Customer Reviews

The Great and Terrible Quest

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is currently back in print. I found it for under ten dollars from Sonlight Curriculum. It's my 14 and 10 year old daughters' all-time favorite book. We actually wrote the author, who is over 90, and she very kindly wrote us a lovely letter back. It's a terrific adventure story and really stretches the imagination as you keep wondering how the characters in the book all fit together. The little boy, in his unselfishness and bravery, is a true hero.

I found this book in my local library when I was a teenager. I loved it so much that a decade later, I both remembered "The Great & Terrible Quest" and recommended it to a younger relative. He loved it so much that decades later, he both remembers it and recommends it to others. Really, how many books can you say this about, decades after you've read them?

This story centers on a young boy, an orphan, who is growing up in the care of a cruel man. The young boy helps a wounded stranger, an act of generosity and kindness, and saves the wounded stranger from his cruel guardian. The stranger is an old man who is suffering memory loss but must desperately complete a very important quest to save their country. The young boy sets off to help the old man with his quest.

"The Great and Terrible Quest" is a wonderful book, exciting and vivid, with a wonderful ending, well worth reading over and over again. This book is still in print, according to the publisher, but appears to not be available through Amazon.com at this time.

This riveting story of a boy escaping abuse and an old man on a quest is not only a gripping read, it is a subtle declaration of the power of choice and the strength of will in making a difference between good and evil.

Set in a mythical kingdom in Middle Ages Europe, the story revolves around Trad, a ten year old boy who came to live with his evil grandfather after his parents died. Despite severe treatment and contempt from his grandfather, Trad has compassion and courage, and reaches out to help any in need.

One of those he assists is a broken old man, at the end of his strength, who thinks he is a knight on a quest. Knowing that his grandfather would kill the old man if he found him, Trad runs away with the old man to seek help for him. As their journey progresses, Trad joins the old man on his quest, and their futures are far more tangled than Trad would have guessed.

There is a mystery to unravel, and nothing is as it seems. They find themselves facing impossible odds in a larger struggle of good vs. evil, but there is an undercurrent throughout the entire book that nothing is impossible. "What must be done, can be done," is the motto of the old man, and we see in his life and that of Trad's that this is true.

Those who have lived through a time in which every day is a questionable struggle for survival will recognize the deep truth behind these words. No one is aware of just how much is humanly possible until they tackle supposedly impossible challenges with that level of determination.

There is no fairy-tale magic in this book (although there are fake magicians,) no sorcery, and no mythical beasts. Yet there is a deeper thread of purpose and conviction that is all the more wonderful and powerful for not having been propped up by anything missing from today's world.

As a story, it is magnificent. You can enjoy it even if you miss all the subtext. It never preaches at all, but the sense that good can triumph if it is absolutely determined is there.

Read this book. It not only is highly enjoyable, it just might change your life. It did mine.

I can't recommend this book enough.

I bought this book because of reviews of other people. When I sat down and read it, I didn't want to put it down. Yes, there are some graphic details of injuries, but not as graphic as many other books now written. I don't agree with a previous statement about it being anti church, but even if it is, it opens the doors for discussion between parents and children. The plot moves at a quick enough pace that you won't get bored, but doesn't go so fast that you feel like you're simply running through it. The end has a twist which I suppose I should have seen but didn't. A delightful book that I would recommend and mourn that the author will be unable to grace us with anymore of her stories.

Adventure, excitement, personal growth. Wonderful book. My kids and I were riveted and couldn't wiat to find out what happened next.

Why isn't this book more widely known?
It's true literature, excellent reading for adults without being inappropriate or inaccessible for children.
I first read it at the age of nine, and loved it. Though many of the themes were above my capacity at the time, one part of the story stuck in my mind for years: there was one character who embodied the classic definition of courage, who could stare down the most horrific danger without flinching and make the most difficult moral decisions effortlessly. However, another character was terrified when his life was threatened, and he agonized for quite some time over a particularly dangerous choice. Even after choosing to do the dangerous (and right) thing, he was scared stiff.
The part that endured in my memory was when Trad (the boy) realized that the second man was just as brave as the first, not because he was never afraid, but because he did the right thing despite his fear.
It was a simplistic moral, but it helped me a lot growing up, and the best part was that when I returned to this book several years later, I found all the old morals just as potent, and innumerable new ones shining among the rest.
Wonderful and original characters. A wonderful and original plot. Wonderful and timeless morals for children, teenagers, and adults alike.
Do I need any more reason than that to call this virtually unknown book a classic?

I discovered this book while I was in the 6th grade (many years ago!) and checked it out to reread every time I found it in a school or public library for years afterward. It is so well written, poignant, and heartbreaking that all these years later I still get a catch in my throat when I think of that old knight. I shared it with every child I could over the years, writing to local libraries to find one who still had a copy to borrow.

I am so glad that, now I have the chance to share it with grandchildren, it magically has appeared again in print.

Margaret Lovett, thank you so very much for creating this story that has meant so much to me over the years. I have been a voracious reader all my life, and very few books have captured my heart like this story. This is a masterpiece, for boys and for girls!

This is a wonderfully written story with real and terrible consequences for quests-unlike some stories today where the most horrendous things don't seem to faze the main characters. The boy was all that you'd want in a main character with believable flaws and he even cries a few times. And how many stories with knights have wounds they must deal with? I recommend this for children and writers of children's books as a timeless story. It even has a surprise ending.

the product came in excellent shape and I was very happy with how quick I received it. Thanks.

Although I do agree that this book is written with great artistry, I would not recommend it. I perceived an anti-Church bias throughout the book. Here is an example from page 81 of the hardcover version, "The King in his Palace, the lords in their castles, the priests in their churches think of nothing but themselves, help no one, teach no one." This opinion was not balanced by a single example of a clergyman performing an act of charity. There was even the insinuation that religion was an illusion that kept the poor in subjugation. (From page 130, "the impassable gulf between rich and poor, shocking though it was, was general throughout Christendom ...the poor... could be content enough plodding through their lives in the humble hope of reward in Paradise...") The author did allude to a "power" that protected the main character, Trad. However, this power was never called "God."
My other objection to this book is the graphic description of injuries inflicted during combat.
I would not recommend this book to Christian families.