Faycalibur by Liam Perrin

I read the first in this series, and this is an author I drop everything else I’m reading to get my hands on their newest book. This one won’t be out until February 1st – but that’s pretty soon, just a couple weeks away!

I love that there’s a little refresher at the beginning, I’ve become a big fan of those as my memory gets worse and the amount I’m reading grows –  if it’s been a while since you read Sir Thomas worry not!

This book picks up shortly after the events of book 1, and Thomas has received a summons from Camelot about “some cup”. That cup is obviously the Holy Grail, and once Thomas realizes what it is and the importance of it all, he starts to get excited about their mission. That was derailed pretty quickly after they arrive in Camelot and are told that the mission has been indefinitely postponed since there’s a war that’s about to start. They were re-assigned by King Arthur to find Merlin who has gone missing after leaving a dire prophecy about his own demise. Their best lead takes them to France where they meet Sir Lancelot and his father, King Ban – hilarity ensues.

Things aren’t always as they seem, and the lines between who to trust and who not to trust get murkier and murkier. When their journey leads them to cross paths with Morgan le Fay, Arthur’s not-wholly-trustworthy-sister, they run into quite the moral dilemma. She wants to re-direct their mission once again and asks that they bring Excalibur to Arthur. Everyone knows that le Fay can be manipulative, and despite her ties to Arthur she’s still suspicious. Did she tell them that Arthur is missing and is in need of help to lure them off the right path? Thomas and his crew have to decide which mission would be the best route.

There were some new characters added to this story and I loved them to pieces. Every knight needs a squire and Gus is ready to be that squire for Sir Thomas. He’s absolutely adorable and reminds me of Martin from the Simpsons (but much less annoying). He’s a well-meaning “know it all” who’s both innocent and sweet. He’s also very handy to have around since he knows so much about history and who’s who in the Kingdom. I fell for him pretty easily and he’s a great foil to the rest of the group.

I loved Sir Thomas as much as I did in the first one, part of what I love about this book is how endearing and genuinely kind these characters are – it’s a breath of fresh air since most of what I read tends to be on the darker side of things.

There are all sorts of humor in this one, tongue in cheek, puns, physical humor all overlapped with a warm overall tone. There’s a bit of humor in here for everyone and I’d be surprised if people didn’t get laughs while reading it.

As far as the world building this is mostly low fantasy. There isn’t a magic system per se, it doesn’t involve a lot of spellcasting or things like that, and the characters themselves aren’t particularly magical. But, there are things like magic swords, witch Queens, talking lizards (who may or may not breathe fire and may be a dragon depending on your definition), and of course Merlin the Wizard.

The writing was on point, it was quick-witted and fast-paced once I got past the first 25% or so – the story up through the first quarter was plot set up and character introductions, the real adventure begins when they set off for France. It’s mostly told from a single pov using third-person perspective, but we do get glimpses into other characters as well.

Overall I loved this book and I would venture to say it’s even better than the first one which I had already 5 starred. It’s a classic adventure story that’s warm, relatable, and flaunts a cast of stellar characters that captured my heart – I felt the warmth down to my bones.

Audience:

• comedy
• warm stories
• going on an adventure
• Arthurian tales
• wizards and talking lizards
• third person writing

Ratings:

• Plot: 12/15
• Characters: 14/15
• World Building: 13/15
• Writing: 14/15
• Pacing: 11.5/15
• Originality: 13/15
• Personal Enjoyment: 10/10

Final Score: 87.5/100 – 5 stars!