"This is a book that belongs with the great company of the hero tales. It is a later part of the Charlemagne saga, coming after the death of Roland at Roncevaux. Andre Norton has adapted the story...

It is a hero story in the great tradition. In it Huon, Duke of Bordeaux, is betrayed by the knight Amaury, just as Roland was betrayed by Ganelon. To redeem himself in the eyes of the Emperor, Huon is sent on a difficult, a practically impossible mission to Babylon, which is in the hands of the Saracens - Charlemagne's bitter enemies...

The story is stirring and inspiring. Huon has something of Roland's qualities: charm courage, a romantic appeal, and the fiery spirit of youth." [Saturday Review]

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"Two adventures adapted from the Huon de Bordeaux, a late chanson de geste with elements from the new romance genre. It starts off as a standard chanson: a counsellor of Charlemagne swears revenge on the late Duke Sevin by going after his sons Huon the Duke of Bourdeaux, and Gerame, by manipulating the king's son and heir into being killed by Huon. It's actually fairly clever given the genre we're talking about. Then it veers off into fantasy: as penance Huon has to travel to the Far East to do brave deeds, but gets lost and ends up in Fairy Land. Here he befriends Auberon, a fairy/elf/dwarf and king of Fairy Land (he was born a human but was blessed and cursed by fairies, and so he never grows to be an adult etc etc). Huon is given a magical horn that can summon Auberon and 10,000 troops in a moment, and there are more adventures and more magic.

The second adventure is much the same: Huon's Bordeaux castle comes under attack by the new King Louis, and he sets off to the Far East for help. He fights a tusked giant and there's a castle that seems to be operated by magnets and men cursed to bake bread in silence for 1,000 years and magical jewels and boats that pilot themselves and a griffin's nest and some other stuff. (...) Huon becomes Auberon's heir and of course Shakespeare steals Auberon and turns him into Midsummer Night's Oberon. Good stuff." [Adam McPhee, Goodreads]

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Cover art by Jack Gaughan
First published 1951 by Harcourt, Brace & Company