The Once and Future King

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful modern retelling of the Legend of King Arthur
Review: I just read this book for the first time as a freshman in college. Most of the other reviews convey how easy it is for people to fall in love with the story. One of the things I found most interesting about it was how it was modernized. I don't know why there are 2 versions of Sword in the Stone [one w/ Madame Mim-obviously the one Disney used, and one w/ the ants and the geese], but I found the ants story too modern for an Authorian legend. The implications for our modern technological society were clear [sounded a lot like Brave New World], but for that exact reason it was hard to apply the lesson to Arthurian times. Perhaps more interesting was the moral interpretation. I found it funny [and a bit disturbing] that the modern reader had to be informed that in Lancelot's time, having an affair or running off w/ someone's wife was unacceptable and that Lancelot tried very hard to avoid the temptation. It reminds me of The Three Musketeers, in which the reader was informed that at that time in history, it was perfectly acceptable to have a mistress and therefore to please not judge the characters by modern standards. The Once and Future King is a great modern retelling of Malory's Death of Arthur. The first part [Wart's childhood] is mostly light-hearted, w/ some implied social commentary [well, blatant concerning knights and jousting]. The rest of the book deals mainly w/ Lancelot and Gawaine, as Arthur and Merlyn become secondary characters. Arthur generally appears in relation to his newest idea to end the forces of Might makes Right. The end is rather sobering, but it does smooth out most of the problems. I would definately recommend this book as an overview of the story of King Arthur.

Rating:
Summary: "Read it and be glad you are human..."
Review: Whenever I need to truly escape, to take my heart and my mind to a far away place, I re-read the Once and Future King.  My mother, who calls this a classic, took lessons from it to teach us when we were young (about growing up and becoming self-aware).  This is the story of the boy who will be King Arthur, and his friend, mentor, and guide, Merlin.  The boy (called "Wart") spends a childhood of magnificent talking beasts and fascinating creatures.  He develops with guidance into the kind and balanced King Arthur.  It is the tale of Camelot as one might imagine it long before Hollywood glossed it over.  T. H. White wrote this in 1939.  To old to be relevant today?  You will find this paperback on the front counters of every and any Border's and Barnes and Noble's you enter.  The reviewer who mirrored closest my own feelings wrote, "...a warm, sad, glinting, rich, mystical, true and beautiful tapestry of human history and human spirit.  Read it and laugh.  Read it and learn.  Read it and be glad you are human."  Exactly. 

Rating:
Summary: A surprise
Review: When I started reading this book, I was surprised: it was not what I expected. I thought that White's work would be a fantasy book, dealing with the magical aspects of King Arthur, the Round Table and the Quest for the Grail; I didn't know what to think when I found King Arthur was a confused and misled boy named "the Wart", Queen Guenever was called "Jenny", Merlyn was a crazed old fool and Lancelot was the ugliest man alive.

Then it dawned on me: there are literally hundreds of books dealing with Arthurian Legend. Thomas Malory's "Morte D'Arthur" is (maybe) the best known book on King Arthur. T H White chose not to re-write Malory's book, and he chose not to write just one more book about the Arthurian dwellings; instead, he wrote his own, personal account of the legend.

"The once and future king" is ironic, sarcastic, moralistic, pacisfist and defends globalization (yes, forty years "globalization" became a fashionable word). First of all, it's set on the XVth century, much later than the original time for Arthurian legends. The usual characters are present, but they are very different from what we're used to. White focuses on characters, sometimes to the point of forgeting to describe the settings and what is happening between conversations: it's almost like a play. White lets the reader's imagination run wild. In the end, as a final comic touch, Malory becomes a characters in White's book.

The strong point of "The once and future king" is that it's very original, creating a new atmosphere for a battered story - like Marion Zimmer Bradley's masterpiece "The mists of Avalon" did more recently. The low point of this book is that sometimes it is boring to the point of skipping pages.

Anyway, this book was a surprise - a good one - for me.

Grade 8.0/10

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, don't miss it
Review: "The Once and Future King" is children's fantasy as it should be, a delightful read for both kids and adults. Author T. H. White manages to mingle the humorous and the sad portions of the King Arthur story successfully, and he never talks down to his audience or tries to oversimplify the events. The result is a wonderfully entertaining book that never slows down, one that's both amusing and serious.

I won't try to summarize the entire book. Suffice to say, White covers the entire story of King Arthur's life and remains pretty faithful to the traditional version of events throughout the book. What's really amazing, though, is the way that he captures the spirit of the times, making you feel like you're actually in England during the Middle Ages, watching the tournaments and quests and battles yourself. His descriptions are beautiful without ever being unnecessarily lengthy, his characters seem to come alive (especially Arthur, Guenevere, and Lancelot), and his handling of some of the classic scenes is unforgettable.

Rating:
Summary: Worth reading, if you have the time
Review: I very much enjoyed this trilogy, and it is one to which you can relate on many levels, so get your kids to read it if you can. On the one level it is a whimisical look at the legend of King Arthur, with the first story aimed at both children and adults. Anthropomorphic ants, geese and other animals are both amusing and informative, and we are drawn into Merlin's world. An amusing way in which TH White uses modern objects in the book is to say that Merlin "lived backwards" ie he was born in the 20th century and gets older as time goes backwards. So of course he has many amusing items with him from the time WHite was writing (1930s/40s I think).

The two other books are darker, dealing as they do with incest and adultery, but the story goes along at a reasonable pace and we can empathise with characters like Guinevere, Lancelot and Gawaine (although I still hate Galahad; doesn't everyone?).

The deeper level of this book is the way in which White uses it to comment on society. This is most obvious in the first book, with the ants' society a warning against totalitarian, and the geese' society a "good" libertarian one. I don't necessarily agree with these views but they are worth mulling over. In the other books White shows his understanding of society well reminding us that people should not describe themselves simply by race and that we should all learn to live together peacefully, not surprising as he was writing in the run up to World War II, but a message that is still valid today. Also refreshing is the lack of sentiment in his book, this is shown by his sympathetic portrayal of the love triangle of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot - they are not "evil people" but people who have certain flaws, just as we all do.

Definitely the best version of the Arthurian legend that I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Arthur by way of Henry II.
Review: This is, by far, the best telling of the Arthurian Legend - yes, even better than Geoffrey of Monmouth or Sir Thomas Mallory. White makes the story new again by infusing it with strong characterizations and humor. The story is told in twentieth-century dialogue, making all the characters seem witty, urbane, and intellectual. Each one is given his own personality. Lancelot, for instance, is rendered totally human. He might have a beautiful body, but he has an ugly face. The reason he tries to act so virtuously is that he is convinced he isn't a virtuous person.

The book is a compilation of four separate books, bound together. The first, The Sword in the Stone, is a children's book, but an adult would have to be seriously jaded not to enjoy it. There is a lot of overt humor, in-jokes, and even an appearance by Robin Hood. Afterwards, the novels take a more "adult" and "realistic" feel. White does his best to make these icons seem like real people in real situations with real motives. He even allows time to pass and his heroes grow old, instead of staying eternally young as they do in other versions.

The primary source White bases this on is Le Mort D'Arthur. When I learned more about the history of Britain, I realized that White had fused the Arthur story with the story of Henry II. Arthur is supposed to have lived around fifth century. White transposes the story to the twelfth century. He acknowledges this by claiming that Arthur was real and Richard the Lionhearted was fake! The deeds he attributes to Arthur - like the creation of the English law system - was really the work of Henry Plantagenet. It is only fitting because Henry always saw himself as King Arthur. Apparently, T.H. White sees him the same way.

Rating:
Summary: ALMOST makes me wish I was truly speechless
Review: Yet I have to add my two cents to the other reviews. T.H. White retells the Arthurian legend yet again. However it is obvious that his intent is not to supplant Mallory's Classic (This tome by the way is a classic in itself but I digress.)
One of the main obstacles I feel White overcame is adding his own wit and humor to a story that is as tragic as it is legendary.
White's finest moments of story-telling is his characterization of the mighty Merlin, making him almost a piece of comic relief without painting him with irreverence. In fact Arthur, Gwynervere, Lancelot, and the other assorted peoples of Camelot all live and breathe as if White was recording history/biography instead of writing a novel.

The couple small critiques I have with this epic is its length (of course might not be epic if it was cut shorter), I feel White detailed a few more minor incidents too thoroughly and didn't detail others enough, course as he explains the scenes he glossed over could be found in Mallory's text. HEHE actually those are both my complaints in one pseudo paragraph, I would have liked more Arthur and less of some other characters, otherwise this is a book I will read again and again and probably gain new insights etc... with each perusal.

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down even if I wanted to
Review: This story is I think one of the best reads I have ever read. It was definetly not the kind of book you could put down or read half way through and stop. It's the kind of book that urges you to read more and you do. Once and Future King was full of everything from action to adventure to even comedy and drama I found so many different genre in this one book. I liked this book because it took a boring subject like the life of King Arthur and made it come to life with jousts, magic, quests, and a love triangle that will make your head spin. Though i will admit it does get slow at some parts but once your past those your ok. This book is a must read and should be on everyones shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Who put the addictive chemical in this book?
Review: I normally hate reading... I usually only read the speach bubbles on the comic strip "Garfield" but for some reason, when I read this book, I had trouble stopping. The author has a unique style of writing that is both captivating and intertaining. This book is classified as Fantasy, but really it could be a number of genres: action, adventure, romance, and humor. If you like any of those, I highly recommend you read this book. The book is quite legnthy, but then again I considered that an asset rather than a drawback. Overall, I would give this book 4 1/2 stars, but since that wasn't available, i had to give it 5, because it sure wasn't a 4. (Now check the box that says "this review was helpful")

Rating:
Summary: couldn't put it down
Review: The Once and Future King, by T.H. White, is a book that would be good for any reader. Not only does it fall into the fantasy genre, but it also contains action, love, and lots and lots of comedy. Even during the most serious scenes, the author finds a way to incorporate humor. You follow the life of King Arthur, and learn about how he established the knights of the round table. I would recommend this book to any person who likes action, drama, love, or comedy. I don't normally read fantasy, but after the first three pages, I forgot that it was. Although The Once and Future King is a lengthy book, you'll fly through it and be sorry when you reach the end.