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The Once and Future King (The Once and Future King #1-4)

4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 · rating details · 50,611 ratings · 1,966 reviews

The whole world knows and loves this book. It is the magical epic of King Arthur and his shining Camelot; of Merlin and Owl and Guinevere; of beasts who talk and men who fly, of wizardry and war. It is the book of all things lost and wonderful and sad. It is the fantasy masterpiece by which all others are judged.

school binding, 640 pages

Published July 15th 1987 by Turtleback Books (first published 1958)

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Apr 14, 2013 oriana rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2012, read-2013, formative-reading

In case anyone is keeping track: I picked this book up because of one throwaway line in Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?. I haven't read it since high school, but I remember loving it almost giddily. Since this is a big monster of a book, I took a steak knife to it, as I often do, and cut it in half so I could read it on the subway without breaking my back.

If you're curious, this is the new cover I put on "vol 2," from Vice magazine. I find it creepy & rather fitting:

description

Anyway, I have be...more In case anyone is keeping track: I picked this book up because of one throwaway line in Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?. I haven't read it since high school, but I remember loving it almost giddily. Since this is a big monster of a book, I took a steak knife to it, as I often do, and cut it in half so I could read it on the subway without breaking my back.

If you're curious, this is the new cover I put on "vol 2," from Vice magazine. I find it creepy & rather fitting:

description

Anyway, I have been reading this for days and days and days and days and days—exactly a month, it turns out (thanks for keeping track, Goodreads!), which is about four times longer than it takes me to read most books. I'm not at all sorry to have spent so long with it, of course, as this book encompasses multitudes, and was consistently enthralling the whole time. I remembered it sketchily from high school; mostly the first book, much of which is retold in the Disney movie The Sword in the Stone: Arthur as a boy being turned into a fish and a bird, scampering about learning lessons from comical Merlin who keeps knitting his beard into his scarf.

All that is, of course, still there, still fun and silly and charming and delightful. But, as all good epics do, what starts as a somewhat childish fantasy story grows up as its characters do, maturing in deed and thought and even language, so that by the end it is more philosophy than slapstick, more high art and the endless search for meaning than antics and adventures. The difference between right and wrong, the search for God, love and its lapses and failures, why men fight wars, how the sins of the father are visited tenfold on the son, the impossibility of absolute justice, the very meaning of life—all are dissected, mulled over, worked around and through over these 700 pages. Additionally, throughout there are the most fascinating digressions: on falconry, on the food and fashion of the day, on the political landscape of the British Isles throughout history, on the different sorts of weapons and their uses, on all the many accessories that make up a knight's attire, on needlepoint and castle architecture and the effect of weather patterns on different birds.

And of course, over it all runs the arching taut string of the foregone conclusion: everyone knows that this story is ultimately a tragedy, that no matter how carefree young Arthur frolics as a page turned into a fish, he will still pull the sword from the stone to be revealed as King of England, he will still marry the beautiful Guenever who will have a decades-long affair with Lancelot, he will still be seduced by his half-sister to sire the bastard who will wind up being the agent of not just Arthur's own demise, but the disintegration of the entire Round Table and all those lofty goals of chivalry and valor.

So even at its sweetest, this is a bitter tale, a beautiful awful devastation, an incredible encapsulation of human failure despite all the most noble of goals. It's wonderful and terrible and crushing and glorious. What a spectacular world to spend a month thrashing about in.(less)

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Oct 31, 2012 Jonathan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-challenge, classic-literature, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, popularity-contest

4.5 Stars

A complex and multi-tiered depiction of the epic Arthurian legend. This book is unlike any other I've read either focusing on the myth or simply in terms of fantasy writing.

While the story begins with The Sword in the Stone, a novel I had already read years ago it was refreshing to re-familiarize myself with T.H. White's eccentric and unique style of portraying the character of King Arthur as a child. In fact I believe The Sword in the Stone is the deepest depiction of the childhood Ar...more
4.5 Stars

A complex and multi-tiered depiction of the epic Arthurian legend. This book is unlike any other I've read either focusing on the myth or simply in terms of fantasy writing.

While the story begins with The Sword in the Stone, a novel I had already read years ago it was refreshing to re-familiarize myself with T.H. White's eccentric and unique style of portraying the character of King Arthur as a child. In fact I believe The Sword in the Stone is the deepest depiction of the childhood Arthur I have read as many other stories gloss over this. Yet it is important to understand Arthur's beginnings in order to understand his growth of character and this firstly sets T.H.White's work apart from the other tales about Arthur.

White's use of humor and his linking of the myth to the present was incredibly clever. He was in part able to both tell the tale and provide a join critique and analysis of the legend. And such a deep analysis was able to be therefore used to reflect upon the human condition, upon human beings, their wants and desires and what it is that drives them to do such acts as Guenevere in being unfaithful to Arthur. Or as Mordred desiring her as his own. It is a more effective analysis than Freud's simple conclusion that men are simple carnal beings I feel, for what it showed me is that White recognizes that yes few men are truly good but at the same time few men are truly base. It is the way they react to the events of life that makes them ignoble or even noble.

It was an incredibly deep book with so many angles that it simply astounded me. Was it a fantasy, a fairytale to enjoy with magic and well constructed characters? Was it a commentary? Was it a critique? Was it for children or for adults? Was it an analysis? Was it a collection of psychological observations? I believe that this book was all of these and yet none at the same time. It is a book that derives aspects from all of these and yet is never truly one of these alone. For here T.H.White has created a grand epic that I recommend all people read.

However, for all of its depth and magnificence I felt it was let down at times, particularly right near the end. This was majorly due to its pacing. At times it was fast and furious and at others it was slow and ponderous. It never truly was consistent. And for me this made it difficult to get into at times. I would recommend Roger Lancelyn Green's tales of Arthur instead for their pace. However T.H.White's work has a greater depth than any other Arthurian tale I have read and it is for that it is to be admired.(less)

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Feb 21, 2013 Éponine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

TH White, ma quanto sei stato bravo?

Questa saga mi ha davvero sorpresa.
Eppure ne ho letti di testi arturiani. Chrétien de Troyes, Malory, 'Il Cavaliere verde', reinterpretazioni varie...sono arrivata a sapere la storia praticamente a memoria.

Beh, anche il nostro Terence la sapeva a memoria, e soprattutto, l'aveva compresa così bene che è riuscito a leggere dentro i personaggi e ridisegnarli con una sensibilità unica. Fra tutti i volumi della materia di Bretagna che mi sono capitati fra le mani,...more

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Mar 16, 2012 Sean DeLauder rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-bests, my-dad-s-books

Easily the most enjoyable book I've ever read, with Watership Down putting in a strong second-place finish. Certainly the best ever in telling, and spinning anew, the centuries old Arthurian legend. Gone are the old stories relayed in stark facts, replaced by characters bursting with vitality.

The story benefits greatly from White's knowledge of medieval culture, Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (review here), whose influence is credited directly in The Book of Merlyn, occasionally affected and...more

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Jun 16, 2008 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: awe-inspiring-monumental-books, fantasy-reads

Seriously, how do you review the pinnacle of all fantasy? You can argue with me, but that, in my opinion, is what The Once and Future King is. Sure, the evil enchantresses are stout and grumpy, the magical castles are made out of food, the lily maids are fat and of a certain age, and the knights in shining armor refer to one another as ‘old chap’s. Oh and did I mention that King Arthur’s nickname is ‘the Wart’?
Somehow, T.H. White takes the legend, undresses it, and gives it a new kind of dignit...more

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Jun 21, 2009 Corinne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ward-book-club

This book terrified me, on many levels. It's 667 pages long, to begin with. It's been a while since I read a serious chunkster like that (besides Harry Potter, which somehow in my mind doesn't really count...).

Besides that, I am just not a fan of "Authur" stories, despite my deep love of the Disney movie The Sword and the Stone, of course. Ever since I saw the musical "Camelot" in the theater when I was in high school, the story just didn't appeal to me. Then my book club chose this as our month...more This book terrified me, on many levels. It's 667 pages long, to begin with. It's been a while since I read a serious chunkster like that (besides Harry Potter, which somehow in my mind doesn't really count...).

Besides that, I am just not a fan of "Authur" stories, despite my deep love of the Disney movie The Sword and the Stone, of course. Ever since I saw the musical "Camelot" in the theater when I was in high school, the story just didn't appeal to me. Then my book club chose this as our monthly selection and I finally decided it was time to tackle this monster.

Was it worth reading? Absolutely. This book is so much more than just Arthur and Camelot. The first section of the book is essentially the Disney movie, and that part does grab you and you love Wart so much that you keep reading just to find out how it ends for him (although, it got harder and harder to keep reading for a while there, in the middle - it got a bit slow).

White, our beloved author, is a genius, really. He's like your friend or fellow book club member, who just happened to be there, in the middle ages, and he's telling you the story with his own language and always using references to modern day concerns and people. He sometimes appears to mock them and their ways (oh, especially those blundering old knights...), other times he pities them, but mostly, I felt as though he was trying to understand them and why they made the choices they did.

The book is, to me, chiefly three different things.

First, it is a the "historical" study of England at the time, which is interesting and confusing at the same time, with many Lords and Kings and battles etc. Obviously this is a fantasy book and it's based on legend, but either way, we read a lot of political and historical stuff.

Second, much of the book is devoted to a character study of Arthur and Guinevere and Lancelot. Arthur, the imperfect, naive, thoughtful and above all, forgiving king. Guinevere, the stubborn and difficult to understand queen/mistress - White often just tells us straight out that he doesn't know why she made the choices she did. And Lancelot - the ill-made knight, the self-loathing hero of the round table who made a lot of mistakes and yet always tried his best to be moral (except where Guinevere was concerned, of course).

Thirdly, I felt like this was a very moral and philosophical book. White asks difficult questions, usually through Arthur, trying to figure out questions like: Is man inherently good? Why do we have wars and what causes them? Which do we owe more loyalty to, our family (clan) or our country? Is it better to get revenge or to forgive? How do we best create peace: through worship, through wars or through civil justice?

This book is truly a work of art. I must admit however, that as soon as the "Sword in the Stone" section of the book is over, the story was completely depressing, in every way imaginable. Nearly everyone is either deceived, deceitful, or unhappy. Bad things are constantly happening to good people and even the good people seem to be constantly making bad choices. I must also admit that it was still insanely interesting and worthwhile - and, even amid the depressing things, I found myself laughing out loud. Often I found myself pondering the idea of actions and consequences and how often our actions can lead to things in our future that we never could've imagined. My heart ached for Arthur, for what he had and for what he lost.

But, you should read it. Read it for Arthur and Sir Pellinore and for White's use of the word "chuckle-head." I'd be surprised if you regret it.(less)

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Jan 17, 2008 Jeremy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone who enjoys adventure, romance, history, or fantasy

I read this book about every two years. It is one of my absolute favorites. The stories and the characters are so well-crafted that I can read it over-and-over time and again with just as much pleasure as the first time.
This novel is actually divided into four 'books' within itself, and while you can read the four books out of order, it really is meant to be read from front to back.
The first book, "The Sword In The Stone", is much like the Disney animated movie that was adapted from it. There ar...more I read this book about every two years. It is one of my absolute favorites. The stories and the characters are so well-crafted that I can read it over-and-over time and again with just as much pleasure as the first time.
This novel is actually divided into four 'books' within itself, and while you can read the four books out of order, it really is meant to be read from front to back.
The first book, "The Sword In The Stone", is much like the Disney animated movie that was adapted from it. There are a few scenes in the movie which are not in the book, and quite a bit in the book which is not in the movie, but the overall flavor is the same, and the essence of the story is there. The main thing lacking from the movie, which is quite important in the novel, is that Merlin is teaching Arthur (Wart) about the ways of humanity, civilization, and society, so that when he becomes the King he will not just continue with things as they have been, but learn to reason and think for himself, to try his best to make the world a better place. These lessons are referred to again and again later in the novel. This first book has far more magic and fairy-tale qualities than any of the rest of the book.
The second book is called "The Queen of Air and Darkness", and primarily has to do with Arthur's nephews from his half-sister, Morgause, and ends with Morgause, not knowing that Arthur is her half-brother, bewitching him and seducing him to give her a child. This child, Mordred, is the essence of fate of Arthur and what makes this novel such a tragedy. White reveals this information as well, and knowing it here does not spoil the remainder of the book in anyway. This second book is one of the shortest of the four.
The third book is easily my favorite and is called "The Ill-Made Knight". It is the story of Sir Lancelot. This portion of the novel (and many smaller pieces of it) are where a great many Hollywood movies pull their King Arthur and Lancelot material from, only they usually get it all wrong. Lancelot, in this book, is the greatest knight in the world, though he is quite ugly - not the sexy and charming knight as is always portrayed in the movies. His face is often compared to a gargoyle. I believe this is quite important. It helps the reader to better understand his relationship with Queen Guenevere ("Jenny") and to understand that the Queen does not have this lifelong affair with her husband's best friend simply because he is charming and handsome and the best knight in the world. The character of Lancelot (as are Arthur and Guenevere) is so richly charactered. His struggles with his faith and humanity, and how those play against his love for his best friend's wife, are his lifelong struggles. Lancelot is shown to be an honest person, of the truest sense, even though he lives this lifelong struggle of adultery with his best friend's wife. The love triangle between Lancelot, Guenevere, and Arthur (and Qudrangle with God, as White often represents it) is the heart of this book, though the book really focuses on Lancelot's internal struggles. This book also serves to explore Arthur's attempts at removing the "Might Is Right" mentality of the Middle Ages, and gives us the Quest for the Holy Grail stories. This book, along with the first book, represents the bulk of this novel's content.
The last book, "A Candle In The Wind", brings together all the elements of Arthur's tragedy. The irony in this book is how Arthur's own new system of "justice" is used against him bring to light (publicly) the affair between Lancelot and Guenever.
This novel is a wonderful exploration of humanity, society, and civilization, and a beautiful fairy tale tragedy.(less)

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Aug 05, 2011 Angus rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed-and-blogged

Original post at Book Rhapsody.

***

Intro

For the life of me, I don’t understand what got into me for even laying eyes on this book aside from one reason that I am not really proud of. I admit that I was officially a huge fan of that notorious local writer Jessica Zafra. Was. I’m putting a stress on that word. In her essays, she always mentioned what a wonderful book this is. She kept on yakking about it. She was a high school geek; she can’t help touching this book about the young King Arthur.

A fe...more

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Jun 30, 2008 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

It is easy to forget that the fantasy genre does have other giants besides Tolkien. T.H. White is such a person. If you want a literary step up from the popcorn fantasy out there give this book a try.

This book is divided into four books. They all go together but they are also all different in focus and have a growing change in mood. White is using Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur as the outline for his story. He writes in a very anachronistic and witty manner. He also vaguely dates the story as...more

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Feb 11, 2008 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Angelo, Mara, Jeremy

Shelves: fantasy, romance, political-theory

This is an entertaining and accessible novelization about political theory, told through a rather extraordinary re-imagining of the beloved mythological characters of Arthurian legend. I found White's characterizations of Arthur, Lancelot, and Guenevere to be psychologically probing, nuanced, and fascinating, if a little overly tragic. His Merlyn however, was so doddering and wonderful it made me want to cry. If only Merlyn were in more of the book; he was by far my favorite. The Once and Future...more This is an entertaining and accessible novelization about political theory, told through a rather extraordinary re-imagining of the beloved mythological characters of Arthurian legend. I found White's characterizations of Arthur, Lancelot, and Guenevere to be psychologically probing, nuanced, and fascinating, if a little overly tragic. His Merlyn however, was so doddering and wonderful it made me want to cry. If only Merlyn were in more of the book; he was by far my favorite. The Once and Future King focuses mostly on the triangle between Arthur, Lancelot, and Guenevere, and has long portions on both Arthur's and Lancelot's childhoods, but not much about Merlyn's or Guenevere's background. Many famous tales of the knights of the Round Table are skimmed over or omitted in order to focus more on the story of Arthur's experimentations with political justice, but that's what makes this a novel, rather than a collection of myths and legends, and for this it has a coherence that other books about Arthurian Legend lack.

I had read this as a kid, and enjoyed it because I loved King Arthur, but I remember at the time being frustrated about the reality of the affair between Lancelot and Guenevere. I identified with Arthur so much it hurt to see him so... put aside, and by people who did actually care for him. Now as an adult I understand there's so much more to it than I had originally understood as a child, and I identify more with Lancelot than I did before, though I still feel horribly sad when I think of poor Arthur, and the two people he loves most not loving him enough to remain faithful to him, or at least to not recklessly cast all he had worked for into ruin for selfish pleasure. His character, though, as the book goes on becomes painfully thin - he turns the other cheek far too often with no seeming cause or without much thought; it's rather frustrating. I like to think of Arthur, despite his failings, as a powerful and wise king, not a sad sap to afraid to move for fear of upsetting something. It's hard to read about his downfall and watch him accept his fate without much of a fight at all - though I guess why he does so is sort of modestly explained.

I wish I could read this a third time, when I am older, and identify with Guenevere, but the female characterizations in White's novel (partially perhaps not his fault as he didn't have much to work with from Malory, his greatest source) are woefully absent. The text just doesn't have much to explain Guenever or Elaine, at least not with the same depth and complexity with which it explores Arthur and Lancelot.

I want to read The Book of Merlyn, because it was supposed to be the end of the cycle, and I was hoping it would have more to say about my favorite character. So there's hope yet that Merlyn's curious motivations might be explored someday, but the women of Arthurian legend will have to wait for another writer to take them up some other time.
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Jan 12, 2011 Teeuhh rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, favorites

Loved this book so, so much. Wish the world could read it, if just once. It's quite difficult not to be stirred by it; the narration welcomes you, like an old friend with a warm blanket and cup of tea. It has a quiet, very human dignity to it - a story as old as Arthur's needs such humanity in order to resonate and be remembered, and White succeeds. Arthur's innocence and patience as well as his frustrations endear him eternally. Lancelot and Guenevere, too, were brilliant and foolish and lovel...more

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Aug 05, 2008 Jamie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really didn't get what I expected out of this book, which I always thought was a serious retelling of the King Arthur legend. I mean, it is that. Eventually. But it's strangely paced and the work's tone follows this odd arc across its four books that put me off.

The first book, "The Sword in the Stone," follows Arthur's childhood, and it's dippy, whimsical, and laden with fantasy. It is, in fact, not too far from the Disney cartoon adaptation of the same name. Arthur has all kinds of adventures...more I really didn't get what I expected out of this book, which I always thought was a serious retelling of the King Arthur legend. I mean, it is that. Eventually. But it's strangely paced and the work's tone follows this odd arc across its four books that put me off.

The first book, "The Sword in the Stone," follows Arthur's childhood, and it's dippy, whimsical, and laden with fantasy. It is, in fact, not too far from the Disney cartoon adaptation of the same name. Arthur has all kinds of adventures when his tutor Merlin turns him into different kinds of animals so that he can commune (literally) with nature. There's also legendary figures like Robin Hood and mythical creatures like griffins. The whole thing was chock full of anachronisms and modern humor, which was pretty distracting. It's probably good stuff for young adults, but I found it pretty silly and almost quit reading.

The weird thing is that beginning in the next book and continuing on through the last two, things start to get more serious. The second book still has some humor and silliness in it, such as when two knights create an elaborate costume to impersonate the mythical Questing Beast, only to have a real Questing Beast fall in love with them and pursue them across the countryside. But it's more melancholy, too. The third book turns its focus to Sir Lancelot's rise to prominence, and by the fourth book there is no humor at all and the tone is utterly tragic as it recounts the star-crossed love triangle between King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, and Queen Guenever. It ends quite sadly and is a far cry from a young boy who turns into a talking fish and has grand adventures in the Sherwood Forest.

I actually enjoyed the parts dealing with Arthur, Lancelot, and Guenever. It's a powerful story about love, loyalty, honor, justice, and pride. Those are the kind of powerful concepts that I think of when somebody mentions the Arthurian legends, and it works here. What didn't work quite as well is how the whole novel jumps around from focus to focus and lurches along the time line without any concern for pacing. This is a story that should have felt more epic in places, and it didn't. I also didn't like how the first book about Arthur's childhood had a tone that was so discordant with the rest of things. It's not even like they're part of the same story or world.

Still, it was more entertaining and enjoyable than not, especially the tragedy revolving around a king, his queen, and his most loyal (sorta) and upstanding (kinda) knight. And it's all pretty clean with just a little violence, so I think a lot of young adults would like it, especially if they're into the setting.(less)

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May 23, 2012 Erik Graff rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Erik by: Einar Graff

Shelves: literature

Bored with school books, I asked Dad which of his books he'd recommend. Looking up at his shelves above the desk in a living room nook, he listed Robert Graves' novels, Charles Beard's histories and T.H. White's The Once and Future King. Beard was college reading for him, the kind of book his own father might have recommended. Graves and White were books he had enjoyed during long, boring cruises through the Atlantic and Pacific during WWII.

Although I much enjoyed Graves' novels and made a term...more

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Jul 16, 2008 Travis French rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: All

Recommended to Travis by: Xavier & Magneto

Just last week I finished one of the greatest books I have ever read. The Once & Future King by T.H. White.

I had never heard of the book until it was mentioned in Bryan Singer's X-Men movies. Xavier talks about it with his students and Magneto can be seen reading it while in his plastic prison. Because all great works of art are connected I had to read the book. I didn't even know it was about King Arthur and his knights until I found it on Amazon.com.

Like most people I was familiar with the...more Just last week I finished one of the greatest books I have ever read. The Once & Future King by T.H. White.

I had never heard of the book until it was mentioned in Bryan Singer's X-Men movies. Xavier talks about it with his students and Magneto can be seen reading it while in his plastic prison. Because all great works of art are connected I had to read the book. I didn't even know it was about King Arthur and his knights until I found it on Amazon.com.

Like most people I was familiar with the characters and parts of the plot. What surprised me is how much of the story is a tragedy. The story couldn't really unfold any other way.

It all starts quite simply. Arthur is a young boy called Wart. Wart lives a sequestered life in feudal England training to be a knight. One morning Wart is searching the forest for a lost falcon and stumbles upon Merlyn's cottage. It is here that the story really starts. Merlyn becomes Wart's tutor and teaches by turning the boy into all manner of animals.

Disney adapted this section, titled The Sword in the Stone, into one of its early animated features with a fair amount of accuracy. Disney's only noticeable changes are addition of musical numbers and the absence of Robin Hood.

The next two sections, titled The Queen of Air & Darkness and The Ill Made Knight, serve to introduce more of the principle characters. It is in these two sections that we meet Queen Morguase, mother of the Orkney clan, as well as Lancelot and Guenever. It is all of these characters, including Arthur himself, who ultimately bring about the downfall of Camelot.

The final section, titled The Candle in the Wind, brings everything to its inevitable conclusion. Lancelot, by rescuing Guenever from the stake, forces Arthur to leave Camelot in the care of a wretched little prick named Mordred.

In the face of all this tragedy some hope survives. Arthur remembers his idea of a just and peaceful civilization, his candle in the wind, and passes it along to a young page named Thomas Mallory. Mallory goes on to write Le Morte de Arthur, perhaps the earliest version of the Arthurian legend.

What makes the book so great is the level of realism White brings to what would otherwise be a fairy tale. A professional journalist turned novelist White cares about the world he creates. He knows what details would add to the plot and what might take away from it. The characters are well rounded human beings; motivated by both their strengths and weaknesses. They live in a real place and coexist with all manner of fantastic beasts. Magic is a natural part of life; no more extraordinary than a jousting match.

Like any great work of art I was sorry I had to finish.

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May 08, 2008 Allison Sillers rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

i read this when i was a little kid, and have kept rereading it for years. i just love this book. each section is written in prose that suits the time of life of arthur. the sword and the stone is filled with fun and magic and little adventures, perfectly suited to the life of the child. the middle section is a love story with big grand plot twists and that sort of thing, when arthur is a relatively young man. the end, as well as the book of merlyn, is the part of the story that is probably the...more

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Jan 08, 2008 Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I carried a quote from this book around in my purse for decades. In my original version of the book, it is on page 111 and begins, "The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour t...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In all fairness I'm sort of sick of the re-re-retelling of the Arthurian Legend. I couldn't get through this without some skimming. This one while older and loved by many is (in my opinion) fairly simplistic and packed to the gills with "slightly under the surface" political clap-trap aimed at kids.

If you hunger for the story of Arthur there are better, even if Disney didn't use them as the source of a movie. Try Mallory, or one of the hundreds of other re-tellings out there on the shelves told...more

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Feb 17, 2009 Lainie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my favorite novel of all time. It's a great fantasy and the character development is wonderful. I love how the story starts with a young Arthur and is a more childish fun story, but it ages with Arthur himself and becomes more bittersweet.

Best of all is that I have had this book for ages and it has that wonderful smell of having sat on my own bookshelves for ages. This smell is nostalgic of the way books smelled in our house growing up. My mom has always had loads of books here, there, a...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Robert Delikat rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Recommended to Robert by: Audible

Shelves: classics-or-related, fantasy, favorites, historical-fiction, literary, politics

When I read reviewers write, “the best book I have ever read,” I thought yeah right! ‘must not have read many books. Well, I have read a fair bit myself and this is definitely one of the best written books I have ever read. I believe it is a book that one can read and reread and enjoy over and over and still find something new in each reading of it. Not to be redundant, it is also one of the most fun and funniest I have ever read. It is a scholarly and even literary work, if you will. And yet, a...more

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Jan 17, 2012 Carol rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book over and over in late childhood and early adolescence. I'm not sure why it spoke to me so much, since I am not a Fantasy Person by any stretch of the imagination, but it did. I found myself thinking about it recently after reading Brave Igraine, a children's book that I felt drew on its tradition. I picked it up with some trepidation, worried that my older self would hate it or find it embarassing or, more likely, boringly sexist. It does have a few of those moments (and a fair...more

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Oct 05, 2010 Lavonne rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, book-club

I felt like I should like this book. It's a classic, after all. However, I guess I'm just not a "classic" kind of girl. There were good parts, even parts that I enjoyed. Unfortunately, it felt like I was wading through large sections of wet concrete to get to them. And lists! Was it really necessary to list all of Sir Ector's dogs by name, not once, but twice? (I wonder if the long lists were a writing style of the 1930's or perhaps they paid by the word during the Depression.) I also found the...more

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Aug 20, 2011 Kevin Xu rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: re-read

a really underrated book, not really thought of as one of the great fantasy works out there

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May 15, 2012 Richard rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, fantasy, fantasy-epic-fantasy, young-adult

I got to page 377 before I resigned to the fact I wasn't enjoying this book and only read a couple of chapters a day after that.

There is so much wrong with this book I cannot understand why it is so popular.

Firstly there is virtually no action, adventures or quests that you would expect from a King Arthur book. It plods along painfully slowly with little or nothing going on for pages and pages at a time. Every thing is described in huge detail, even really mundane activities that are going on t...more I got to page 377 before I resigned to the fact I wasn't enjoying this book and only read a couple of chapters a day after that.

There is so much wrong with this book I cannot understand why it is so popular.

Firstly there is virtually no action, adventures or quests that you would expect from a King Arthur book. It plods along painfully slowly with little or nothing going on for pages and pages at a time. Every thing is described in huge detail, even really mundane activities that are going on that have nothing to do with the plot and boring conversations go on and on when the could have been easily summed up in a few lines rather than a page or two of dull dialogue. Conversely many of what should be exciting parts are summed up in a couple of paragraphs.

The story as well as being slow, bumps along without any real book long plot almost like a group of short stories that have been hashed together.

Many major events are told after the events by characters. The death of some characters are talked about by other characters some time after they have died. The entire Grail Quest is told only by those that return from it (none of those were successful) to the king and queen. Two major battles are told about in a letter and Arthur's final battle against Mordred isn't told at all. All of this gives a huge disconnect to the story and turns what should have been exciting passages into something fairly dull.

The characters are often comic without being funny. Others are unbelievable and unrelatable and act in ways that make no sense. Many of the characters act irrationally and are very inconsistent making it even harder to understand or like them.

Lancelot is an awful characters, he regularly kills and injures others for little or no reason, goes to great lengths to cover up his affair with the queen and generally acts very deceitfully. One example is that he finds a tent and goes to sleep in a bed in it, the owner of the tent returns, Lancelot wakes up and he tries to kill the owner. Another time he is caught in the queens bedchamber by 14 other Knights, he tricks one of them into coming in by himself, Lancelot overpowers and kills him, takes his sword and armour, kills all but one of the other knights, the one that he 'spares' comes away with a broken arm. Despite all this most other characters think Lancelot is the best knight ever and the knight who got the broken arm is in the wrong because he should have died fighting!

The Lancelot and Queens affair is horribly written with no warmth to it, they spend most of the time behaving like a mixture spoiled children and a bitter old couple. I had no sympathy for them at all.

The king is very weak and boring, he started of great as a child but once he is an adult he is pretty pathetic. He even knows about the queens and Lancelot's affair and does nothing about it.

There are quite a few analogies that have either dated very badly or would not makes sense to most people outside of Britain. A couple are even pretty racist, sexist or otherwise offensive by today's standards.

If I was given the choice of re-reading this book or actually reading Twilight for the first time, I think the tween vampire romance novel would win out...(less)

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Jul 23, 2012 Nathan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: coming-of-age, classics, need-to-read-again

My dad is incredibly well-read. When I'm at my parents' house, I enjoy browsing through his book collection, where I find all kinds of great stuff: works by the church fathers and the Reformers, theology, church history, historical biography, philosophy, science fiction, novels, anthologies of ancient and modern literature, etc. And amazingly, my dad has actually read most of these books.

Last winter, Dad insisted that I borrow T. H. White's novel The Once and Future King, which he had just fini...more My dad is incredibly well-read. When I'm at my parents' house, I enjoy browsing through his book collection, where I find all kinds of great stuff: works by the church fathers and the Reformers, theology, church history, historical biography, philosophy, science fiction, novels, anthologies of ancient and modern literature, etc. And amazingly, my dad has actually read most of these books.

Last winter, Dad insisted that I borrow T. H. White's novel The Once and Future King, which he had just finished, but I had never read. So I took it. In the next few weeks, I started to dip into the book here and there, but I couldn't really get off the ground with it. I was in the midst of a busy semester; I had a billion papers to grade; and of course, most importantly, I was (am) a husband and father. Over the weeks, and then months, Dad kept asking me about my progress. Unfortunately, I wasn't making much.

But this summer, I have more time, and so, at his insistence that I read the book, I started over so that I could really capture the experience. As I re-read the first few chapters of the book and then pressed on into new territory, I had no idea how good this book would get. What began as a duty turned into a delight, into an unforgettable reading experience. I feel that this is a book that I could re-read and reflect on for the rest of my days. I understand now why Dad wanted so badly for me to read it.

In The Once and Future King, T. H. White retells the legend of King Arthur, Merlyn, and the Knights of the Round Table. He writes with a full awareness of what Malory, Spenser, Tennyson, and others have written. But like the other tellers of Arthurian tales, White brings so much more to the story than the Arthur myth. This is a book about life, about England, about humanity itself.

The book is actually a collection of four books White had published separately. First is The Sword in the Stone. I was familiar with the old Disney movie made from this work, but of course, the book is much better. White gives the story a light, innocent tone, punctuated with moments that are funny (there's a hilarious recounting of a boar hunt) and moments full of wonder and beauty (I loved the descriptive passage where the boy Arthur, or "Wart," lost one night in the forest, encounters a knight in full armor in the moonlight). The tone is so light because this section portrays Arthur as a boy, as someone who doesn't know who he is. Wart's adventures with his tutor Merlyn and with Kay, King Pellinore, Robin Wood, and the other characters are imaginative and episodic, and they emphasize his innocence.

The second book, The Queen of Air and Darkness, begins with a complete change of tone. Arthur has become the king, and he is now responsible for a kingdom. He also has enemies who do not want him to reign, and whom he must conquer. This book focuses on Arthur's Celtic relatives known as the Orkney clan, which include Agravaine, Gawaine, Gareth, Gaheris, and their negligent witch-mother, Morgause, who happens to be Arthur's half-sister. In this part of the story, the young man Arthur loses his innocence, and a chain of dark events is set in motion that will eventually lead to Camelot's undoing.

The third book is The Ill-Made Knight. It focuses on Lancelot's growth from an innocent boy gifted with weaponry to a loyal knight who becomes the king's best friend. Then, in spite of Lancelot's attempts to resist temptation, he becomes Queen Guenevere's illicit lover. White's portrayal of Lancelot is amazingly complex, and I found this to be the best of the three books. The book depicts evil, but the moral tone is appropriate.

The last book, The Candle in the Wind, is the tragic end of the story. What happens to Arthur, Guenevere, Lancelot, and Gawaine and his brothers is partly because of the treachery of Arthur's son Mordred, whom White portrays masterfully, but it is also because of the choices that Arthur, Lancelot, and Guenevere have made. And each of them realizes this in the end.

As I said before, this book isn't merely about Arthurian legend. It's about what it means to be human. It's about growing up, losing our innocence, gaining bitter experience, and never being able to go back to what we once had. It's about the futility of imposing ideals on the real world, where men would rather rule by might, not right. It's about the quest to bring justice to a fallen society. It's about the horrible consequences of sin--how the ripples caused by a pebble cast into the water eventually become huge, destructive waves. And it's about the evil that resides deep down in the human soul--evil that causes men to hurt and kill each other in fights and wars that should never have started in the first place.

Beyond the story's insight into the human soul, this book is worth reading for several other reasons: White's wonderful prose, his rich knowledge of the medieval period and of English history, his hilarious and ironic references to the twentieth century (Merlyn is a time-traveler, so White refers to the modern era several times), and his sheer imagination.

This is a great book. I know why many people see it as the greatest work of fantasy of all time.(less)

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Aug 21, 2011 Robert rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fantasy

A fantasy masterwork telling the legend of King Arthur in four parts.

The Sword in the Stone reads like the fairy tale legend it is, and though it's been decades since I've seen the Disney movie, much of that film shone through the page. Once Wart becomes Arthur, though, the novel shifts in tone echoing a child becoming a man. None of the characters are left as two-dimensional as the old Disney cartoon.

Merlyn curses Arthur by teaching him to think, and through the character of Arthur, we are also...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Maia B. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone, no exceptions, anywhere

Shelves: historical, fantasy, best-books-ever, love-it, beautiful-writing, practically-perfect, broke-my-heart, my-best-beloved, favorites

How can you rate the best book you've ever read, the most amazing novel ever written, the most clever, funny, magical, hopeful, tragic, terrible, wonderful, incredible book in the world? How can you quantify its brilliance?

Okay. Take the best book you've ever read. Multiply how much you love it by ten. Multiply its brilliance by a million. You're halfway to imagining The Once and Future King.

There's so much here. Love stories. Rich men. Poor men. Virtuous men. Evil men. Beautifullest women. Adve...more

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Oct 25, 2010 Chris Wilson rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

The Once and Future King is an Arthurian fantasy novel written by T. H. White. It was first published in 1958 and is mostly a composite of earlier works written in a period between 1938 and 1941. T. H. White uses The Once and Future King as his own personal view of the ideal society. The book, most of which "takes place on the isle of Gramarye," chronicles the raising and educating of King Arthur, his rule as a king, and the romance between his best knight Sir Lancelot and his Queen Guinevere (w...more The Once and Future King is an Arthurian fantasy novel written by T. H. White. It was first published in 1958 and is mostly a composite of earlier works written in a period between 1938 and 1941. T. H. White uses The Once and Future King as his own personal view of the ideal society. The book, most of which "takes place on the isle of Gramarye," chronicles the raising and educating of King Arthur, his rule as a king, and the romance between his best knight Sir Lancelot and his Queen Guinevere (which he spells Guenever). It ends immediately before Arthur's final battle against his illegitimate son Mordred. I never got that far though and have shelved the book for now as I just found myself bored backwards by it.

Nothing happens.

For all the depth this legend has surrounding it, and all the source material White must have had to work with, the story and characters are about as 3 dimensional as the pages the thing is printed on. At no point is any attempt made to delve into the minds of the characters and find out what makes then tick, and why they do the things they do. The six year jump between two of the final chapters finds The Wart and Kay going from best friends to servant and master respectively.

Six years changes people, especially at that age, and this maturing that they've done is in no way reflected in their actions. When they were young, they acted in a certain way, and now that they're older, they still seem to act in the same way. I don't mean to say that they still act like children, I'm referring to the fact that there is very little being said about them on either side of this divide, to indicate their maturity, though process, or state of mind. Perhaps if White hadn't included (what felt like) an entire chapter on chivalric theory, he may have had the time to tell us why we should be caring about these boys. Just a though.

The story is no better. At no point during the 250 pages I've gotten through did I feel as if anyone or anything was ever at risk. Each 'event' reminded me of a Saturday morning Nickelodeon kids cartoon where the characters go out and have a grand adventure but still make it home for tea. The raid on the castle in the wood, I felt at least, was a complete farce. Even the justification for it had me wondering if there was anything better on my shelf. Some people have stated on other threads that the anachronisms were taking them out of the story. They irked me slightly, but what really rubbed me the wrong way was the duel between the knights in the wood, and through it all I could think to myself, other than 'why aren't I reading something else', was 'ho ho, look at the funny men fall down'.

This is supposed to be a set in dark age England where outlaws dominate any terrain where cover is available, and this is even referenced at one point and then promptly forgotten (probably in favour of a deleted chapter on how to properly shoe a horse or something). There is no excitement, there is no drama, there is nothing to help the reader connect better with the characters and their motives, there is no reason why I should continue reading this book, so I'm not going to.(less)

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Sep 02, 2010 KOMET rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction-fantasy-and-horror

When I read this book in my mid-teens, I absolutely LOVED it, because it nurtured and excited my imagination.

"THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING" combines all the elements of Arthurian legend, adventure, and history in describing the lives of Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and some of the other notables of Camelot. (This is the novel, some of whose elements were later adapted to the screen as the Disney movie "The Sword in the Stone".)

White has written a delightful, entertaining story not without its harr...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Bryan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Bryan by: My high school english program

Shelves: mythology, mythopoeia, fiction

****New review added at bottom November 2, 2011

I love the story of King Arthur and I think T.H. White has remarkable storytelling skills, but the author's viewpoint so strongly irritated me that I could not finish the book.

Throughout the first two and a half books (The Sword and the Stone, The Witch in the Wood, and The Ill-made Knight) I was completely spellbound. Each chapter was better than the one before, the characters were unique and charming, and the story events were powerful and engagi...more

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Momatella I absolutely cannot handle nor approve of anything that makes me feel a dark feeling. I do not read horror books or see horror movies. I have been ver...more
Aug 24, 2010 09:53pm

Bryan I agree with you on the true-to-the-horrors-of-life stories. I am o.k. with watching them, as long as it is related in a way that is respectful to tho...more
Aug 25, 2010 08:31pm

Sep 26, 2009 Megan Larson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Recommended to Megan by: Professor X, Jessie Wise, Susan Wise Bauer

Shelves: medieval-to-early-rennaisance, modern-to-contemporary, fantasy-mythology, favorite-books-ever

I feel a bit inadequate to treat this book as a thoroughly knowledgeable reviewer, and so I know that I will come back and edit my comments as I spend more time in medieval literature and history, especially Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. That said, I wanted to have a record of my inital impressions, however ignorant they may be.
That White's novel is as much a commentary on medieval England and the order of knighthood in those days as a retelling of the Arthurian legend is wholly evident...more I feel a bit inadequate to treat this book as a thoroughly knowledgeable reviewer, and so I know that I will come back and edit my comments as I spend more time in medieval literature and history, especially Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. That said, I wanted to have a record of my inital impressions, however ignorant they may be.
That White's novel is as much a commentary on medieval England and the order of knighthood in those days as a retelling of the Arthurian legend is wholly evident. His magnum opus is evidence of his own thorough study of medieval history and literature, and of his attempt to understand it both by its own merits and, ultimately, by his own beliefs.
The Once and Future King IS a magnum opus, to be sure. White teaches the reader to interact with Arthur's tale on every level--as a beautiful story of humanity, as a foundational piece of literature, and as a commentary on its time. His own interpretation is quite different than Malory's must have been, since he treats war as unpardonable barbarism, knightly quests and tournaments as foppish and pointless, and the ultimate salvation of mankind in a "live and let live" mentality (as long as no one hurts anyone else). White's Arthur is great because of his political innovation and his devotion to right over might, whereas I am sure Malory's Arthur didn't mind conquest quite so much. As for the affair between Guenever and Lancelot, White's Arthur loved his two friends so much that he took every pain not to think about their treachery, and didn't seem to be emotionally hurt by it at all (although in the end it was the source of many evils he had to endure). Perhaps he, like White himself, was not particularly interested in women?
But, aside from the elements that make it blatantly modern, White brought tremendous care and compassion to his telling. The reader truly pities each character as his doom grows nearer, and somehow the terrible errors each major character makes do not wholly define him--he is human. Also, White was funny--truly witty and winsome. I laughed aloud more times than I can count, and appreciated his voice as much as that of any other in the story.
I truly enjoyed this book, even though I do not share all of White's worldview. It deserved the highest rating and I heartily recommend it to everyone. (less)

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About T.H. White

Born in Bombay to English parents, Terence Hanbury White was educated at Cambridge and taught for some time at Stowe before deciding to write full-time. White moved to Ireland in 1939 as a conscientious objector to WWII, and lived out his years there.

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Books by T.H. White

The Sword in the Stone (The Once and Future King, #1)

The Book of Merlyn (The Once and Future King, #5)

The Ill-Made Knight (The Once and Future King, #3)

The Queen of Air and Darkness (The Once and Future King, #2)

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Quotes from The Once and Future King

“The bravest people are the ones who don’t mind looking like cowards.” — 3,147 people liked it

“The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.” — 1,223 people liked it

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The Once and Future King (The Once and Future King #1-4)

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