The Quest of the Fair Unknown: The Squire's Tales Series, Book 8 [Kindle Edition]

I am a fan of Gerald Morris' work, and this is a delightful addition to his Squire's Tales Series. The story follows an innocent who goes in search of his father after the death of his mother. Supporting characters include new characters Galahad, Ellyn, Bors and Lionel, and old favorites Gawain and Terrance. There are no fools in this book, a change for the series, and I think it is an improvement. Everyone seems to have a motivation; each of them is trying to do right in his own way (some failing miserably), which is appropriate for the subject matter. Yes, admidst the light banter, there are suprisingly deep themes. Gerald Morris explores the nature of right and wrong and the purpose of existence, and I think he pulls it off nicely. This book can be enjoyed by children for its wit and adventure and by adults for [the same reasons plus] the questions it raises.

This book is a bit different from the rest of the series in it seems to set itself up for a sequal. It is much shorter than previous novels, and I suspect that this book may be half of the original story idea. Lancelot, for instance, is mentioned at the beginning of the book, but he never appears later on, even though the events of the book could be really close to home for him. A new bad guy character is introduced, and some characters are warned about him, but afterwards he disappears from the narrative. You should not take this to mean that the book has plot holes. It is more a sense that future events in the series are being foreshadowed here, and I look forward to reading that book as well.

Now, as a bonus, I will talk about my favorite aspect of the series as a whole--the cover art. This book is as ridiculous as ever (part of the charm), a hodgepodge of victorian clip art with visible scan lines. The artist has depicted a scene found nowhere in the book, complete with at least one unidentifiable character and a mysterious green glow immenating from the door on the right (a grossly misinterpreted "fair unknown" perhaps?) All this is hillarious, of course, but sadly, it does not top the previous book, The Lioness and her Knight, which must be seen to be appreciated.

The Quest of the Fair Unknown is a very good book. Starting with Beaufils (pronounced Bo-feece) burying his mother and taking off to Camelot, the story is filled with transformations, magic, and adventure. It is really funny and is a great read.

The speech is realistic, the details descriptive yet not boring, and the characters very interesting. While Galahad and the hermits are just hilarious, others are more quiet, fun, active or, (in Beaufils' case)innocent.

I gave this book four stars simply because in my opinion The Squire's Tale is better. But really, this book is a must read, as of all Gerald Morris' books. The Quest of the Fair Unknown has a surprising but happy ending, and I enjoyed it very much.

P.S (The lady on the front cover is NOT killing the donkey!)

I have read all the Squire's Tale Books. I enjoyed number 8 very much, just as I enjoyed all the others. Stories of knights and King Arthur in particular have always been enjoyable to me. One of the professional reviews referred to the beginning age for this book as 5th grade and another said age 9. I disagree, though not drastically. My daughter is in the 4th grade. I would not want her to read it until she is in middle school, which is now the 6th grade in our district. The main character is looking for his father who does not know he was born out of wedlock. There is at least one reference to young knights "tomcatting around". The earlier books could perhaps be for a slightly younger age, but the stories are a little more mature in the later books for at least a middle school age. Of course, the Arthurian legends contain many references to faithfulness and unfaithfulness in marriage. Other than this simple caution, I think the books are a wonderful read. I would have read everyone of them straight through if I did not have two wonderful kids to distract me. Gerald Morris does a great job with his characters, the way he uses the original legends in the stories, and the hilarious situational and verbal humor. I am delighted to have discovered all the books by Morris while browsing and waiting on my kids at the library.