SamoaPhoenix Guest Review/Reread: The Lioness and Her Knight

Title: The Lioness and Her Knight Author: Gerald Morris Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pages: 343 Synopsis: (from the publisher) Lunet is tired of living in dull Orkney with her mother and father (who happens to be the most boring knight of King Arthur's Round Table).  She prides herself on always getting what she wants, so when the opportunity presents itself, she jumps at the chance to stay at a family friend's castle near Camelot.  Her handsome cousin, Sir Ywain--a young knight seeking adventure--arrives just in time to escort her. Along the way they pick up a knight-turned-fool named Rhience, whose wit and audacity set many a puffed-up personality in its place.  Before arriving at Lady Laudine's castle, the trio stops at Camelot, where they hear the story of the Storm Stone, a magical object deep in the forest that soon sweeps everyone into a web of love, betrayal, and more than a bit of magic. Filled with broken promises, powerful enchantresses, unconventional sword fights, fierce and friendly lionesses and damsels in and out of distress, The Lioness and Her Knight proves itself as witty and adventuresome as the rest of Gerald Morris's tales from King Arthur's court.

This is, I think, the first of the Squire’s Tales books I read originally while actually knowing Story and her interest in Arthurian legend. Morris typically had a year or two in between the release of each book in the series, and sometime between Dung-Cart Knight and Lioness I made the jump from high school to college where Story and I met. So this may or may not have been the first Morris book she saw me reading, though Savage Damsel is another contender for that title since I’ve reread it so often.

Spoilers, etc….

Reread: The Lioness and Her Knight

Title: The Lioness and Her Knight Author: Gerald Morris Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Pages: 343 Synopsis: (from the publisher) Riding through the great courtyard ringed with banners of the Round Table knights, Luneta felt very alone and uncharacteristically shy.   Luneta is tired of living in dull Orkney with her mother and father.  She would much prefer the rich pageantry of court.  And Luneta prides herself on always getting what she wants, so when the opportunity presents itself to stay at a family friend's castle near Camelot, she jumps at the chance.  Her handsome cousin, Sir Ywain--a young knight seeking adventure--arrives just in time to escort her.  Along the way they pick up Rhience, a young man living as a fool for a year. Together they are about to step into a web of love, betrayal, and more than a bit of magic.

Morris says that the Tale of Yvain is a rare story for Chretien de Troyes because it involves two people whose love leads to a marriage instead of an extramarital affair.  This seems strange to me because Erec and Enide's romance leads to a marriage-- one that eventually becomes unhappy, but still.  A marriage is a marriage.  Cliges has a romance that begins with an extramarital affair, but ends with a marriage.  Perceval too has a romance that ends in a marriage.

In fact, the only story of de Troyes' that ends in an extramarital affair and not a marriage is the Dung Cart Knight.  That is the odd one out.  This one is par for the course.

Also, this cover is weird because they characters look like they're ten.  I don't fancy it.  Nor am I really thrilled with Luneta standing behind Ywain and the Lioness, both of whom are secondary characters to her.  But that's a rant for another day.

Warning for Spoilers