SamoaPhoenix Guest Review: Fall of Knight

Title: Fall of Knight Author: Peter David Publisher: Ace Pages: 347 Synopsis: (courtesy of goodreads) In Knight Life, King Arthur was elected mayor of New York City. In One Knight Only, Arthur was voted President of the United States. Now, Arthur has become head of his very own church as Arthur Penn reveals his true identity, and the existence of the Holy Grail, to the world.

I finally got around to finishing the trilogy! Happy New Year to all!

SamoaPhoenix Guest Review: One Knight Only

Title: One Knight Only Author: Peter David Publisher: Ace Pages: 373 Synopsis: (courtesy of goodreads) King Arthur--in his modern incarnation as Arthur Penn--has been elected President of the United States. But with political power comes powerful enemies. An assassination attempt against Arthur puts his beloved wife Gwen in a coma--and her only hope lies in the lost Holy Grail.

I read Story’s copy of the first book in Peter David’s Modern Arthur trilogy (Knight Life) back in college. I remember the basic outline and characters, and that it was entertaining and creative. However in the time since I hadn’t been able to get ahold of books 2 and 3 because they’re out of print and only book 1 is available in ebook form. Story has copies but we live far apart and usually when we see each other we’re busy doing other things. But during my most recent visit to her place (I was there to see her community theater production of Beauty and the Beast because if Arthurian stuff is her jam, Beauty and the Beast is solidly mine) we had some downtime. I had also found a copy of book 3, Fall of Knight, in a used bookstore. Thus, I had the time and inclination to burn through this in a few days. I’ll do Fall of Knight too once I’ve read it.

SamoaPhoenix Guest Review: Knights of the Round Table: Lancelot

Title: Knights of the Round Table: Lancelot Author: Gwen Rowley Publisher: Berkley (Kindle edition) Pages: 362 Synopsis: (courtesy of Amazon) Strong and powerful warriors of nobility and honor, the Knights of the Round Table fought for kings, rescued damsels, and undertook dangerous quests. But true love may be the most perilous quest of all… Sir Lancelot, First Knight of King Arthur’s realm and the Queen’s champion, cannot be defeated by any earthly man—as long as he keeps his oaths to Arthur and Guinevere. Though arrogant and supremely confident, he will be brought to his knees by a mere maiden: Elaine of Corbenic. Together, they will have a son, Galahad—the knight destined to find the Holy Grail. Lancelot du Lac is the greatest knight of a peerless age, blessed by the Lady of the Lake with extraordinary military prowess. His fighting ability has earned him a place at King Arthur's side, but the powers the Lady has given him come with a terrible price. Elaine of Corbenic is struggling to hold her impoverished family together. The keep is a wreck and the peasants, starving, are on the brink of rebellion. Elaine's father is obsessed with finding the Holy Grail, and her older brother, maimed by Lancelot in a joust, is a bitter drunkard. Without a dowry, she has little hope for the future. Incognito, Lancelot rides into Corbenic on his way to the king's tournament. He finds the practical Elaine irresistible. Thoroughly dismayed when she reveals her contempt for "Lancelot," he must face his own arrogance to win her hand. For only with Elaine at his side will Lancelot have the strength to free himself from the enchantments that bind him…

I swore I would never read this book. I liked Rowley’s Gawain a lot, sure, but her Lancelot was such an ass that I didn’t think I’d ever want to read about him in this universe. But it was always niggling at the back of my mind, wondering whether Rowley actually redeemed Lancelot, since some of his douchiness appeared to be not his fault. Thus when I found this book for $2.99 as an ebook and I had some time, I gave in. It should be noted that when I was reading the second half of this book I had a severe concussion; whether or not that impacted my impressions I don't know for absolute certainty but I don't think it did.

Spoilers, etc…

SamoaPhoenix Guest Review: Endings (King Arthur and Her Knights, Part III)

Title: Endings Author: K.M. Shea Publisher: Take Out the Trash Synopsis: (from Goodreads) The thrilling conclusion to the King Arthurs and Her Knights series! Britt has finally settled into her life as King Arthur. Her knights know who she really is, her lands are peaceful, and she has friends and family who she loves. But all of this is threatened when Rome, led by Emperor Lucius, invades. In order to repel the Romans and ascertain Camelot's survival, Britt must achieve Merlin's greatest dream: to unite all of Britain.

The Twist: See my earlier review of the first five books in this series. A young woman is pulled back from the 21^st century to take the place of a vanished King Arthur and begins to build a unique, and ultimately legendary, kingdom.

Spoilers, etc…

SamoaPhoenix Guest Review: Endeavor (King Arthur and Her Knights, Part II)

Title: Endeavor Author: K.M. Shea  Publisher: Take Out the Trash Pages: 112 Synopsis: (from goodreads) Only a few weeks have passed since Britt—or, as most know her, King Arthur—was outed as a girl. Britt’s relationship with her knights is strained and precarious, Lancelot is mucking up everything from tournaments to questing, and Merlin starts to act strangely when a beautiful girl named Lady Vivien comes to Camelot. Can Britt reclaim her knights’ loyalty? Will Merlin finally realize how much Britt means to him?

Spoilers, etc…

SamoaPhoenix Guest Review: King Arthur and Her Knights, Part I

Title: King Arthur and Her Knights Series (Enthroned, Enchanted, Embittered, Embark, and Enlighten) Author: K.M. Shea Publisher: Take Out the Trash Pages: ~600 for all five Synopsis: (from Goodreads) After posing with a rusty sword for a photo in a British graveyard, Britt Arthurs is pulled through time all the way back to the age of King Arthur where the shockingly young and handsome Merlin is waiting for her. The wizard has some bad news: the real Arthur has run off with a shepherdess, and whoever pulls the sword from the stone is to become the King of England. Unfortunately for Britt, the sword slides out like butter when she pulls it after fighting with Merlin. Long Live King Arthurs!

King Arthur and Her Knights Series

--Enthroned

--Enchanted

--Embittered

--Embark

--Enlighten

There are five fairly short ebook-only novellas in this series already and more planned. Due to their length, I will review the first five all together. The next book, Endeavor, will be released in late 2015 so I will try to review it in a timely manner. When it comes time to discuss plots and characters, I will do the plots of each book, the characters that appear in more than one book (most of the important ones do), and then characters that are unique to one book.

Spoilers, etc…

SamoaPhoenix Guest Review/Reread: The Legend of the King

Title: Legend of the King Author: Gerald Morris Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books Pages: 295 Synopsis: (from the publisher) Sir Terence has come a long way since he first left his guardian twenty years ago and joined the insolent Gawain as his squire.  Dark Forces are at work in England, and Terence and Gawain had set off once more in service of King Arthur, but this time the two friends are sent on separate missions.  At last, a true Knight of the Round Table, Terence has no time to rest on his laurels, but must continue his work to protect King Arthur and the peace that the king and his knights have created for England.  Unfortunately, the king's enemies are at work as well.  Morgause and Mordred had spies even at Camelot itself, and together mother and son attempt to divide the Fellowship of the Round Table, bring Camelot to ruin, and place Mordred on the throne. In this final installment of the Squire's Tales series, Terence and his fellow Knights of the Round Table must ready their swords, enchantments, and wit to come together in a last stand to save Camelot.  The characters Gerald Morris has brought to life throughout his series--Terence and Gawain, Lynet and Gaheris, Luneta and Rhience, Dinadan and Palomides--each have an important role to play if they are to defeat their enemies.  Only by maintaining their faith, selflessness, and honor, can Morgause and Mordred banish and defeat the dark magic from England forever.

Legend of the King was published the year after I graduated from college. I had been dreading it for a lot of reasons, since it had been established since the previous book’s release that this was the last of the Squire’s Tales and it was obvious a lot of beloved key characters would die. In the end of this series, it was also a sort of final good-bye to my teenagehood and an assertion that yes, indeed, I had entered the adult world for good. I had outgrown these books and was ready for what came next, just as the characters are all finally ready for what comes after their final adventure for Camelot. An ending and a beginning.

In this re-read I have been both eager to get this final book over with and fine with putting it off. Some of the delay between the reviews for this book and Squire’s Quest were the two sessions of Camp NaNoWriMo in which Story participated (that knocks out April and July for both reading and writing reviews) but neither one of us has been particularly inclined to prompt finishing the series. This re-read has stripped away a lot of the nostalgia I feel for this series and revealed significant flaws in books I once loved (though nothing can dampen my love for Savage Damsel) and I know there have been a lot of elements that Story has been deeply unhappy with that have made the series overall less enjoyable. But we agreed for the sake of other projects we must proceed with the final review.

Spoilers, etc… and warning for almost 4,000-word review.

Review: The Legend of the King

Title: Legend of the King Author: Gerald Morris Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books Pages: 295 Synopsis: (from the publisher) Sir Terence has come a long way since he first left his guardian twenty years ago and joined the insolent Gawain as his squire.  Dark Forces are at work in England, and Terence and Gawain had set off once more in service of King Arthur, but this time the two friends are sent on separate missions.  At last, a true Knight of the Round Table, Terence has no time to rest on his laurels, but must continue his work to protect King Arthur and the peace that the king and his knights have created for England.  Unfortunately, the king's enemies are at work as well.  Morgause and Mordred had spies even at Camelot itself, and together mother and son attempt to divide the Fellowship of the Round Table, bring Camelot to ruin, and place Mordred on the throne. In this final installment of the Squire's Tales series, Terence and his fellow Knights of the Round Table must ready their swords, enchantments, and wit to come together in a last stand to save Camelot.  The characters Gerald Morris has brought to life throughout his series--Terence and Gawain, Lynet and Gaheris, Luneta and Rhience, Dinadan and Palomides--each have an important role to play if they are to defeat their enemies.  Only by maintaining their faith, selflessness, and honor, can Morgause and Mordred banish and defeat the dark magic from England forever.

"Is the Arthurian mythos more than Arthur’s death?  I think Gerald Morris would answer that question with a ‘yes’.  But I also don’t think he’s sure.  And I think that uncertainty has wormed its way into the subtext.  I have one more book to go and only then will I know if the Squire’s Tales will forever be defined by Arthur’s death or remembered for something more." X

(Also, this book is not, in fact, about Mordred and Morgause working together to banish the forces of evil and I am done with book blurbs forever).

Warning for Spoilers

SamoaPhoenix Guest Review/Reread: The Squire's Quest

Title: Squire's Quest Author: Gerald Morris Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Pages: 275 Synopsis: (from the publisher) Why is it, Terence wondered, that the things you know most surely are always the things you can't demonstrate to anyone else? And why is it, after all these years, that Terence is still just a squire, offering advice on how best to scrub rust spots from armor?  But Squire Terence has more to worry about that his place on the social scale.  For all the peace and prosperity that have made England famous across Europe, Terence is uneasy.  After nearly six months without contact with the World of the Faires--not even from his old friend the mischievous sprite Robin--Terence is sure something is rotten in King Arthur's court.  And while the squire is always on the watch for the latest plot of the enchantress Morgause, he now also has suspicions about Mordred, King Arthur's misbegotten son, who has appeared at court.  Is Mordred after Arthur's throne? In this ninth rollicking adventure in the Squire's Tales series, Terence's efforts to defend the Fellowship of the Round Table lead him on his farthest, and most fantastic, journey yet--a quest that ultimately brings Terence rewards he never imagined or expected.

This is the first book in the series to be released with only the new, more serious, cover designs. In these final two books I feel this is appropriate as the mood shifts towards the twilight years of Camelot. There is still plenty of humor to be had but it is tempered with the revelation that this golden age must come to an end—likely sooner than anyone wants or expects.

The timeline is still completely messed up and none of the time periods the characters give in this story match up with anything logical, but at this point I’ve just decided to ignore it and stop trying to figure out how old everyone is. It will just give me a nosebleed. Sarah alone is anywhere from sixteen to twenty-six and it just gets worse from there.

Spoilers, etc…

Review: Squire's Quest

Title: Squire's Quest Author: Gerald Morris Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Pages: 275 Synopsis: (from the publisher) Why is it, Terence wondered, that the things you know most surely are always the things you can't demonstrate to anyone else? And why is it, after all these years, that Terence is still just a squire, offering advice on how best to scrub rust spots from armor?  But Squire Terence has more to worry about that his place on the social scale.  For all the peace and prosperity that have made England famous across Europe, Terence is uneasy.  After nearly six months without contact with the World of the Faires--not even from his old friend the mischievous sprite Robin--Terence is sure something is rotten in King Arthur's court.  And while the squire is always on the watch for the latest plot of the enchantress Morgause, he now also has suspicions about Mordred, King Arthur's misbegotten son, who has appeared at court.  Is Mordred after Arthur's throne? In this ninth rollicking adventure in the Squire's Tales series, Terence's efforts to defend the Fellowship of the Round Table lead him on his farthest, and most fantastic, journey yet--a quest that ultimately brings Terence rewards he never imagined or expected.

So, a couple years ago, when Samoaphoenix gave me this book for Christmas, I did start reading it.  And it was awesome because ~*Sarah!*~.  But then Sarah's part of the book became really uncomfortable and Mordred showed up and his part was like nails on a chalkboard.  I got about a quarter of the way through and stopped.  That means technically I'm done with the rereads and this is my first impression of the book instead of second+.

Warning for Spoilers