The Reluctant Knight

Aug 09, Jamie rated it liked it Shelves: Big thanks to Goodreads giveaways for me owning this book! Signed by the author even. This was a good book.

My only problem was being a little old for it. It reads like others I had read back in middle school. That said, once I got into that type of writing again, I became immersed in Percival's world, eagerly moving to the end of the book. I wouldn't be surprised or upset to see a sequel. May 30, Gary Blair rated it it was amazing.

Apr 20, Olivia Wilkes rated it really liked it. Mar 17, Nikki Sojkowski rated it really liked it Shelves: This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. The concept really had a lot of potential. The book is about ninth grader Percival Adler and his adventure in the course of a week.

He gets bullied by Huey, Dewey, and Louie, but the author never really says anything about them. It starts off with Percival running into the woods behind the school to escape his torturers where he comes across a door, which of course he goes through. These scene immediately reminded me of The Chronicles of Narnia when Eustace and Jill run through a strange door into Narnia in their attempt to escape bullies. Maybe that scene was inspiration? Or just a really suspicious coincidence I hope it's a tribute because I enjoyed that parallelism. Through the door, Percival meets Lord Arwain and his 7 knights.

The knights each knelt before a reflecting pool and whispered words of hope to people. On the other side of the coin is Raeben and his 7 followers. They each sat next to a pool of polluted water and encourage people to do bad things. So I just assumed a Katana? The plot itself was absolutely great but the writing could have been more developed, which I hope will improve in the future: There were cons to the book though. Sure they learn to band together and Guinevere actually stands up for her brother, but they seemed very flat and unrealistic.

How are things really supposed to go back to normal after a week adventure like that? The kids just seemed pretty 2-demensional and forgettable when could have been so much more. Even the cover makes Percival look like a 5th grader. The way their age group acts doesn't seem realistic at all. Just one more thing that really ticked me off, the fact that Percival daydreamed about vanquishing the bullies to win the affections of the prettiest girl in class.

In summary though, I enjoyed this books plot and the concept was just great. Obviously I nit-picked at this a lot but these little things honestly bugged me almost the entire book. However, the Pros definitely outweighed the Cons and I hope to see more in the future from Doug Glener. Jan 29, Taylor rated it it was ok Shelves: I received a copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads. The Reluctant Knight was somewhere between a decent first novel and a that particular brand of fan fiction which combines fantasy and autobiography.

The premise of the book is intriguing - some of the coolest figures in historical fiction erupt through a portal and into "just a regular teenager's" modern world. Medieval knights, samurai, crazed pharaohs, Viking giants, witches of Greek myth, mysterious wizards, and vicious barbarians a I received a copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads.

Medieval knights, samurai, crazed pharaohs, Viking giants, witches of Greek myth, mysterious wizards, and vicious barbarians are all encountered by the young hero and his posse. However, there's something ever-so-slightly off about them: The Graeae of Greek myth are borrowed by name, with their good pall Halfdan Ragnarsson who has been imagined here as a giant.

The protagonists know this because they do an online search for the characters they encounter, providing an expository badge of authenticity. Other characters - Lord Arwain and King Alfred - are given generic names evocative of fantasy standbys - Gawain and Arthur, perhaps.

Real-world examples of science fiction and fantasy form the basis of Percival's desire to go on a quest a desire that dissolves when he finally gets the opportunity and spends the rest of the book fretting about his fearful instinct to bury his head in the sand. These examples, like the fantastical characters, are a hodge-podge of real and imagined works: With so many fourth wall shattering references peppered throughout, including the name of the author's New Jersey high school, you get the sense that you're reading fan fiction about the author's epic quest through high school daydreams.

The frequent use of esoteric terms in italics a personal pet peeve further distances the reader from the narrative. The author clearly expects us to know martial arts terms such as gi, sensei, and "ki-ai," because he doesn't explain them. He nevertheless emphasizes them throughout as words that are probably foreign to you. Overall, young readers who are fans of epic quests and vaguely medieval fantasy could do worse than The Reluctant Knight.

The variety of characters and time periods is admittedly ambitious, and the format of the quest featuring a reluctant hero is familiar enough to be relatable. Adult readers will likely find the haphazard inclusion of existing legends and references in an original plotline to be jarring - an effect exacerbated by frequently redundant or inconsistent prose.

Nov 22, Tina rated it liked it.

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For more reviews, visit The BookLanders Title: The Reluctant Knight Author: Such a strategy, however, does not save them. Crows are social and intelligent, but they are also petty and ill-te For more reviews, visit The BookLanders Title: Crows are social and intelligent, but they are also petty and ill-tempered.

When trouble comes, they look to their own survival first, with no thought to the welfare of the flock. But eagles soar above the mayhem. They watch the world with keen eyes, and act at the perfect moment. Percival Adler, a young boy just in high school, has been the victim of bullying. While trying to escape from his tormentors one day, he stumbles upon a world, and a quest, that will change his life forever. One of the main things I'd like to point out about this book is that it's very well written. Great choice words, good detailing, and little to no typos. The writing flowed very nicely, and that was lovely.

Samenvatting

However, I found the first half of the book to be very slow. I had trouble getting through it.

I kept finding myself wanting to read something else. But once I got past the first half, it was great. All the action scenes I had been waiting for were there. And there was also humor, which was refreshing.

Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. Samenvatting This is the story of a boy named Lancelot Bottomley from the concept of his birth down the birth canal to the christening, and how in his own words he lives with his silly name his parents have given him, on account his mother had the hots for Richard Gere in the film The First Knight. It tells the story through his eyes and words of his experiences going to infant school, then on to secondary school and how he had to put up with the taunts and innuendos regarding his name and then puberty and the hormones of a teenager and what to do with them.

One night he finds a case of money dropped off in a garbage bin by some gang as payment for services rendered, but Lancelot takes it home not knowing it is counterfeit money left to be laundered by the gang, the one who lost the money gets beat up and is thrown out a speeding car in front of Lancelot he rings the ambulance the man vows to find who has taken the money from the drop off place, but comes to meet the lad who rang for help not knowing it was he who stole the money but later finds out.

Lancelot starts to spend the money in small amounts buts gets greedy and is found out by the police who want to catch the gang There are many names written into the story and play on words like Arthur, King the bingo owner where Lancelot gets a part time job, Arthurs wife Gwen and daughter Vera, the Pakistani girl Yasmin and Mr Patel her father, Mr Shah and his nephew Sharif of Nottingham.

Ivan the bully from secondary school, Mr Gisborne the teacher all names of people from stories like Robin Hood and King Arthur. Toon meer Toon minder. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Reluctant Knight , please sign up.

Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Feb 03, Sean Talbot rated it did not like it Shelves: While I would love to say that I found this book as enthralling as his first 4 books I can't. The book didn't come anywhere close to what I loved about his series. It is too bad as I loved Pyromancer and I think the main problem is that he should have quit after 4 books because the story was all told. I just couldn't get into this and found the writing to be too juvenile for my liking. Melissa rated it liked it Mar 05, Scott Drummond rated it really liked it Jun 12, Sylvis rated it really liked it Oct 19, Remus rated it it was amazing Jul 26, Michelle rated it liked it Jul 27, Griffy rated it really liked it Aug 30, Brandy rated it it was amazing May 27, Anne rated it really liked it Aug 13, Joe Baum rated it really liked it Jan 27, Charles rated it really liked it Feb 16, Eric Doerr rated it liked it Jan 02, Michelle rated it really liked it Mar 04, Caroline Anastasia Mccaskill rated it it was amazing Jul 22, Tod Crosby rated it really liked it Apr 07, Toasty rated it really liked it Mar 13, Joshua rated it liked it Dec 04, Nigel rated it it was amazing May 27,