Parsival: Or, a Knight's Tale

by Richard Monaco

Book Overview

Richard Monaco has created an unusual slant on the Arthurian Legend. Horror and bloodshed mingle with a soft, imaginative romanticism making an instant classic. --Salisbury Times, Britain This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0020230001
• ISBN13: 9780020230007
• Release Date: January 1977
• Publisher: Macmillan Pub Co
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Bawdy and bloody retelling of the Grail quest

This is the first of a now out of print four volume series based on the Arthurian Grail quest of the hero Parsival. The other three volumes are: The Grail War; The Final Quest; and, Blood and Dreams. This first volume follows Parsival from his overprotective mother and his childhood home on his first quest to become a knight at King Arthur's round table. Once he is a knight, he begins his second quest to find the Grail Castle and discover its secret. A parallel story tells of Broaditch, a servant from his mother's castle, who sets out soon after to find Parsival. The two quests compliment each other with short episodic chapters from each telling the tale of the book. The book is not for the squeemish. There is a war and lots of bloodshed. The people are bawdy rather than chivalric, and the sexual relationships are not always consensual. However, it is an exciting and humorous retelling of a medieval tale. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Beauty, Violence and Romance

This book makes poetry out of the muck and blood of everyday life; has three-dimension characters; epic scope, humor, love and magic and once you're into it you don't put it down.Up there with the classics of any genre. Unique.

Myth Meets Naturalism and Lyrical Prose

PARSIVAL's fascination lies in its dark, complex characters, macabre myth, and archetypal battles of good vs. evil. And it's written with carefully crafted style: alternately naturalistic, lyrical, and mystical. That's an unusual and wonderful mix. It lends a dreamlike aura to the events of the story. The poetic descriptions of nature and character are a rare find in fantasy. Monaco's accomplishments as a writer would probably have gained greater recognition had he written in a more 'mainstream' genre. Paradoxically, his talent goes under-recognized in the fantasy genre.I've read all nine of his books, and PARSIVAL, his first, is one of his best. Monaco hasn't published since 1987. What a shame! At least one can re-read PARSIVAL.

A black, black view of the world

This series is not for the feint of heart. There are 4 in the set, and can get quite hard to find. The good guys and bad guys are really hard to tell apart. Like 'Unforgiven' in that regard. Arthur is a warlord. Lancelot is an idiot. Gawain steals peasant's gold. The priest is a demagogue. Even Parsival falters, but does have a path to redemption. Or does he? The best line has 2 teenage girls in a castle : "You should have slept with him." "No, I think not. I shall wait until I am married to go sleeping with strange knights. Like these fine ladies." Strong commentary on the human condition.

The best book I have ever read.

The apparent fact that Monaco has written only two fiction books that I know of, (Parsival: Or, a Knight's Tale and its sequel), is nothing short of a travesty. There are several authors whom I feel are geniuses with plot and character development. Monaco is the only one who utilizes a pen as if it were a paint brush and a page as if it were the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. From page one his words ceased to be abstract symbols and became visual images as clear and epic as if they were playing an IMAX screen. Parsival's only flaw was that it ended