Customer Reviews

The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-cart Knight (The Squire's Tales)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

So far this year I have only read one book better than this one--and that was 'The Savage Damsel And The Dwarf', by the same author who wrote this, Gerald Morris.

Mr Morris has a true gift for writing. All of his books are good, and I would heartily recommend reading every single one of them. However, it is in his books that star strong, willful female heroines that he really shines. Let's face it, strong women are inspiring and exciting, and unfortunately, also rather too rare in literature, or even in films and television. Girl power is great! (Personally, I think that was why the tv series 'Buffy' was always better than its spinoff 'Angel', because it had more strong, likeable female characters.)

In this novel, young, brave, determined Sarah goes looking for revenge, but ends up finding herself. Her journey is as much about self-discovery as it is a quest for justice, and the outcome is upliftingly beautiful and poignant.

Yes, this book tackles some serious issues, but thankfully, in the skilled hands of Gerald Morris, it is also incredibly witty, entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny! Plus, as always, there's lots of knights in shining armour, exchanging both swordplay and wordplay equally cuttingly.

I only hope that this brilliant author writes more books in this series, because I've read them all now, and I'm going into serious withdrawal...

After reading one book by author Gerald Morris, we were addicted! Now my husband (43), my son (12), and myself (37) are fighting over every book in the Squire's Tales series that we can get our hands on! We bought this book because we heard it was "good literature." We had no idea HOW good until we read it. It is clever, witty, sarcastic, adventurous, and inspirational! My husband laughed so hard he cried! It is a very entertaining retelling of the King Arthur stories and Canterbury Tales, complete with knights, castles, princesses, magic, fairies, herbs with healing powers, and quests! The characters as sassy and full of spunk, and there is a new adventure around every corner. We recommended these books to our local library, some of the librarians read one of the books, and they ended up ordering a bunch of the books from The Squire's Tales series for the library. (This book is the sixth in the series.) It is easy to recommend such a charming and entertaining book!

This is a great book! It's not as funny as THE SQUIRE'S TALE, but it's more adventure. You see, Sarah witnesses the Queen and Sir Kai's obduction, and she goes for help. Soon she finds herself accompanied by the famous Sir Gawain, his squire, Terence, and searching for the queen and kai. But Sarah's also on a quest of her own, with only a mysterious old crone to help her. This book is filled with ACTION, ADVENTURE, KNIGHTS, ENCHANTMENTS, SUSPENSE, MAGIC, OTHER-WORLDLY-BEINGS, all on a MEDIEVAL back ground! This really is a great read!

Good book, weird title. A girl named Sarah lived with her mother and Mordecai until a knight came with the village and killed them. Sarah has to survive on her own stealing food from the village, and an old woman, who leaves food for her. Sarah wants to get revenge from the knight, and sees one that might be him, or would lead her to him, along with a lady. She follows him and tries to steal his sword when he sits down, but he grabs her, and throws her to the middle of the clearing. She apoligises, and they offer to eat lunch with her. While she's fetching water for the horses, another knight comes, and kidnaps both of them. The knight that she met first hints to Sarah to go and tell King Arther, and that the lady is Queen Guinivere. The old lady who left out food for her told her how to get to Camelot. When she finally gets there, Arther sends a search party, and they plan to drop off Sarah on their way to find the knight, and the Queen, but things didn't go as planned.

Although I absolutely love all of Gerald Morris's books so far, this one was probably my least favorite. I'm not quite sure why, since it had most of our old favorite characters like Terence and Sir Gawain. But I guess I thought Sarah wasn't a great main character. She was just a little too annoying at times. And also, there wasn't quite as much humor in this book as in the previous ones. Definitely no romance, if you're interested in that sort of thing. Anyway, it was still very good and definitely worth reading, especially for fans.

Every book Mr. Morris writes leaves me yearning for the next one. His retelling of the Arthurian legends is masterful. I'm going to read through all six of the books that make up the Squire's Tales (so far) to study how he develops in his writing.

This book is my favorite of his Squire's Tales. It isn't as jocular as the others, having a darker undertone with its themes of power and revenge, but it is gripping in its suspense. He also paces his twists and turns in a "don't put this book down" sort of way.

Sarah is a fully developed and complex main character and, while I won't spoil the surprising and delightful "battle cry" uttered first by Charis and then by Sarah, I completely intend to adopt it as my own. In fact, there are a number of girls and women who would gladly wear a t-shirt (the modern evolution of the banner worn into battle) that says ... "I am my own ..." Read the book and see.

This age has great good fortune to see the likes of Gerald Morris retelling the tales of De Troyes and Mallory.

Although this is only the second of the series that I have read (the other being Parsifal's Page) I thoroughly enjoyed it. Unlike some authors he manages to stay relatively true to the arthurian tales and yet adds his own style. I certainly enjoyed the humor that was rampant throughout the books. It is not necessary to read the others in the series, although helpful. If you haven't however, a small knowledge of the basic stories is sufficient. This is certainly one of the best (and few successful) rewrites that I've ever read.

I absolutley loved this book. It walks a fine line between serious and funny, and you feel good when you're done reading it. A side, slightly minor point that gave me great pleasure was that, although he doesn't dwell on it, Morris does mention the persecution of the Jews at that point in time. I was always under the impression that everyone knew about the awful treatment of the Jews in the Middle Ages (in some cases, escpecially during the crusades, the death count was higher than the Holocaust), but was recently disabused of this belief. The book, and the whole series, is an icredibly fun interpretation of King Arthur and his court, and I highly recommend it for everyone!

Morris here introduces some darker themes: cruelty, anti-Semitism, vengeance and hatred. There's humor, but the book also shows some of the harsh reality of the Middle Ages -- and of the present day. I loved the book, loved how Sarah steps in when Gawain, Terence and even Lancelot can't help, conquering her fear and discovering the rewards and the obligations inherent in friendship.

The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight is a GREAT book!

In this story the heroine, Sarah, is an orphan. Being the only witness of Queen Guinevere's abduction, she sets off to Camelot to tell King Arthur about his wife. Soon she finds herself on quest with Gawain and his Squire, Terence, both to rescue the queen and a secret quest of her own.

Filled with the usual assembly of recreant knights, "holy men", and other hilarious characters, this book has kept me turning pages till the very end. My favorite character is King Bagdemagus, a very, very silly man who is always in the latest fashion; whether it's a brilliant green silk robe or torn up shepherd's clothes!!!

In conclusion, The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady is something I think everyone should read and enjoy. So, if you like ADVENTURE, ARTHURIAN TALES, KNIGHTS, Sir LANCELOT, SWORD FIGHTS AND MAGIC, this is the book for you!!!