I took my own sweet time getting around to reading these books. I'm not much of a fan of fantasy, so the titles alone turned me off. I picked them up last month on a whim and dug in. They're massive. Two heavy books full of Wolfe's typically dense prose. I powered through them, often not wanting to put them down, and still it took me weeks to read them.
Knight is a classic hero's tale. A boy falls into a faerie world and finds himself on the path to a great destiny. This strange many-layered world that he finds himself is cast from the myths from across European cultures. The gods in Skai bear more than a passing resemblance to the Aesir, and the denizens of Aelfrice are drawn from the faerie. Our boy hero, who calls himself Able, travels the realm of Mythgarthr, a world that could be drawn from the heart of Arthurian legend with a dash of the brothers Grimm.
The first book builds to a climactic final battle, the seeming apex of Able's journey, yet there is more. The second book branches some, following the adventures of some of the people most touched by Able, but always returning to the hero and the great trials that befall him.
There is little that I could say about these books that would not pale in comparison to simply reading them. Wolfe's prose is elegant and moving. More than once I shed tears of joy for Able. Read them.
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