{"id":11242,"date":"2007-10-14T11:51:33","date_gmt":"2007-10-14T18:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2007\/10\/14\/book-review-fall-of-knight.html"},"modified":"2007-10-14T11:51:33","modified_gmt":"2007-10-14T18:51:33","slug":"book_review_fall_of_knigh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/10\/14\/book_review_fall_of_knigh.html","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Fall of Knight<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

Fall of Knight<\/strong><\/a><\/i> by Peter David<\/strong> (2006)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Overall<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n Story<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Re-Readability<\/td>\n <\/td>\n Characters<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Story<\/strong>: This is the third volume of Peter David’s return of Arthur trilogy.  Knight Life <\/em>(one of David’s first published works) told of Arthur’s reappearance and his election to mayor of New York.  One Knight Only <\/em>had him voted President of the United States.  This book takes place after that administration, as Arthur and Gwen bum about at loose ends.  But what happens when the healing power of the Grail becomes known to the public at large — especially when it serves as a key part of a dark adversary’s plan to use it, in conjunction with another ancient artifact, to destroy, not heal, the world?<\/p>\n

Like his Apropos series, David’s Arthurian tales are darkly whimsical, as both the ideals and dark sides of humanity are brought out by events and personal choices.  David’s tone is often cynical, even sometimes bitter, but also hopeful, and includes more than a couple of theological zingers.   <\/p>\n

The story itself is complex, building some from the previous volumes, but also working pretty well on its own.  There are some fine extrapolations (if the Grail can cure those who drink of it — can water from the Grail be bottled and sold?  And, if so, what would that do to both churches and hospitals?), some dastardly villainy, more than a few bits of heroism, and a reasonable amount of conspiracy, new and ancient.  It’s a satisfying, if relatively quick, read.<\/p>\n

Characters<\/strong>:  Unlike his New Frontier series, characters take something of a back seat here to myth.  They’re there, of course, and well-drawn — from Arthur and Merlin and Percival and Gwen, to politicians, businessfolk, and church leaders — but one has the sense that the tale is more important than the players in it, and that the figures of myth are as captured by the narrative as the reader.<\/p>\n

Re-Readability<\/strong>:  I think I’ll reread this again — not soon, but it was entertaining enough, and well-told enough, that I think the whole trilogy will stay on my shelf.<\/p>\n

Overall<\/strong>:  A good capper to the series — and, in fact, there’s nothing to say there couldn’t be a fourth — it was worth the extortionate costs of today’s paperbacks, and probably even more worth borrowing from someone who has it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fall of Knight by Peter David (2006) Overall Story Re-Readability Characters Story: This is the third volume of Peter David’s return of Arthur trilogy.  Knight Life (one of David’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-books"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11665,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/07\/23\/book_review_missing_in_ac.html","url_meta":{"origin":11242,"position":0},"title":"Book Review: Missing in Action (Star Trek: New Frontier)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 23-Jul-07 10:34am","format":false,"excerpt":"Peter David's Star Trek: New Frontier series is a guilty pleasure of mine.\u00a0 It's vaguely embarrassing to be caught reading Star Trek stuff, but David's wit, his great ear for...","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12298,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/06\/05\/book_review_darkness_of_t.html","url_meta":{"origin":11242,"position":1},"title":"Book Review: Darkness of the Light by Peter David","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 5-Jun-08 9:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Darkness of the LIght by Peter David (2007) Overall Story Re-Readability Characters Story: This is the first volume of a new fantasy series, \"The Hidden Earth,\" by Peter David....","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12249,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/06\/15\/book_review_iron_man.html","url_meta":{"origin":11242,"position":2},"title":"Book Review: Iron Man","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 15-Jun-08 2:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Book adaptations of movies usually are fairly mediocre. Generally based on an earlier version of the script than what shows up on the screen, authors aren't encouraged to do anything...","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12527,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/04\/01\/book_review_before_dishon.html","url_meta":{"origin":11242,"position":3},"title":"Book Review: Before Dishonor","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 1-Apr-08 9:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Peter David has written a lot of very entertaining and well-crafted Star Trek novels. This, alas, is not one of them.\u00a0 Star Trek: The Next Generation - Before Dishonor by...","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5099,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/11\/01\/recent_books.html","url_meta":{"origin":11242,"position":4},"title":"Recent books","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 1-Nov-03 1:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I have about six books in-process at the moment, plus my weekly comics et al., so my book throughput isn't always what I wish it were. 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