Gerald Morris continues to write super adaptations of the old stories set in and around the lands of King Arthur. This one is maybe weaker in bits than the earlier books (the earlier ones are shorter, and it just occurred to me that maybe the editor was a bit stricter before the author had made a name for himself...) but it's still fun. As a whole, I know that I'll end up re-reading it--if only because of the cameos by Terence, Puck and Lady Morgan Le Fay (it's easy to tell that Morris loves her):
Luneta looked into Lady Morgan's stormy eyes for a long moment. In them she saw a barely suppressed anger, and so Luneta turned her own eyes demurely to the stone floor and said, "I beg your pardon for distracting you, my lady."
In an awed voice, Lady Morgan said, "Good Gog, child. You're patronizing me, aren't you? 'Let's not get the old lady all wrought up.' That's it, isn't it?"
Luneta hid a smile. "I don't know what you mean, my lady."
"I have trained a dozen enchantresses," Lady Morgan said, "and not one of them has ever made me lose my temper or has ever driven me to defend myself. Not one of them has dared to interrupt me. And I assure you that not one of them would have dreamed of patronizing me."
"That must have been dull for you," Luneta commented.
Slowly, Lady Morgan's icy mask melted. "It was, in fact, you abominable child. Come, let us begin. The first step in magic is to gain control over physical objects..."
Unlike most of his other books, this one isn't based on one of the Malory stories. It's based on Chretien de Troyes' poem The Knight of the Lion. (I know this because Gerald Morris always ends his books with an Author's Note, in which he explains where the story originated and how he changed it and how much he loved the original and tells the reader that s/he should go out and find it and read it. The Author's Notes are one of my favorite things about his books. Very different from Piers Anthony--I had a bit of an addiction in middle school--who wrote the most annoying and pretentious and self-aggrandizing Author's Notes ever.)
Actually, I think that Morris' last book (before this one) was also based on a poem by de Troyes, but I'm not positive because somehow I missed that one. More than anything else, now I just want to go back and re-read the series.
The Arthurian legend is one of my favorite subject matters. I've read The Once and Future King many, many times, as well as the Steinbeck version, the Mary Stewart series and just picked up the Pyle book. The other night I bought the original, Le Morte d'Arthur, which I spend an inordinate amount of time staring at worshipfully. It's so big and beautiful and I gave it a space of honor on my bookshelf. I will look into Mr. Morris' works.
Posted by: jmfausti | 07 October 2005 at 10:42 AM
Start from the beginning--The Squire's Tale. One of the things that I really like about Morris is that he turns minor characters into major characters--the big guys are mostly in the background.
Posted by: leila | 07 October 2005 at 11:02 AM
Gah! SO excited. You know what my only (literally only) beef with those books is? He picks really lame names for the non-primary source characters. Thanks for the heads up, I see a long trip to Barnes & Noble in my future...
Posted by: C.C. | 07 October 2005 at 12:59 PM
Hy Gerald Morris i liv your books there awesome!!!!
Posted by: Kaydee | 27 November 2007 at 04:20 PM
I am doing a project on one of my favorite authors. I would very much like to speak with you. If it is possible, maybe I coud get an interview.
Thank you so much!
Hunter
Posted by: Hunter Smith | 24 April 2008 at 02:08 PM