The Squire’s Tale by Gerald Morris

I had been looking forward to reading this series for some time. A fan of fantasy and alternative treatments of Arthurian Legend, I had heard a good deal about this series by Gerald Morris. Unfortunately, I felt quite disappointed. In many ways, Morris is faithful to the original telling of the Arthur tales – this first book in the series is fairly segmented. Within each chapter, there is a mini-adventure, and the story doesn’t move forward as much as it simply moves. The knights seemed somewhat interchangeable to me…they save maidens and hack off heads, and only occasionally have any emotional reactions. Nothing is dwelt on very much. It struck me like a computer game: Step one, cut off evil head; step two, escort lady to castle; step three, get reward from king; step four, start again. There isn’t even emotional connection to the main character, Terence, an elvish boy, as he observes the actions of his master. There are secrets about Terence, but by the time I learned some of them, I just didn’t care. Lastly, I gotta say that as an ardent feminist who adores Marion Zimmer Bradley’s “Mists of Avalon”, I can say I was heartily disappointed with the depiction of females throughout this “tale”. The rescued maidens are two-dimensional, self-obsessed bores, or harping and bitter. There isn’t a decent woman among the lot. As for the rest of the series, I think I’ll pass.