Magician’s Daughter. Parry always manages to create such uniquely magical experiences in her novels, so I was anxious to see how that applied to The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood, which follows Nimue and her relationship with Merlin.
The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood doesn’t just follow Nimue and Merlin, though. It also alternates to a second timeline set during World War I, following a librarian named Ellie as she travels outside war-torn London to catalog a private book collection at a country estate. I was very invested in both Nimue’s and Ellie’s perspectives. I found myself wishing they were entirely separate books, however, because I think the connection between the two storylines didn’t work as well for me as I would have liked.
Even with that bit of a disconnect, I was constantly interested to see what was happening to both characters in these very different storylines. The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood felt like both historical fiction and fantasy, which are two genres I really enjoy. I also loved the different take on Arthurian legend and the recognition that there are so many different renditions of the events surrounding the fall of Camelot. I also loved the references and twists on classic things like Gawain and the Green Knight, and the questing beast.
While there is plenty to love about this book, certain things didn’t hit home for me as much as I hoped. One of the things I love the most about the legends of King Arthur is just how messy and human it all is. All of the characters, from Arthur himself, to his best friend and loyal knight, Lancelot, and his wife, Guinevere, and even Merlin, are all very complex characters with flaws that eventually lead to the downfall of Camelot. So when I read retellings, I expect to find a certain level of personal and political upheaval.
This kind of drama is present in The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood, but I would have liked for the novel to take it further to make the fall of Camelot feel more realistic to me. Unfortunately, I think a lot of the page space is devoted to the cast of characters and mysteries in both timelines, and how the events of Nimue’s life are affecting Ellie’s time period. This is another reason why I wished that the novel had been two different ones, because while I enjoyed the characters and unraveling the mystery alongside Ellie, I would have liked more time dedicated to the Arthurian characters.
For instance, this book suffers from something I see in a lot of different King Arthur retellings; Arthur is more legend than actual character. Camelot’s eventual fall carries the most weight when Arthur himself feels worthy of the loyalty he inspires. His legend only works when he is a man others would willingly build a kingdom around.
Unfortunately, every other character seems to have more development than Arthur. I not only found this disappointing, but also felt that it lessened the impact and intrigue of the novel, which involves people all over the world suddenly dreaming of Arthur’s return in a world divided by the first World War. It was a little hard to be excited about his predicted second coming when readers are told in Nimue’s perspective that he’s nice, strives to uphold his own chivalric principles, tries to be fair, and allegedly likes animals. It feels like this portrayal of Arthur won the loyalty of Merlin and his other subjects based merely on being the subject of prophecies, rather than any winning character traits of his own.
Perhaps due to Arthur’s lack of development, one of my other favorite Arthurian characters, Mordred, fell flat for me as well. Mordred, more than anything else, serves as a foil to Arthur. His entire existence is to test Arthur’s ideals, character, and limits. Without a strong character for Arthur, there isn’t much for Mordred to actually foil. Instead, Mordred was just so outright villainous. Readers get the sense that he is unequivocally irredeemable simply because he is supposed to be and I really would have liked to see more conflict and complexity in him, personally.
Other characters’ portrayals of the famous characters weren’t my favorite either. While it was nice to see a somewhat different take of Guinevere and Lancelot’s love affair, it felt like it was also more a product of magic than actual intense passion, which cheapened the relationship, and by extension, its notorious consequences. Morgan le Fey, who interestingly enough raises Mordred along with Nimue and Lancelot, is a watered-down, pun intended, version of the scheming sorceress and Lady of the Lake.
However, the entire creation of the Lake itself was incredibly magical and creative. This was one of my favorite parts of the story, and has the kind of quiet magic that Parry always manages to marinate her stories in. While Merlin was definitely one of the more interesting portrayals I have seen of the character, his relationship with Nimue, which is positioned to be some kind of star-crossed, grand love affair that transcends time, ultimately failed to convince me of their connection. Nimue’s feelings for Merlin often felt inconsistent to me, and for an all-knowing, time-traveling man, Merlin doesn’t seem very interested in clarifying his own feelings either.
Perhaps there were just too many moving parts in The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood. The novel did such a great job creating a sense of mystery and urgency. It feels like Ellie and her friend Tom are racing across the clock before something terrible happens. Tom was one of the most interesting, and quietly powerful characters in the entire story to me. Parry does a fantastic job of showing both the physical and psychological effects of war on this former pilot who was injured in battle through his relationship with Ellie, who was sheltered in her beliefs and experiences despite coming from war-torn London. Their growing sense of trust and quiet ability to understand when a subject needed to be dropped for the comfort of the other was the strongest portrayal of friendship and love in the entire book.
The ending, which brings together the two different timelines, sadly lost me and felt simultaneously unsatisfying and depressing to me. Though I think it was intended to be a bittersweet ending, I found that I thought less of Nimue as a result of the events and the things we learn about everything that is happening. It also felt like Ellie, who I had really related to, for being such a driven young woman and book enthusiast, and Tom, had been reduced to mere plot devices, which was a tough pill for me to swallow.
Though the ending didn’t work for me, I must say that the entirety of The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood felt like a love letter to King Arthur written by a fan who happens to be an incredibly talented author herself. While this novel wasn’t my favorite of Parry’s and didn’t resonate with me like The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door or even other King Arthur retellings, I am glad I read it. I think this book could be a great entry point for many people who want to learn more about Arthurian legend and for existing fans of both the legend and the author too.
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