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Loading... Knight Lifeby Peter David
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This book spins traditional Arthurian legend on it's head as it bring the very medieval King Arthur into present day New York. Arthur, having been defeated by Modred way back in the days of Camelot didn't actually die, but instead was hidden in a cave. Hundreds of years pass, and eventually he, and an ageing backwards Merlin, emerge from their respective caves and find themselves in a bustling NY city where they have the idea that Arthur should run for mayor. Arthur reclaims Excalibur (a very funny scene where the Lady of the Lake emerges, complete with fish on her head and in front of two homeless men), finds a reborn Guinevere (who is in an abusive relationship with a man called Lance) and a drunk Percival who is down on life as he's never been able to die due to having drunk from the Holy Grail. Throw in Morgan La Fay (at one point a fat, almost suicidal woman depressed because her old adversity hasn't been around for hundreds of years) and her son, Moe Dreskin (a PR guru who changed his name because no one would hire someone called Moe Dread in his line of work.) This is a lot of fun - Arthur trying to build a successful political campaign, Merlin trying to keep Arthur from repeating mistakes while being trapped in a child's body etc and the best thing about it is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. Obviously there are plot holes the size of a small country there, but lets face it - we're dealing with magic, mythical kings, time-travel and re-incarnation, does anyone really care about how they all ended up in NY instead of in Wales or something? Last year I read [a:Helen Hollick|477847|Helen Hollick|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1282688699p2/477847.jpg]'s wonderful Arthur trilogy and yes, that was more historically accurate (and avoided the stuff I hate about Arthurian legends once Mallory got ahold of it) but this is a very different kind of book and extremely enjoyable in its own right. Very few books make me laugh out loud, but this one did numerous times and I very much look forward to reading the sequels. Fantasy parody of the Arthurian myths/books in which King Arthur appears in modern-day New York in the guise of one Arthur Penn, and decides to run for mayor of the city. With his refreshing and bold new ideas, he quickly gains notoriety with the help (?) of Merlin, now in the form of an eight-year-old boy, Gwen DeVere, his secretary, and Percy Vale, his accountant as well as a host of other familiar characters. I thought the humor was a bit forced at times, but it was quite funny in other places. Full of puns and wordplay, but not as skillfully written as the author’s later fantasy parodies featuring Sir Apropos of Nothing, which I REALLY enjoyed. This one was good, but not great. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesModern Arthur (1)
More than 1,500 years after his disappearance into the mists of Avalon, King Arthur has returned. This time, he's prepared to rule the Camelot of a new millennium: New York City. Handsome, charismatic Arthur Penn is running for mayor on a platform of common sense, humor, and knightly virtues. His advisors include a gifted ten-year-old named Merlin; Percival, an immortal accountant; and Gwen, a lovely young woman with no end of problems. Their grassroots campaign steadily gains strength until scandal looms with the sudden emergence of Morgan Le Fay, Arthur's sorceress half-sister, and her son Mordred, the aspiring mayor's ambitious heir. Acclaimed by Kirkus Reviews as ""steady fun"" by ""a darkly amusing fantasist,"" this imaginative romp is the revised and expanded version of Peter David's first novel, Sir Apropos of Nothing, originally published in 1987 and now out of print. David is the author of more than fifty novels, many of which have appeared on The New York Times bestsellers list. His sparkling update of Arthurian myth abounds in wit, irony, and astute reflections on human nature. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Not enough to tempt me into reading further. ( )