THE QUEST OF THE FAIR UNKNOWN
by Gerald Morris
Morris continues his intelligent retellings of Arthurian legends with a tale of multiple quests, centered on a young man so innocent of the world that he makes Candide look like Casanova. Never having met another human besides his just-deceased mother, or ventured far from his isolated forest home, Beaufils sets out to find his unknown father and his real name. Regarding all he sees with a fresh eye, and nearly everyone he meets as a potential friend, Beaufils arrives at Camelot just in time to join the Grail Quest, and, traveling with several Knights of the Round Table—notably invincible, tiresomely sanctimonious Galahad—falls into all sorts of colorful encounters with dreamers, schemers, bandits, sectarian hermits and baroque enchantments. With Beaufils, who combines sharp common sense with a fundamental simplicity (not to mention a hunky appearance and plenty of natural martial prowess), Morris creates another immensely likable character whose adventures will leave readers ruminating on foolish promises, surface beauty, narrow-minded religious views, silly misconceptions about the nature of honor and ways of identifying truly worthy quests. (Fantasy. 12-15)