White, T. H.

AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:

2 out of 5

(1 book)

The Once And Future King

An icon of mid-20th Century fantasy, this book collects 'The Sword in the Stone', 'The Queen of Air and Darkness', 'The Ill-Made Knight' and 'The Candle in the Wind', which retell the life story of the mythical King Arthur.  Beginning with Arthur's humble upbringing and education at the hands of Merlyn, this book goes on to tell of his creation of the Knights of the Round Table, the quest for the Holy Grail, the doomed love triangle between Arthur, Sir Lancelot and Queen Gwenever and finally his war against his own embittered and evil son, Mordred.

I wanted to love this book but it ultimately made me hate it, something which is actually tonally appropriate for the final turn of the tale it contains.  

To begin with I was surprised by how whimsical the first part of the book was, with much of the more outlandish elements of the beloved 1960s Disney movie coming directly from the text.  However, it rapidly settled into a pattern of rambling and ponderous prose that became an absolute chore to read.  I'm usually a pretty speedy reader, but White's writing is so deliberately obtuse that getting through his (in one notable instance) page-long paragraphs was a real slog.  I've often been tempted to seek out Thomas Mallory's 'Le Mort d'Arthur', but here White suggests that he's edited out the long-winded and boring bits.  If this is the less-boring version, I will absolutely not be reading Mallory now.

In all fairness, there is greatness to be found within this book.  Almost the entirety of 'The Ill-Made Knight' was a brilliant and engaging exploration of love, duty, honour, desire and the internal conflict they can cause.  As a result, Lancelot is a brilliantly complex character, with Gwenever (Guinevere, if you will) being not far behind.  You genuinely find yourself hoping against hope that there's some way Lancelot, Gwen and Arthur can live happily every after, despite the obvious impossibility of it all (thruples just weren't the done thing in the fictional Middle Ages).

It's been a long time since I've been so glad to have finished a book; not because I'm glad to have read it, but rather because I'm glad that I never have to open its pages again.

2 out of 5

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