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The Green Knight's Squire #1-3
The Green Knight’s Squire
Gilberic Parzival Moth is a strange and lonely boy who has grown up without a father, raised by a single mother who moves from town to town in fear of something she will not name. His only friends are animals, with whom he has always been able to speak. But when he awakens one night at the Thirteenth Hour, and sees for the first time the cruel reality of the secret rule of Elf over Man, he begins to learn about his true heritage, the heritage of Twilight.
And when his mother finally tells him the terrible truth of her past, he must choose whether to continue running with her in fear, or learning how to fight against ancient powers that are ageless, soulless, and ultimately damned. THE GREEN KNIGHT'S SQUIRE, the first volume of MOTH & COBWEB, is an astonishing new series about magical worlds of Day, Night, and Twilight by John C. Wright. THE GREEN KNIGH'S SQUIRE consists of three books:
Book One: Swan Knight's Son
Book Two: Feast of the Elfs
Book Three: Swan Knight's Sword
And when his mother finally tells him the terrible truth of her past, he must choose whether to continue running with her in fear, or learning how to fight against ancient powers that are ageless, soulless, and ultimately damned. THE GREEN KNIGHT'S SQUIRE, the first volume of MOTH & COBWEB, is an astonishing new series about magical worlds of Day, Night, and Twilight by John C. Wright. THE GREEN KNIGH'S SQUIRE consists of three books:
Book One: Swan Knight's Son
Book Two: Feast of the Elfs
Book Three: Swan Knight's Sword
506 pages, Hardcover
First published June 4, 2017
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83 people want to read
About the author
John C. Wright
146 books453 followersJohn C. Wright (John Charles Justin Wright, born 1961) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy novels. A Nebula award finalist (for the fantasy novel Orphans of Chaos), he was called "this fledgling century's most important new SF talent" by Publishers Weekly (after publication of his debut novel, The Golden Age).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 20, 2021
The Green Knight’s Squire is a YA Urban-slash-High-slash-Christian Fantasy trilogy by John C. Wright. The three books are: Swan Knight’s Son, Feast of the Elfs, and Swan Knight’s Sword. The trilogy is the first part of a 12-book series, Moth & Cobweb, of which 6 books have been published. (Review of Dark Avenger’s Sidekick to follow)
Short review: It’s quite good. Extremely Catholic, somewhat long-winded, but quite good. I strongly believe JCW’s writing career would do way better if he met an editor who could a) freaking make him stop monologuing, b) seriously, tone down the Catholic-ness, c) stop it with the sadomasochism and lovingly gross torture descriptions. Fortunately, (c) is not a problem in this book, this being YA, but it's enough of a Wright-ian feature that I mention it regardless.
Nevertheless, and this is important, when Mr. John C. Wright gets in gear and *writes,* he writes well, and I don’t think there is a single author today who uses language as well as he does. Some of work is downright Vancian: mood, setting, and descriptions are clear, vivid, picturesque, and sometimes, brilliant. Also, there’s a lot of pure homage to G. K. Chesterton, which is worth a star unto itself…but we’ll get into that in a minute.
Plot: Swan Knight’s Son is about a modern-day boy’s journey to becoming a knight. The fact that his mother is Ygraine of the Riddles, a Swan May, his dog talks and is an elf spy, he can understand the speech of animals and birds, and that there is a magic door in their house that follows them across country and opens to a moonlit room with his father’s armor, makes this a little easier for him than it would be for a strictly normal modern-day boy. On the other hand, he does end up in jail…
Feast of the Elfs follows Gil as he is recruited into The Last Crusade by the man in the dark room from Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday, swears allegiance to King Arthur, attends the titular Feast, meets The Green Knight–yes, the same one as in the Arthurian saga, what a coincidence–and finagles actual weapons training out of the elf king’s champion. This being part two of a trilogy, it ends on a down note as Gil loses his father’s sword–one of the Thirteen Treasures of Lyonesse–and has to be rescued by his mermaid girlfriend.
In Swan Knight’s Sword, Gil (spoiler, DUH!) gets his father’s sword back, returns to the court of the elves, declares himself openly as the Swan Knight’s son, restores his mother’s honor, gains the respect of knights and kings, everything goes just fine and all wrongs are righted and his mom meets his girlfriend and is okay with it (whew!)…ready to live happily ever after and have more adventures when the time comes.
Pros:
– Wright’s command of language is, of course, worth full marks. I’ve already mentioned the associated downside of this, that he lets his tendency to floridness get away with him, but the upside is lavish descriptions, witty dialogue, and outlandish but utterly logical scenarios that range from the ludicrously sensible to eye-rollingly brilliant.
– Building off that thought, one real strength of these books and Wright’s stuff in particular is his ability to mix and match elements of other works, literature, classic movies, classical mythology, chivalric romances, etc…and make them work. For instance: Batman (well, actually, The Shadow) plus Norse Mythology? But of course: it’s a homage to the disguises of Odin, who walked anonymously abroad in a broad hat and muffling cloak, clouding the minds of men that they did not see what was before their very eyes. Part two of the Moth & Cobweb series does this even better by introducing Tomorrow “Tom Swift” Moth, the gadget and science hero. (Sidenote: Tom Swift was one of the very young Rider’s first SF heroes. I was incredibly chuffed to find someone else had read and remembered those books.)
– Besides being able to make literary themes match together and work, Wright is also able to pull off what would otherwise be the most ridiculous juxtapositions ever. In book 1, Gil wants to train as a knight, but can only find a bear…a talking bear, naturally…who can teach him to fight. The training regimen? Daily practice in bear crawls [WHICH ARE A REAL EXERCISE!], bear hugs, roaring, and playing dead….all of which Gil later uses when fighting. Bravo. I loved it.
– ….and some of the dialogue is brief, snappy, and genuinely witty. SOME of it.
– Ruff–Sgeolan son of Iolan–spy of the elfs, is one of the best dogs and worst spies ever. In fact, all of the talking animals were well-done, including the spider who gets ticked at Gil for letting her dinner out of the web.
– “We thought this was a Kwanzaa tree!” Politically-correct fairies are the best fairies.
Cons: Everybody talks too much, talks like a professor of English Literature who has been mainlining Arthurian literature and is extremely anxious to tell you all about it. And if you aren’t Catholic, well, prepare to let your eyes glaze over at points.
I’m not really exaggerating on the first point. In Feast of the Elfs, it takes all of nine pages before a character starts talking at very extended length (he starts on page eight. By page nine I decided it was probably a monologue. By page eleven there was no doubt and I skipped to the end. On page eighteen.)
And as far as the second…well, what else can you call the scene where Gil, rightfully skeptical about a “law enforcement” job that requires no skills, ID, training, or prior experience, asks what it is. The Man in the Dark Room (AKA, Mr. Sunday from Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday…AKA, God) replies: “Martyrdom.” ….Yeah. It’s not the random, minor jabs against Protestantism (portraying your own denomination as correct and enlightened, and gently poking fun at other denominations in good faith and humor is totally understandable no matter); it’s the smug attitude and on-the-nose preachiness that I find wearisome. John C. Wright is a devout Catholic, and sir, this is a Wendy's.
All in all: I liked it, I read all three books in a single afternoon, and I do really recommend it.
Short review: It’s quite good. Extremely Catholic, somewhat long-winded, but quite good. I strongly believe JCW’s writing career would do way better if he met an editor who could a) freaking make him stop monologuing, b) seriously, tone down the Catholic-ness, c) stop it with the sadomasochism and lovingly gross torture descriptions. Fortunately, (c) is not a problem in this book, this being YA, but it's enough of a Wright-ian feature that I mention it regardless.
Nevertheless, and this is important, when Mr. John C. Wright gets in gear and *writes,* he writes well, and I don’t think there is a single author today who uses language as well as he does. Some of work is downright Vancian: mood, setting, and descriptions are clear, vivid, picturesque, and sometimes, brilliant. Also, there’s a lot of pure homage to G. K. Chesterton, which is worth a star unto itself…but we’ll get into that in a minute.
Plot: Swan Knight’s Son is about a modern-day boy’s journey to becoming a knight. The fact that his mother is Ygraine of the Riddles, a Swan May, his dog talks and is an elf spy, he can understand the speech of animals and birds, and that there is a magic door in their house that follows them across country and opens to a moonlit room with his father’s armor, makes this a little easier for him than it would be for a strictly normal modern-day boy. On the other hand, he does end up in jail…
Feast of the Elfs follows Gil as he is recruited into The Last Crusade by the man in the dark room from Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday, swears allegiance to King Arthur, attends the titular Feast, meets The Green Knight–yes, the same one as in the Arthurian saga, what a coincidence–and finagles actual weapons training out of the elf king’s champion. This being part two of a trilogy, it ends on a down note as Gil loses his father’s sword–one of the Thirteen Treasures of Lyonesse–and has to be rescued by his mermaid girlfriend.
In Swan Knight’s Sword, Gil (spoiler, DUH!) gets his father’s sword back, returns to the court of the elves, declares himself openly as the Swan Knight’s son, restores his mother’s honor, gains the respect of knights and kings, everything goes just fine and all wrongs are righted and his mom meets his girlfriend and is okay with it (whew!)…ready to live happily ever after and have more adventures when the time comes.
Pros:
– Wright’s command of language is, of course, worth full marks. I’ve already mentioned the associated downside of this, that he lets his tendency to floridness get away with him, but the upside is lavish descriptions, witty dialogue, and outlandish but utterly logical scenarios that range from the ludicrously sensible to eye-rollingly brilliant.
– Building off that thought, one real strength of these books and Wright’s stuff in particular is his ability to mix and match elements of other works, literature, classic movies, classical mythology, chivalric romances, etc…and make them work. For instance: Batman (well, actually, The Shadow) plus Norse Mythology? But of course: it’s a homage to the disguises of Odin, who walked anonymously abroad in a broad hat and muffling cloak, clouding the minds of men that they did not see what was before their very eyes. Part two of the Moth & Cobweb series does this even better by introducing Tomorrow “Tom Swift” Moth, the gadget and science hero. (Sidenote: Tom Swift was one of the very young Rider’s first SF heroes. I was incredibly chuffed to find someone else had read and remembered those books.)
– Besides being able to make literary themes match together and work, Wright is also able to pull off what would otherwise be the most ridiculous juxtapositions ever. In book 1, Gil wants to train as a knight, but can only find a bear…a talking bear, naturally…who can teach him to fight. The training regimen? Daily practice in bear crawls [WHICH ARE A REAL EXERCISE!], bear hugs, roaring, and playing dead….all of which Gil later uses when fighting. Bravo. I loved it.
– ….and some of the dialogue is brief, snappy, and genuinely witty. SOME of it.
– Ruff–Sgeolan son of Iolan–spy of the elfs, is one of the best dogs and worst spies ever. In fact, all of the talking animals were well-done, including the spider who gets ticked at Gil for letting her dinner out of the web.
– “We thought this was a Kwanzaa tree!” Politically-correct fairies are the best fairies.
Cons: Everybody talks too much, talks like a professor of English Literature who has been mainlining Arthurian literature and is extremely anxious to tell you all about it. And if you aren’t Catholic, well, prepare to let your eyes glaze over at points.
I’m not really exaggerating on the first point. In Feast of the Elfs, it takes all of nine pages before a character starts talking at very extended length (he starts on page eight. By page nine I decided it was probably a monologue. By page eleven there was no doubt and I skipped to the end. On page eighteen.)
And as far as the second…well, what else can you call the scene where Gil, rightfully skeptical about a “law enforcement” job that requires no skills, ID, training, or prior experience, asks what it is. The Man in the Dark Room (AKA, Mr. Sunday from Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday…AKA, God) replies: “Martyrdom.” ….Yeah. It’s not the random, minor jabs against Protestantism (portraying your own denomination as correct and enlightened, and gently poking fun at other denominations in good faith and humor is totally understandable no matter); it’s the smug attitude and on-the-nose preachiness that I find wearisome. John C. Wright is a devout Catholic, and sir, this is a Wendy's.
All in all: I liked it, I read all three books in a single afternoon, and I do really recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews