To pick just one example, I could read an entire book about Li Pao the courteous, pacific, Chinese commissar of the westward-bound Mongol army who the travellers encounter in perilous circumstances on the steppes.ģ) The gorgeous sense of place in the descriptions of the places and peoples Thomas, Brother James and Aubrey meet along their journey.Ĥ) Thomas's quiet snark in his narration: For a book nominally about a crusade, this is something it does very well.Ģ) The author's fantastic depiction of characters. It's a favourite book of mine from childhood, and I was happy to find that it stands up well to a re-read.ġ) Its sensitive portrayal of the relationships between people of different faiths. I defy anyone to read this book without wanting to immediately strap on some sandals, find a time machine, and head off to tramp around Central Asia in the 13th century. JM remains a central crafter of tales for her demanding market.

In The Troy Game (1987) a young man is sent on a quest by a Magus named Mennor (he resembles Merlin) which ends – after a Wild-Hunt episode – in a mysterious Edifice in the heart of the 'troy maze' (> Labyrinth) the protagonist's Rite of Passage into wisdom is cogently presented. The Donkey's Crusade (1983), set in the ostensibly Christianized context of a monkish Quest for Prester John, transforms the Ass into a wise Companion who is both Talking Animal and savant, and who guides the humans in his care into the Land of Fable of the East. Twist of Eight (coll 1981) contains Revisionist Fantasies, including examinations of Cinderella and 'True Thomas'. Set in a richly conceived, technologically advanced Atlantis, it depicts – with a complexity reminiscent of the work of Ursula K Le Guin – the relation of the Atlantids to the Dragons who plough the skies, wise and inscrutable and to the activities of men and gods in the throes of enacting – perhaps for the first time – the Myths which underlie the Greek Pantheon. As JM she began publishing YA fantasy novels with The Path of the Dragons (1980), which remains her best-known. UK writer who began her career with Man and Two Gods (1953), some plays and a series of detective novels as by Kenneth O'Hara, starting with A View to a Death (1958). Real name: Margaret Jean Morris, aka Kenneth O'Hara:

The Donkey's Crusade by Jean Morris