 | Title: The Quest of the Fair Unknown Author: Gerald Morris Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pages: 264 Synopsis: (from the publisher) On her deathbed, Beaufils’s mother leaves him with a quest and a clue: find your father, a knight of King Arthur’s court. So Beaufils leaves the isolated forest of his youth and quickly discovers that he has much to learn about the world beyond his experience. Beaufils’s search for his father is more difficult than he’d imagined—when a traveler asks him “What is your father’s name?” Beaufils replies “Father, I suppose.” He doesn’t have much to go on when he arrives at King Arthur’s court. There, at a meeting of the Round Table, Beaufils is not the only one surprised when a mysterious dish appears and a voice commands the court to seek this vessel: the Holy Grail. He doesn’t hesitate to join King Arthur’s knights on their quest. Beaufils quickly learns, though, how one quest can lead to another. After accompanying Galahad for a time, Beaufils parts ways with this holiest knight of all to help a new friend, Lady Ellyn, fulfill her own quest, whether she knows what it is or not. Beaufils’s innocence never fails to make his companions grin, but his fresh outlook on the world’s peculiarities turns out to be more of a gift than a curse as they encounter unexpected friends and foes. Oh, and what about Beaufils’s quest? |
This was my first disappointment in the Squire’s Tales series since Ballad of Sir Dinadan. I just…I don’t like this story. It has a few likeable elements and a healthy dash of Morris’s trademark wit that always makes me laugh out loud, but at the same time, it’s a weird story. It doesn’t really match up with any of Morris’s others, and to boot it throws the timeline of the series into total disarray. Even on a second go-round years later, Story and I can’t get all the elements to match up in a way that make any sense no matter how much we discuss it. And I’m still not all that fond of it even on a second try with fresh eyes.
Spoilers, etc…
