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The Once and Future King (The Once and Future King, #1-5)

T.H. White

Why we're reading this: #47 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...
#15 on L…more
[close] #47 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...
#15 on Locus Magazines Best Fantasy novels of the 20th century http://www.locusmag.com/2012/AllCentu...

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Mar 08, 2010 Sean DeLauder rated it it was amazing · 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 and monotonous detail, 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, occasional ...more

14 likes · Like · see review

Nov 24, 2010 Kevin Xu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: re-read

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

3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 09, 2012 Trice rated it liked it

Shelves: 2013, scifi-fantasy, arthurian, never-finished, britannia, 2014

2015 February 18
(Happy Lunar New Year and Year of the Goat/Sheep!)
I still have this sitting next to my bed, but have no eagerness to pick it up again, though I've only just gotten to the part where Arthur is preparing for battle against his rebellious countrymen. When I started reading this, I grabbed the animated movie of the 1st book, The Sword in the Stone, to watch too. I was thinking I'd never seen it, and what a terrible oversight in modern-ish Arthurian media... And then I watched it and 2015 February 18
(Happy Lunar New Year and Year of the Goat/Sheep!)
I still have this sitting next to my bed, but have no eagerness to pick it up again, though I've only just gotten to the part where Arthur is preparing for battle against his rebellious countrymen. When I started reading this, I grabbed the animated movie of the 1st book, The Sword in the Stone, to watch too. I was thinking I'd never seen it, and what a terrible oversight in modern-ish Arthurian media... And then I watched it and realized, yes, I had indeed seen this movie sometime before 18 years of age and found it boring; this has not changed with time. I find this somewhat strange, because, at least conceptually, Merlin's education of Wart sounds like a great exploration of natural science. Somehow, though, in both movie and book form, it comes out boring - maybe it's too vague? It's been possibly a year since I was reading this, so the details have escaped my sieve-like memory, but it seems to take a stab at natural observation up close, but does this while escaping from any actual detailed observation of the various creatures whose lives they invade. So the movie, kinda on the dull side, and the book, for once, not really much better - the movie was actually pretty faithful to the book, to its detriment. Ah - no, it's not an awful book, it's just not great and it's far down my list of Arthurian material.

Reading some of the reviews that praise this work to high heaven, I find myself getting more annoyed with it in retrospect - many of the characters are obnoxious, ridiculous, and/or stupid, as are the tangents that feature them. The exception is Wart, who is sweetness personified, but who, with this trait, shares with Oliver Twist a blankness that makes him otherwise unremarkable, and as a central character, rather frustrating, in addition to being a rather strange characterization of a figure who, according to legend, was supposed to have struggled to unite a very divided land against invaders.

I'm currently reading a George MacDonald journey through fairyland and the frustrating element it seems to share with this book is the way it drains out of most of its material the fantastical, the numinous which is central to good fantasy and, well, to good insight. We are left with a dry glance down the nose of modern society at those barbarian forebears - not something made for deep introspection or for inspiring vision of any kind. disappointing.

I'm stubborn about finishing books unless they're in the truly awful camp, but this one is likely to kick around on the fringes for a long while. Sadly, I may use it along with the MacDonald book (I am truly sorry Mr. Lewis, but it is sadly true.) as an occasional cure for insomnia. To get a sense of Arthurian lit I think it's important (to an extent), to at some point expose oneself to this because of how it has influenced common perceptions of the legend, but it so far doesn't seem to have much value beyond that, or enjoyment in the process. Wow, I feel so mean, but there it is - my snarky new year review. ;) ...more

2 likes · Like · see review