Blind Knight

by Gail Van Asten

Paperback.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Arthurian

218 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 23, 1989

Reviews

[J.Aleksandr Wootton]

An Arthurian fantasy with historical aspirations, reminiscent in style and basic plot to Howard Pyle's Men of Iron. Kept flirting with being good entertainment, full stop, but held itself back by:

(1) Doing fantastical/Arthurian exposition by fiat (secret knowledge imparted to hero, who then directly explains stuff when it suits)
(2) Using magic to dodge the blindness of the blind protagonist (lots of handwavy stuff here)
(3) Most problematically, relying on gratuitous rape to motivate the story, drive the female lead's character development (in this book, lasting trauma apparently isn't a thing), and make the male lead look better by comparison to other eligible males.

Wanted to like it; can't.

[Mark]

Reread I think is called for.

[Keith Dickens]

As far as I can remember, this was the first "novel" that I read as a kid and I have read the book probably 20 times. It's not the best book ever; it's probably not even a great book. But I enjoy it every time I read it. Now that I am more mature, the tones in the book take on a different meaning for me then when I was 12. It's enjoyable to think back on reading it when I was so young and connect with my youth. It's a story about a blind knight, descendant of Uther Pendragon and King Arthur of Camelot and his quest to regain his kingdom. If you like Arthurien stuff, then give it a try. Just think there is a lot of links to the actual legend here. 100% author fiction here.

[NightAuditMan]

This is probably the best retelling of "Arthurian" Legendry I've ever laid eyes on. Superbly written. I can easily read this book once a year!

[Alyssa (HeartwyldsLibrary)]

I’m calling it quits after 100 pages of 200. I just have zero driving force to continue reading this. I have been trying for 4 days now.

The rape, the child abuse, and regular abuse, and the sexism is just way to much in this story and it’s killing the entire plot. But the plot also feels jumpy and half way through it felt like there was a need to make more plot.

Also cursing an innocent child to get back at the horrible father is such a horrible storyline. I heard Mallory becomes quite the ass as the story progresses, but right now he isn’t and just spends a lot of time wondering why he was treated the way he was. So it was easy to feel for him.

But I just can’t continue I’m bored and just not enjoying the storyline anymore.

[Zaryna]

Why do so many great books go unnoticed?
I have been reading main stream, award winning literature for the last four months - well known fantasy series who everyone says is "Page-turning brilliance!".
Yet, it was in Blind Knight that I finally found a book worthy of that phrase.
I read it in 3 days - and when it finished my only wish was that it were a bigger book.
I don't have much knowledge of the myths it involved (apart from watching the Merlin TV show) and yet still found it a really really great to read!
I will forever be looking for more unnoticed books like this and trying to spread the word.

[Jessica]

I was enjoying this book at first but my interest quickly waned when Mallory grew up and became an asshole. Rosamund, who took out her anger on Mallory by beating the living shit out of him for five years straight, did also not endear herself to me. Also I was expecting sexism both because this book took place in the 10th century and the book itself being over 30 years old, but it got a bit much for me.

The thee thy thou writing style also isn't my favorite kind of writing. Though that be thy personal taste.

[Lim Seng]

One of my first few serious knightly reads.

I was immediately drawn in by the title; a blind guy strapped up in a suit of plate mail swinging his sword around hoping to cause serious flesh wound to some ne'er-do-well brigand?

Color me intrigued! Yet, it is a story of a paladin who was born without sight nor respect but grew up to become a champion worthy of kingship.

No spoilers. Just don't trust the summary wherer it says that there's no magic.

[Leah Elessar]

I think that the idea of this book was good. A blind knight? How could that be possible? But there was too many "Spicy" scenes for me. I enjoyed the story but it was too much description on that part for me.

[Rhonda Wise]

Not really what you would expect. Very well written.

[J. Rocci]

I can see how the argument could be made that the author was attempting to "stay true" to medieval customs / culture by including so much violence against women, but this book had so many gender issues, I was hard pressed to enjoy it. The poetic use of language is why I gave this two stars instead of one, but the flowery words almost seem like an attempt to hide exactly how casually heinous the women characters are treated here. Having Rosamund trained and acting like a man to protect her could be seen as another "stay true" attempt, but it highlights exactly how disempowered she is. I dislike rape being included in stories in general, but I would have liked to see more reaction on everyone's part to that. Add in the child abuse the main character suffers (due to the difference in his appearance and sight, not his gender), and I was hard pressed to finish this book. I felt like I was bottle-necking at a car wreck on the shoulder of the road up ahead. If that's the feeling the author wished to impart, they did so swimmingly, but I won't be reading anything else by Asten. This story reminded me of Robin McKinley's Deerskin, only I felt that one handled the horrific subject matter better.

[Christine]

I loved Charlemagne's Champion.

I hate this book. I fail to see what is so attractive about a character sexually molesting someone though magic, because he really loves her?

Pluze!

[Nicole]

I like this different take/continuation of the Arthurian story line.