The Adventures of Sir Givret the Short by Gerald Morris
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Once again, I should have been reading the 4th book in this series (Sir Balin the Ill-Fated), but #2 was available in e-book from the library, so here we go.
This parody of Arthurian chivalry tales is fun to read, mostly because the stories don't take themselves so seriously as the original material often so painfully does. Morris easily subverts the ridiculousness of some of the extremes presented in medieval romance, but still gets me to want to follow his story from that ouvre. The jokes and twists feel like authentic folkish material, and I wouldn't be surprised to open up the Aarne Thompson index and find some of these motifs right there in European folk tales from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Entertaining! I'm also interested in looking at some more of Aaron Renier's work after reading this--he's got a good sense for drawing comical characters and I'd like to see some of his graphic novel work.
If I had to compare this work to anything, it would be Danny Kaye's "The Court Jester" (1955). (Which I still can't believe is not on Netflix--c'mon Ted Turner, cut some of your TCM stable loose!). Anyway, after thinking of Court Jester I couldn't think of any more to say about this book... Sorry.
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