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The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf

The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf

List Price: $5.95
Your Price: $5.36
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nothing very special
Review:
Lynet ("The Savage Damsel"), younger sister to the beautiful Lyonesse, wants to deliver her family from the hands of the dreadful Knight of the Red Lands, so one night Lynet leaves the Castle Perle and makes her way to Camelot. She hopes to find a great knight who can deliver her family from the Red Knight. Instead she finds no help from a great knight, but instead a dwarf, named Roger, and an interesting kitchen knave, named Beaumains. Many adventures befall the three unlikely companions as they travel from Camelot back to the Castle Perle. Lynet falls in love with Beaumains as the journey continues. Near the end of the book, Lynet finds out that 'Beaumains' is actually Sir Gareth, brother to the greatest knight of Camelot, Sir Gawain.

Morris tries to make Lynet ("The Savage Damsel") independent and strong-willed with her cutting remarks and her rude behavior. But instead of being 'the savage damsel' that Morris tries to make her, Lynet still came off to me as ungrateful and whiney to all those around her.

And by the end of the book, I found her character, and all the rest of the characters as well, shallow and unreal. The end was more than unrealistic (despite the basic storyline being unrealistic, as well).

This subject of the Legends of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table is very interesting, but I would go elsewhere to learn and read about it.

~Atalanta

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Arthurian tales to please anyone...
Review: Each book in this series is a genuine pleasure to read! If you enjoy good fantasy, yet shy away from the Arthurian legends, please give these books a try. They are full of all the great fantasy features: quests, battles, damsels, knights, dwarves, sorcery, etc, yet do not bog you down with a confusing cast of characters.They are also written with a wonderful humorous flair, as well as a touch of romance. Just a lot of fun!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is a great book!
Review: First of all, you don't have to be age 9-12 to enjoy this book! I thought it was a really good fantasy (like all of Gerald Morris's books)It's about a a girl, Lynet, who seeks help from King Arthur to defeat the Red Knight, who is guarding her castle and trying to win the hand of her vain sister. With the help of a dwarf, Lynet reaches Arthur. However, the king will only send his kitchen boy to fight, which outrages Lynet. The story is about Lynet's adventures with the kitchen boy(or is he?) and Roger, the dwarf. One of the great parts of the book is that you come across characters that are main characters in Gerald Morris's other books. It's a really fun read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a small comic masterpiece
Review: First-rate irony and role reversals here, offering a voice to the marginalized figures of Arthurian romance: damsels seeking aid and the dwarves who sometimes accompany them (cf. Naomi Mitchison's _To the Chapel Perilous_). It also offers humorous insight into the problems created by social expectations, in our own age as well as the past. Are glamorous people necessarily suitable partners? What alternatives in life exist for the younger sons and daughters of the aristocracy?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Down-to-earth YA fantasy drenched in good humor
Review: I don't normally like YA fantasy (anymore...I used to love it, when I was a YA), but this book was absolutely delightful. It's a vaguely Arthurian tale of a strong young woman who sets off to find a way out of 'family problems' (a brute who's in love with her sister has the family under siege in their home). She arrives at King Arthur's castle seeking aid, only to be assigned a kitchen boy as a champion. Does she inevitably fall in love with the handsome kitchen boy? Yes. Is that the end of the story? Not even close.

What I like best about this writer's style is the character development over the course of the story. No one is who they were assumed to be at the beginning--sometimes literally (there is at least one enchantment and two or three people living incognito), but more often simply because their personalities are fleshed out, elaborated, and often changed by events and by each other over the course of the entire book. Sometimes a character you like surprises you with a spate of pigheadedness; sometimes a handsome man who is smart with a sword turns out not to be smart in other ways. In the end we know these characters like we know our friends: we accept their shortcomings even as we admire their good points.

Morris has a gift for dialogue, and in reading kids' reviews of his books, what you see most is the word 'funny': humor seems to be a necessary ingredient in his novels. Fun, light, easy-to-read, not the least bit historical (but who cares?), and utterly involving. I highly recommend this book to anyone who values these characteristics.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great Arthurian romance
Review: I figured that this book couldn't be as good as the previous two, if Gawain and Terence have minimal roles. But instead we have a few of the holes filled into their lives in the forms of a mysterious dwarf named Roger and a fiery young woman named Lynet.

Quite annoyingly, a killer knight has appointed himself the champion of Lynet's sister, Lyonesse. Lyonesse is an air-headed, blonde ditz, while plain Lynet sets off to King Arthur's court to find a champion-without revealing who she is. She ends up taking a fancy-talking kitchen boy to do battle with the knight, but virtually everyone she meets has a strange secret...

Lynet is a glorious heroine, a gal who is unafraid to threaten someone with a spear or venture to Camelot. Roger is wit incarnate, with a very surprising secret at his core. And you MUST read more about King Arthur.

Some of the favorite characters return, including the excellent Morgan le Fay, who teaches Lynet some excellent lessons. It also teaches the quality of a good heart above a pretty face.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: G R E A T !
Review: I find all three of Gerald Morris' medieval books to be above average for a "young reader" series. The stories are imaginative and exciting, allowing us to get a glimpse of life in those times. I really loved the cover art, too!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Savage Damsel
Review: I love this book. I really, really love this book - there's something about the understated humour which appeals to me more than almost anything I've ever come across. I won't write a plot overview, since the other reviews have already done that, I only wanted to add my approval. By far the best of the Morris books (although I haven't read Dinidan or the Princess and Crone - if only he was in print in Australia). I'm almost sick with laughter every time I read the Knight of the Rose scene.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of my favorite books!
Review: I rarely read a book this good. I have checked it out from the library so many times that I have lost count! The humour is so clever, the love story is so romantic and the plot is excellent!
I won't tell who Lynet falls in love with as that is one of the best parts of the book. I love Gerald Morris' work and wish there was more!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: FUNNY, VEEEEERY FUNNY :)
Review: I think I've probably read this book about twenty times by now, and I'm still not sick of it. If you (the reader of this review) have ever read any other Arthurian stuff, and are kind of getting depressed by the same old (tragic! sniff!) story, this book, and the others by Gerald Morris, will be a welcome breath of fresh air. However, even if you're not obsessed by this genre, you'll like this book all the same. I also like that Mr. Morris changes the common way some of the characters are portrayed. Especially Gareth (my favorite knight of all time, but I didn't mind what was done to him), Lancelot, whom I do not, never have and never will like because he's a sleazeball, and Gaheris, who's not supposed to be playing with a full deck. All in all, READ THIS BOOK OTHERWISE I SHALL BE FORCED TO JOUST WITH YOU.


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