The Legend of the King, by Gerald Morris

Some of you may recall that I did a post a few months back about the Squire’s Tales series by Gerald Morris—not to be confused with Gilbert Morris—which is a collection of retellings of the Arthurian legends told in Morris’ droll, highly-entertaining style. They’re one of my absolute favorite book series of all time, and every time Morris has come out with a new one, I’m absolutely thrilled. I’ve never been disappointed, and every one of his books is just as stellar and amazing as the next.

Unfortunately, I’m sad to say, there will no longer be a “next”. At least, not in the Squire’s Tales series.

The Legend of the King is Morris’ chronicle of the end of King Arthur’s reign. And, though infused with his trademark humor, it is admittedly a rather dark and even depressing book. The kingdom falls—as Morris himself says in a note at the end of the book, the original legends “only allow a certain amount of hope amid all their oppressive tragic inevitability.”

I’ll admit that I left this book with mixed feelings. Foremost was, I think, a sadness. It’s not like the end of The Last Battle, where everyone is reunited and all is well. It’s more like the end of The Return of the King, where most of our beloved friends have gone on, and there are only a few left to pick up the broken and slowly-healing pieces. You get a much different feeling when Sam leaves the Gray Havens than when Mr. Tumnes comes down the hill to greet Lucy and the rest.

But there’s also a certain satisfaction, in knowing that—yes, the stories end this way, but Mr. Morris has done his best and noblest at giving us true telling. Not necessarily an “accurate” one—for example, if you’re any fan of the Arthurian legends, you may recall the scene right before Arthur’s final battle, when a frightened soldier draws his sword to kill a viper that had been about to bite him, and breaks the stalemate, sending the two armies into a fatal battle. That scene doesn’t appear in Morris’ version, though to no loss to his story or to its “trueness”.

Many old and beloved characters reappear—from Dinadan the minstrel knight and his Moorish friend Palomides, to Terence and his former master Gawain, to the despicable Morwen and her oh-so-hatable son Mordred. It’s a good book, despite its gloomy tale, and it is, I suppose, a fitting end to the Squire’s Tales series.

I would recommend that anyone interested in reading this series read every other book in the series before attempting this one—there are so many characters that reappear that honestly, even I, a devoted fan, had forgotten about. A few of them, I had to sit back and really think—who in the world is this person? I remember the name, but what was the story…oh yeah. OK, I can keep reading now. So knowing the backstory is pretty critical here.

The Brownie gives The Legend of the King an affectionate five quills as we bid farewell to this epic series—now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a sudden desire to go reread some of the earlier Tales. Maybe I’ll remember exactly who Ywain was and why he married Laudine to begin with…

~Brownie