✍ Scribed by Morris, Gerald
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Piers is desperate to become a page to escape the dirty, tedious labor of his fathers blacksmith shop. So when a knight arrives announcing that hes on the quest, Piers begs to go along. Off on a series of adventures he never dreamed possible, Piers and the knight quickly run into difficulties. The knight is slain by Parsifal who is on a quest of his own.
Parsifal is unlike anyone Piers has ever met. He doesnt behave knightly at all. Slowly, Piers realizes that being a knight has nothing to do with shining armor and winning jousts. And, as their journey continues, they find that to achieve their quest they must learn more than knighthood: they must learn about themselves.
The tale of Parsifal has been told more than that of any other knight, but no one has ever told his story quite like Gerald Morris does in his fourth Arthurian novel, another tour de force of humor, action, magic, and, as always, true love.
**
Gr 5-8-As he did in The Squire's Tale (Houghton, 1998), the author retells a knight's legend from the perspective of his helper and companion. In this entertaining and substantive story, Piers's wanderlust takes him to the court of King Arthur where he meets up with a lost soul, Parsifal, who longs to be a knight. Piers's mother has regaled him with stories of her life as a maid-in-waiting at the French court, so he has grown up with lofty ideas and the ambition to become a knight's page. Parsifal is clearly in need of his expertise. Readers familiar with the legend will recognize the main events. After Parsifal fails to ask "the" question and realizes his mistake, he continues his Grail quest alone, and Piers joins Sir Gawain and his page on further adventures, thus continuing the story begun in The Squire's Tale. Piers's overly earnest attempts to do the right thing and Gawain's wit provide most of the humor in the story, but the author avoids cheapening the significance of the Grail quest. Readers unfamiliar with Parsifal and Gawain's stories may wish for a "who's who" to keep up with the characters, but the sheer fun of this novel will keep them going. Unfortunately, the cover art looks like a video game and doesn't fit the story. Once past it, Arthurian fans will be hooked by the great writing. Katherine Paterson's Parzival (Dutton, 1998) is a more traditional retelling that would appeal to similar readers.-Cheri Estes, Detroit Country Day School Middle School, Beverly Hills, MI
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Gr. 5-8. Morris continues his interpretation of Arthurian lore, begun with The Squire's Tale (1998). Eleven-year-old Piers is on an errand to King Arthur's court when Parsifal arrives, an ignorant, innocent young man asking to be made a knight. Piers soon becomes his page and companion, and Parsifal's adventures are seen through his eyes. Adventure is the key word here, for the emphasis is on action, magic, and heroism rather than reflection or spirituality. In the appended author's note, Morris explains that his version of Parsifal's tale is based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's fifteenth-century retelling. Some readers may prefer Katherine Paterson's Parzeval: The Quest of the Grail Knight (1998), based on the same source and written with more dignity and restraint; Morris' version is Piers' story more than Parsifal's. Libraries where Morris's Arthurian series has a following will certainly want to add this to their fiction collections. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved
Library : Fantasy
Universes : The Squire's Tales [04]
Formats : EPUB
ISBN : 9780618055098
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