Review: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Unknown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Written by an anonymous 14th-century poet, this epic poem is recognized as an equal of Chaucer's masterworks and of the great Old English poems, including "Beowulf." This edition includes a Preface by Raffel and a new Introduction. Revised reissue.

When I first started reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight I really wasn't sure that I was going to like it. But how wrong was I?!

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

To be honest, I knew nothing about this book before I picked it up (the copy I have is translated by Bernard O'Donoghur) and, being a massive fan of the TV series, Merlin, I was pleasantly surprised to realise that the main character, Sir Gawain, was one of Arthur's knights. And, in the book, you meet King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, several other knights (Lancelot is mentioned) and Morgan Le Fay (Morganna in the TV series). And Merlin is mentioned too!

So yeah, this really was my kind of book!

At first, even after realising who the characters were, I wasn't sure how easy this book was going to be to read, as it's written in verse form. But wow, it read just like a book! A lot easier to read than The Odyssey of Homer or Beowulf, in my opinion.

The plot of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is brilliant. Focussing on themes of greed, pride, trickery and loyalty, this is a great read and I highly recommend it to everyone. (Go and read it NOW!)

This is quite a short book, so it's easily accessible to the modern reader, and I was able to read it in one sitting. And it really was worth it.

There's so much foreshadowing in this book, which I loved! And the imagery is great too, whilst the characterisation is superb. Detail has been used well, but there aren't great chunks of description which could put readers off. No, this is a lean book with a truly great plot, and if you've watched Merlin, I'd definitely recommend that you read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.