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Monday, October 25, 2010

Book Review: The Legend of the King by Gerald Morris

The Legend of the King by Gerald Morris
Buy The Legend of the King by Gerald Morris

The Legend of the King
by Gerald Morris
The Squire's Tale

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN-10: 0-547-14420-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-547-14420-7
Publication Date: September, 2010
List Price: $16.00

Review: Battle, Friendship, Honor, Loyalty, Medieval! Do those words interest you? Are you ready for craziness? The Legend of the King is a brilliant book by Gerald Morris. It is the 10th and latest in the Squire's Tales series. There are actually 5 main characters in this story - Sir Terrence, Sir Gawain, Sir Lancelot, Mordred, and King Arthur!

King Arthur's son Mordred has spies in Camelot reporting the actions of the Round Table. Planning to destroy Arthur's kingdom, Mordred's army has done as much as they could to break up the loyalty and trust of the best knights of King Arthur's Round Table. The brutal strike in Orkney by Mordred's army aggravates King Arthur - and now Arthur knows what he must do! The risky call of war was confidently made by Arthur! However - Camelot has other things to deal with! King Arthur sends Gawain to battle former knight Sir Lancelot in single combat to get revenge on him for his lover affair with Queen Guinevere! Arthur's army sneaks an attack on Mordred while his army is sound asleep. However - as the major battle commences- King Arthur realizes his army is outnumbered 3 to 1. Despite this, King Arthur gives the war signal to fight Mordred's army. Brave knights of Camelot make way to the center of the battle to defend the pride of Camelot! One army will not survive the epic battle that day!

I like how all the action in the story is well described. Gerald Morris brings the story to life very well. I admired how Terrance, Gawain, Lancelot, Gaheris, Lynette, and King Arthur all have an important role in defending Camelot and the honor of the Round Table. The author does a good job of keeping my interest by always ending each chapter with a new dilemma. There is always a new conflict being faced by one of the main characters. I also enjoy the full descriptions of each battle fought in this novel. The author makes you feel like you are a part of the battle and are watching it live and in person. I do not like how the novel is subtle at the very end. You can't even tell if some of the main characters die or not! Because of the ending, I hope Gerald Morris will write another book in the series. The medieval terminology is also confusing and hard to comprehend at times in the book. Overall - I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is age 11 or older. I rate this book a strong 8 out of 10.

Review written by Sahil (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing a copy of The Legend of the King for this review.

Have you read The Legend of the King? How would you rate it?

12 comments:

  1. great review!!!! I'm going to order it!

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  2. wondering how many pages this was because I may want to read it!

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  3. This review is very insightful, as well as helpful in determining whether or not this book would be appropriate and interesting reading for someone in middle school.

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  4. Great review! Maybe there is a medieval terminology reference that you might recommend. I guess the ending is meant to allow the reader to either use his imagination or allow for an extension of the series. Thanks for the insight.

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  5. Wow, this looks like an interesting read! I will add it to my Christmas shopping list for my daughter. I know she is going to love it since she also loved the Harry Potter series. Thanks for the helpful review!

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  6. Sounds like a really interesting read! Captivating summary and a great balance of your pros and cons. I think I may recommend it for my son's next book club.

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  7. Thanks for the great summary. This book seems to have all the adventures. It sounds like a book you can't put down once you start reading it, I will add this to my son's book list.

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  8. I must say this review was very well written and makes you want to run out and get the book!

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  9. I don't usually like medieval themes, but I am a big fan of reading stories where the author makes you feel like you are part of the action. Thank you for taking the time to write such a thorough and descriptive review - you have inspired me to read the book (where I normally would've passed on it after looking at the cover)!

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  10. Great job, Sahil!
    This was a very interesting and insightful review including critique.Though I am not familier with these midevel stories your review has stimulated me to read the book. It is a very mature piece of work. We are very proud of you. Keep up the progress...Dada and Ba

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  11. Seems to be an interesting twist on the days of King Arthur. A well written, detailed review...kudos to the reviewer for stirring up so much interest!

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  12. Could You tell us who won?

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