King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table

by Rupert Sargent Holland (editor)

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1919 Edition.

Genres: Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Adventure, Arthurian

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1919

Reviews

[Morgan Giesbrecht · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you enjoy damsels in distress, swooning lords and ladies, and constantly fighting knights, this is definitely the story for you.

I read this book while listening to a different audiobook version of King Arthur’s stories at the same time. One thing I found was that some of the stories are recounted with different details, so it was unique to see the different accounts.

While the real King Arthur lived in the 600s, his stories are all told in a very medieval/crusade era, which was oddly compelling.

In terms of characters, Sir Lancelot or Sir Galahad may be considered the best knights, but personally, I am a Sir Gareth fan. :)

One thing that I find rather humorously strange is that no one seems to recognise their family members. So many of the knights were brothers or cousins or some such relation, and they were always “unknown to their brethren” or some such nonsense. But it was comical at times, though unrealistic at others.

[Sean Meriwether · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fascinating thing about this text is that it reads like the source material for numerous male orphan heroes, including Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker and Superman. A child fated for greatness who, with little to no training, rises on inborn skills rises to make the world a better place. A boy king who is qualified by fate to rule an island nation. Impressive that these stories have been carried down for centuries, but others made more with the Arthurian legends, even Kennedy's White House. Like many oral fables which were eventually written down, this volume is a series of loosely joined stories--sketches, more accurately--which can become repetitive and sometimes confusing where superhuman characters achieve incredible feats. There are many battles, knights, mythological figures, and "smiting". One mild surprise, these supposedly religious people who go in search for the holy grail are actually highly superstitious heathens spoiling for war and plunder.

[Lyndsie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last story was the best; the rest were mostly the same -- just knights fighting over "damsels" and fighting each other. Always killing their friends, etc. Not what I expected it to be at all, I was hoping for more of the myth I suppose.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great tale which all young people should read.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read, a good epic

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would give this book 2.5 stars.

I really can't hate on it too much since these stories were written a long time ago. A lot of people seemed to make a big deal out of King Arthur and the Round Table, and so I expected a little more. Maybe there's more historical value in the history and folklore of this book, but I didn't have annotations and notes to enjoy that history.

For those of you who know nothing about King Arthur, I'll just give you a basic summary. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are legendary figures from England's folklore. They have ties to the whole world, especially the Roman empire, and so therefore, the knights are chivalrous and goodly while King Arthur is so great he has the right, by birth, to rule over everything. This book is basically a collection of tales that follow different knights from Arthur's Round Table. They begin with the origin of Arthur and end tragically with a bitter war.

Personally, I thought this book was basically a soap opera written by men. It was very repetitive and dramatic with lots of fighting and killing. There are also a few ladies to love on the side, and a sneaky affair that nearly destroys everyone in its way. Every now and then, a knight will run into some devious magic or will have to put their faith in God.

I do think there's historical significance to learn from these tales when someone reads them. However, I didn't particularly enjoy them, and so, I rated this book pretty low. If you enjoy reading about medieval times and like reading about knights, then this book would be perfect for you.

As a side note, I thought King Arthur was the greatest man ever in these stories, but it turns out that Sir Lancelot is even bigger than Arthur.

[Greg S · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories are very repetitive in the beginning. Ride out, kill some knights, rescue trapped maidens, joust. Rinse and repeat.

It gets more dynamic towards the end with Lancelot (thank God).

So the plot was mostly boring, but what bothered me was the inconsistencies. I can't tell if this was one narrative or if the author weaved several stories from different sources.

Important characters/antagonists came in once and never seen again. The Lady of the Lake died in one story but was alive in another. Excalibur seemed important but was never mentioned again until the last few pages. Noble Knights doing wretched and vile things. Magic plays a role in the beginning but then never heard of again. Merlin disappears.

I was disappointed by the Knights. The Knights were often killing each other, or betraying each other. Not sure what King Arthur was doing. As far as I can tell all his Knights would do is go out and fought other knights and brought them into his fealty. That's it.
What was noble about the Round Table? I guess they never torture anyone? Or kept anyone imprisoned for fun? Low bar.

Even the Quest for the Holy Grain was disappointing. Finds grain. Gets lifted to heaven. Wasn't it supposed to bless the land with peace or something? Or at least bring it back to Camelot...

I finished it. That's what matters. But, boy, was that a pain to get through.

[Karen Koppy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the language, the characters. Excellent intro explaining the history behind the book. The knights spent all their time jousting, fighting and killing each other. What a strange time in history. Most of the time they didn't know why they were even fighting each other..... But it was quite romantic as well.

[James Murrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have enjoyed reading "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table" very much. The stories in the book are so vivid in detail. The text was easy to read once I adjusted to reading in old-English, which wasn't that hard for me due to reading a lot of Shakespeare & the King James Bible. I love the stories, characters, & language used though out the book!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this may have been the book that introduced me to King Arthur that I read in High School. My family always really loved the Camelot legends and this was a fantastic read that helped give back information.

[Trent · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was fun to start reading these King Arthur stories to accompany my first trip to England and Wales - creating a stage/setting for visiting a number of castles and learning about those ages. But it felt more like a chore to finish the book after returning home.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it quite entertaining that knights should immediately joust when they see each other to the point that quite a few of them fought knights they didn't want to before finding out they were actually friends. I would have given it 5 stars except for the unsatisfactory end of Merlin's story.

[Armatstorage]

Interesting. I think this is the edition I read. Date read is approximate.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely fantastic and it also goes into depth about all of the knights and the king. It is very informative people should read this.

[Scott Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thomas Mallory this isn’t. All the cleaving and jousting and shattering spears become repetitious after a while

[Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decent and quick read, looking forward to reading more books about King Arthur.