For a long time, I did not touch this book. Its predecessors, The Child Queen and The High Queen (later combined into The Queen of Camelot), had been my favorite books since high school when they were first released. I read them numerous times throughout the years, but then did not return to them for a long time while my life was busy with other things. Recently, I read them again and it felt like coming home. I had always been afraid that reading this book about Galahad, one of my least favorite characters, would sully them somehow.

But, I took a chance after finishing the others and desiring not to leave Nancy McKenzie's world just yet and, I must say how wrong I was to ever doubt McKenzie! She is still a master storyteller, weaving magic with every word. Truly underrated as far as authors go.

The character development where Galahad is concerned was natural and meaningful and painful as lessons are learned. We get to see the end of everything from Arthur's/Lancelot's/Galahad's view, where the previous two books are from the Guinevere's view back at Camelot--really a lot of fun. Old favorite characters return in this reminiscing, but also in parts that are added on during Galahad's travels after Camlann. Not only that, but new characters are added and come into their own in a seamless way, as you watch a new generation struggle with the aftermath of Arthur's death and the battle at Camlann (which basically killed all men but twelve from Arthur's Camelot). It was fascinating to see a glimpse of Galahad's childhood and, therefore, a glimpse into the life and Lancelot and Elaine had together.

A very well-rounded book with a very lovely ending, which has quickly become a favorite of mine. I feel silly to having waited so long to read it!

I desperately want this series of books to be made into movies. ( )

I read this book because I had heard Nancy McKenzie's Queen of Camelot book was really good, but my library didn't have that one. The Grail Prince was a very well-thought out story about the son of Lancelot, Galahad. He is raised by a weird mother and an absent father. Needless to say, he has some issues.

McKenzie keeps switching to different periods of Galahad's life, not writing them in order. When the book first starts he is 15 and then we learn about things that happened when he was 5 and so on. It is a little tricky to keep up with, but I kind of liked how it flowed. He meets his true love, Dane, near the beginning, and you can tell they will probably end up together. She does not reappear for a LONG time though, so that was a little sad. I love to have a little romance :)

Overall, I think you can really see Galahad's character grow and change and learn many lessons throughout the book. He is a dark man for a while and then he finally learns mercy and love and forgiveness. I think the book had a wonderful message and a happy ending. I was very pleased with it. It is a tad long, but well worth the time spent reading.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than Queen of Camelot, I think because Galahad is a much more interesting character than Guinevere. It takes a lot of guts to write a book with a main character who starts out as such a completely self-absorbed, self-righteous, misogynistic little prick (although at least he doesn't break down crying every other paragraph). I was also able to follow along well enough, even though I didn't remember all of the details/happenings from the first book. So, overall, not a great book, but a solid enough piece of imaginative "historical" fiction. ( )

Really loved the first in this series, Queen of Camelot. This one let me down at first because I was hoping for more of an insight into Lancelot and Guienevere, but I made it to the end and was happy to have done so. Had a hard time connecting with the main character, however. ( )