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The Parsival Saga #2
The Grail War
A soaring fantasy of the spirit and the sword by the author of Parsival
319 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
9 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
About the author
Richard Monaco
26 books15 followersBorn in NYC, Monaco studied musical composition at Columbia University, helped create a national student newspaper, The University Review and had many works performed in concert; wrote screenplays for Warner Brothers, other studios and independents; reviewed film and books; hosted a talk radio show for five years on WNYC/FM; taught and lectured at various colleges including Columbia, NYU, and Mercy College; had plays produced in various venues off-Broadway; published poetry in anthologies and periodicals. He has published ten novels and several works of non-fiction including a poetry textbook. Two of his novels, Parsival, or a Knight's Tale and The Final Quest, were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in literature. He is planning to soon release Dead Blossoms, a ninja detective adventure set in 16th century Japan and re-release the previous Parsival books.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 11, 2015
he GRail War is Richard Monaco's 1979 sequel to 1977's brilliant Parsival.
As before, the real star for me here is Monaco's writing, which is relentlessly physical. This is a story told almost purely from the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and physical sensations of the characters as well as their inner thoughts. I enjoy this physicality so much. It's not like watching a movie: it's better.
THis book seems to be slightly more tightly plotted than Parsival, as Monaco gathers the characters together for a final climactic battle.
As before, I don't think the plot is really not that important or complex, but I realized that both books are actually quite medieval in plot. They are much more true to the spirit of medieval romances than other Arthurian retellings, I think in some ways...In other ways, they are startlingly modern. I'm sure this is a self-conscious choice on the author's part. But anyway, I sort of see these books more as ways for Monaco to hang his philosophical and poetic observations of life than as amazing stories. In fact, I would almost call them prose poems because the writing is intensely poetic..
As for the War in the title itself...well...such is the nature of his writing that I can honestly say I have never read such well-written battle scenes. I mean, they are horrifically violent. (these books are the most violent books I've ever read, by a long shot) but so graphically descriptive...it's just beautiful.
It's clear that despite wallowing in violence and blood a bit, the author despises war and I suppose I would categorize these books' depictions of war both as 'Post-Vietnam' and 'Post-Holocaust. There are very few heroic deeds taking place as the war takes on a terrifying life of its own and everyone, villain and hero, is irresistibly swept up in an incredible, bloody climax that has to be read to be believed.
As before, the real star for me here is Monaco's writing, which is relentlessly physical. This is a story told almost purely from the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and physical sensations of the characters as well as their inner thoughts. I enjoy this physicality so much. It's not like watching a movie: it's better.
THis book seems to be slightly more tightly plotted than Parsival, as Monaco gathers the characters together for a final climactic battle.
As before, I don't think the plot is really not that important or complex, but I realized that both books are actually quite medieval in plot. They are much more true to the spirit of medieval romances than other Arthurian retellings, I think in some ways...In other ways, they are startlingly modern. I'm sure this is a self-conscious choice on the author's part. But anyway, I sort of see these books more as ways for Monaco to hang his philosophical and poetic observations of life than as amazing stories. In fact, I would almost call them prose poems because the writing is intensely poetic..
As for the War in the title itself...well...such is the nature of his writing that I can honestly say I have never read such well-written battle scenes. I mean, they are horrifically violent. (these books are the most violent books I've ever read, by a long shot) but so graphically descriptive...it's just beautiful.
It's clear that despite wallowing in violence and blood a bit, the author despises war and I suppose I would categorize these books' depictions of war both as 'Post-Vietnam' and 'Post-Holocaust. There are very few heroic deeds taking place as the war takes on a terrifying life of its own and everyone, villain and hero, is irresistibly swept up in an incredible, bloody climax that has to be read to be believed.
September 2, 2023
Oh boy. Where to begin?
The blurb describes this middle book of Monaco’s pseudo-Arthurian trilogy as “stirring and beautifully moving….in the classic fantasy tradition of The Lord of The Rings.”. Not sure which book they read to think that, but it certainly wasn’t this one!
It opens ten years after the events of Parsival, the first book (which I actually liked), with the land being pelted by endless rain. This sets the tone for a bleak, oppressive novel where everything is dark, bleak and covered in shit. This is gruesome stuff.
For some reason the supposedly dead evil wizard Clinschor, from the first novel, is back, this time recruiting Parsival’s arrogant arsehole of a son, Lohengrin and his plan appears to be to utterly destroy Britain as a “warning to the world” as he tries to find The Grail.
Ah yes, The Grail. We’re never told what it is, or why so many people want it. Parsival himself has returned to the world after years in holy orders, and is generally a bit of a wet blanket, not even really being affected by the murder of his wife and daughter. His old companion Broaditch sets off to seek the Grail for reasons that are never convincing. Perhaps there was some attempt to create a parallel between low born and high born, but I don’t know.
God this book was a slog. Two thirds through I nearly gave up, but ploughed through to the end, amid rivers of dead, blighted countryside, raging wildfires, storms, battles, blood, guts and gore. The Lord of The Rings this is not.
I’m in two minds as to whether to finish the trilogy. At the end, after a climactic battle where Clinschor wasn’t even killed and what was possibly the Grail fell into Broaditch’s possession, Parsival decides to seek his son. Broaditch returns to his family and Britain is still without a king (fleeting appearances by Morgan LaFey and Modred add nothing). Can you call a book turgid? This was turgid.
Monaco can write good prose, but this meandering, unfocused novel was a bit of a mess.
The blurb describes this middle book of Monaco’s pseudo-Arthurian trilogy as “stirring and beautifully moving….in the classic fantasy tradition of The Lord of The Rings.”. Not sure which book they read to think that, but it certainly wasn’t this one!
It opens ten years after the events of Parsival, the first book (which I actually liked), with the land being pelted by endless rain. This sets the tone for a bleak, oppressive novel where everything is dark, bleak and covered in shit. This is gruesome stuff.
For some reason the supposedly dead evil wizard Clinschor, from the first novel, is back, this time recruiting Parsival’s arrogant arsehole of a son, Lohengrin and his plan appears to be to utterly destroy Britain as a “warning to the world” as he tries to find The Grail.
Ah yes, The Grail. We’re never told what it is, or why so many people want it. Parsival himself has returned to the world after years in holy orders, and is generally a bit of a wet blanket, not even really being affected by the murder of his wife and daughter. His old companion Broaditch sets off to seek the Grail for reasons that are never convincing. Perhaps there was some attempt to create a parallel between low born and high born, but I don’t know.
God this book was a slog. Two thirds through I nearly gave up, but ploughed through to the end, amid rivers of dead, blighted countryside, raging wildfires, storms, battles, blood, guts and gore. The Lord of The Rings this is not.
I’m in two minds as to whether to finish the trilogy. At the end, after a climactic battle where Clinschor wasn’t even killed and what was possibly the Grail fell into Broaditch’s possession, Parsival decides to seek his son. Broaditch returns to his family and Britain is still without a king (fleeting appearances by Morgan LaFey and Modred add nothing). Can you call a book turgid? This was turgid.
Monaco can write good prose, but this meandering, unfocused novel was a bit of a mess.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 26, 2023
This had a different tone than the last book. I stopped enjoying myself not too far into it, but I gave it the usual 100 pages, then skimmed the rest.
Instead of being clever and funny, this one just read like a bunch of stuff happening with no 'why' to it. Some of the writing was just weird, or exasperating.
It mentions first that 20 years have passed since book one. Then later it's almost a decade. Later still, Broaditch's kids are still little children. Parsival tells a fling that no one has ever called him 'Parse,' then everyone starts calling him that like they've been doing it forever.
The part where I pretty much knew I'd be giving up was a love scene that turned into Bridges of Madison County level of abstract metaphor. Pseudo-poetry interspersed with squishy genital sounds, no thanks.
I'm a bit curious about the third book, being that the first and third were the ones nominated for Pulitzers, but after encountering this one I'm certainly not curious enough to seek out #3.
Instead of being clever and funny, this one just read like a bunch of stuff happening with no 'why' to it. Some of the writing was just weird, or exasperating.
It mentions first that 20 years have passed since book one. Then later it's almost a decade. Later still, Broaditch's kids are still little children. Parsival tells a fling that no one has ever called him 'Parse,' then everyone starts calling him that like they've been doing it forever.
The part where I pretty much knew I'd be giving up was a love scene that turned into Bridges of Madison County level of abstract metaphor. Pseudo-poetry interspersed with squishy genital sounds, no thanks.
I'm a bit curious about the third book, being that the first and third were the ones nominated for Pulitzers, but after encountering this one I'm certainly not curious enough to seek out #3.
December 27, 2012
I tried to get through this book, I really did. I kept telling myself it might get better.
It didn't really. The first strike against it was that it's not broken down into chapters, but several 'books' instead. That makes it hard to pick up & put down the book multiple times since it breaks the continuity and I end up having to re-read paragraphs multiple times to pick up where I left off.
I wanted to care about Parsival's struggles between the spiritual & the mundane in this novel, but the uninspired writing made it hard. It was more like reading a history textbook of Things That Happened rather than a fantastical novel of What Might Have Happened.
It didn't really. The first strike against it was that it's not broken down into chapters, but several 'books' instead. That makes it hard to pick up & put down the book multiple times since it breaks the continuity and I end up having to re-read paragraphs multiple times to pick up where I left off.
I wanted to care about Parsival's struggles between the spiritual & the mundane in this novel, but the uninspired writing made it hard. It was more like reading a history textbook of Things That Happened rather than a fantastical novel of What Might Have Happened.
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May 24, 2012The Grail War by Richard Monaco
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews