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The Once and Future King #4-5
The Candle in the Wind/The Book of Merlyn
One of the most inventive and charming retellings of the Arthurian legend, this is the final part of The Once and Future King. In these last two books, the ageing king faces the greatest challenge of his reign, when his own son threatens to overthrow him and destroy everything he has worked for. In The Book of Merlyn, Arthurs tutor Merlyn reappears, and the ancient magician teaches him that, even in the face of apparent ruin, there is still hope.
10 pages, Audio CD
First published January 1, 1977
About the author
T.H. White
104 books1,541 followersBorn 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. White is best known for his sequence of Arthurian novels, The Once and Future King, first published together in 1958.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 4, 2024
This book contains the books 4 and 5, the final books, in the "Once and Future King" series.
Book 4: The Candle in the Wind continues the story of Sir Lancelot and Guinevere, King Arthur, and his son Mordred. This book plays out like a classic tragedy as Mordred plots to take over his father's kingdom.
Much like the previous two books, this one has a lot of mature themes. The outlook is bleak for the older characters. It ends rather abruptly without much of an actual resolution. Fortunately the story continues in the next book.
Book 5: In Book of Merlyn, the unusual, contemplative wizard, Merlyn is back and ready to teach old Arthur a few last lessons.
I was excited for Merlyn's return but this book is greatly overshadowed by philosophy and thoughts on society and war. While this does make sense as King Arthur is in the midst of a war with his son, Mordred, it gets very self-righteous. I understand the points that the author, White, is trying to make as he himself was also in the midst of living through WWII during the time of writing. Although his views are importan, Book of Merlyn is pretty tedious to get through. A disappointing end to the series compared to where it started with The Sword in the Stone.
Book 4: The Candle in the Wind continues the story of Sir Lancelot and Guinevere, King Arthur, and his son Mordred. This book plays out like a classic tragedy as Mordred plots to take over his father's kingdom.
Much like the previous two books, this one has a lot of mature themes. The outlook is bleak for the older characters. It ends rather abruptly without much of an actual resolution. Fortunately the story continues in the next book.
Book 5: In Book of Merlyn, the unusual, contemplative wizard, Merlyn is back and ready to teach old Arthur a few last lessons.
I was excited for Merlyn's return but this book is greatly overshadowed by philosophy and thoughts on society and war. While this does make sense as King Arthur is in the midst of a war with his son, Mordred, it gets very self-righteous. I understand the points that the author, White, is trying to make as he himself was also in the midst of living through WWII during the time of writing. Although his views are importan, Book of Merlyn is pretty tedious to get through. A disappointing end to the series compared to where it started with The Sword in the Stone.
January 30, 2020
Wish I had stopped reading from this series after Book 1.
February 19, 2024
There are wonderful highlights to these books ... but SO MANY WORDS. On and on and on about political systems as the final installment to Arthur's "education." I guess it makes sense based on the time/place/situation of the author - a British conscientious objector watching WWII unfold - but I found it pretty tiresome.
February 21, 2026
This would be five stars for The Candle in the Wind, but this version (which includes The Book of Merlyn as a separate/final book) completely undercuts the ending and frankly spoils it all. Either stop after The Candle, or read the version that has Merlyn cut into earlier parts of the series.
August 1, 2018
Amazing!!
January 3, 2017
Where do I even begin with this one??? I guess I will start off by saying the Narrator, Neville Jason, is as amazing as ever. These books are amongst the best to listen to, due to his fantastic voice. He is what Merlyn would have sounded like, truly. Now...as for the rest...
There is a lot going on in these two books. As for The Candle in the Wind, it's fine enough. 3 stars. It's not especially interesting to me, but honestly I am not really that fascinated with the Arthurian legends anyway. It has the same hangups as The Witch in the Wood and The Ill-Made Knight, which is to say it's still kinda sexist. T.H. White makes a lot of rather dated and sexist comments about the "Nature of Women", and other such matters. T.H. White talks a little bit more about his politics here than in the other books, too, which wasn't particularly pleasant. His ideas are incredibly dated. It's a basically him shaking his fist at the Bolsheviks and the Communists.
Despite these qualms, The Candle in The Wind was passable. It's The Book of Merlyn where things fall off the crazy cliff. T.H. White is a total wackadoodle wingnut. I'm so shocked no one ever mentioned this to me before. Instead, he's always praised like he's s solid, staid old gentlemen with traditional (though fairly liberal-for-the-time) beliefs. T.H. White calls himself--that is to say, he has Merlyn call himself and anarchist (and everyone knows that Merlyn is basically an Author Surrogate). Despite this, T.H. Merlyn also talks shit on the Spanish Civil War (which is a decidedly anti-anarchist thing to do), sings the praises of both capitalism and war (kinda?), makes several racist comments about the Japanese, does a lot of Commie bashing (though some of THAT is fair), and just sort of seems to have no idea what is actually going on in his mind. I wish White had lived during a different time period. His thought process is SO wrapped up in Post-WWII nonsense that while there are actually some kernels of wisdom here, they are ultimately so swaddled in bonkers that you tend to look over them while your jaw is dropping over something else, two paragraphs down. As an anarchist, I can say that T.H White isn't one, but he definitely sounds like he might be a libertarian. The sad part is all the craziness is surrounded by the same stuff that made The Sword and the Stone totally awesome, but like I said previously any good tends to be overshadowed by the general battiness of it all.
Overall, I.....suggest....ummmm....staying away from these books......I think? I mean, there is some little bit of humor to be taken from reading a crazy persons rambling......maybe?
There is a lot going on in these two books. As for The Candle in the Wind, it's fine enough. 3 stars. It's not especially interesting to me, but honestly I am not really that fascinated with the Arthurian legends anyway. It has the same hangups as The Witch in the Wood and The Ill-Made Knight, which is to say it's still kinda sexist. T.H. White makes a lot of rather dated and sexist comments about the "Nature of Women", and other such matters. T.H. White talks a little bit more about his politics here than in the other books, too, which wasn't particularly pleasant. His ideas are incredibly dated. It's a basically him shaking his fist at the Bolsheviks and the Communists.
Despite these qualms, The Candle in The Wind was passable. It's The Book of Merlyn where things fall off the crazy cliff. T.H. White is a total wackadoodle wingnut. I'm so shocked no one ever mentioned this to me before. Instead, he's always praised like he's s solid, staid old gentlemen with traditional (though fairly liberal-for-the-time) beliefs. T.H. White calls himself--that is to say, he has Merlyn call himself and anarchist (and everyone knows that Merlyn is basically an Author Surrogate). Despite this, T.H. Merlyn also talks shit on the Spanish Civil War (which is a decidedly anti-anarchist thing to do), sings the praises of both capitalism and war (kinda?), makes several racist comments about the Japanese, does a lot of Commie bashing (though some of THAT is fair), and just sort of seems to have no idea what is actually going on in his mind. I wish White had lived during a different time period. His thought process is SO wrapped up in Post-WWII nonsense that while there are actually some kernels of wisdom here, they are ultimately so swaddled in bonkers that you tend to look over them while your jaw is dropping over something else, two paragraphs down. As an anarchist, I can say that T.H White isn't one, but he definitely sounds like he might be a libertarian. The sad part is all the craziness is surrounded by the same stuff that made The Sword and the Stone totally awesome, but like I said previously any good tends to be overshadowed by the general battiness of it all.
Overall, I.....suggest....ummmm....staying away from these books......I think? I mean, there is some little bit of humor to be taken from reading a crazy persons rambling......maybe?
March 22, 2012
And the last one is the most boring of all.
November 19, 2016
It got too political in the end.
April 24, 2017
The Candle in the Wind was not awful, but just more of the soap opera of the love triangle of Arthur, Lancelot and the Queen. It was a bit more enjoyable than The Book of Merlyn, which really kind of went in one ear and out the other. I felt like I was sitting in a classroom and being subjected to a very boring professor going on and on about his political beliefs.
I listened to the entirety of Once and Future King for book club and I was the only one who got this far. At least now I can say that I read it, but it wasn't what I hoped it would be.
I listened to the entirety of Once and Future King for book club and I was the only one who got this far. At least now I can say that I read it, but it wasn't what I hoped it would be.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews