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review 2017-06-23 03:43
The Once and Future King by T H White (Audiobook)
The Once and Future King - T.H. White,Neville Jason

Series: The Once and Future King #1-5

 

Narrated by Neville Jackson

 

This was supposed to represent a collection of five books, but the titles didn’t seem to be announced (or I kept missing them) so they all just blurred together. I liked the first book, The Sword in the Stone, and I’d give that one 3 stars because although I liked it the animal stories became a bit repetitive. That covers Arthur’s childhood (I think). I’d recommend stopping after that because the rest just seemed long. Stop after he becomes king, anyway, at whichever book it is. It seems like it’s impossible to write an Arthurian story where Lancelot and Guinevere aren’t boring and whiny. Later on Merlin went on some long rants about the nature of man and war that could seriously put you to sleep.

 

My opinion may be in the minority but it is what it is. Oh, and I could definitely have done without so many songs. The narrator wasn’t bad but he couldn’t make Merlin’s philosophizing interesting.

 

Previous updates:

1023/1983 minutes (52 %)

681/1983 minutes (34 %)

 

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review 2017-02-14 17:08
The Crystal Cave - Mary Stewart
The Crystal Cave - Mary Stewart

I don't remember anything about this, except what happens to Merlin, which may not even be part of this book.

****
1994 Jul 16

It's been at least thirty years since I read this. Since then I've read a great many retellings of the Arthurian legend, which I don't think would have come if not for this. Marion Zimmer Bradley didn't copy this at all, but Stewart, as far as I know, set the precedent for an ancient magic largely based on herbalism, and some sort of real precognition.

Off to a good start.

****

2008 Oct 25

I enjoyed this a great deal. I like the time she set the story, it is Arthurian not Medieval. It was hard to believe I'd ever read this before. I didn't remember a thing. Who knows, maybe I read The Last Enchantment and just thought I'd read The Crystal Cave. Fun, but not great literature. The focus on Merlin made for a nice twist. I like it that he has no powers other than an infrequent foretelling. This Merlin is a trained engineer, a learned man, who seems like a magician to the ignorant. That said, it falls away. I finished it less than forty-eight hours ago, and already it seems dim. Maybe I should try rereading Touch Not the Cat. Maybe that would stick better.
 
 
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review 2016-12-19 12:29
King Arthur's Death - Anonymous,Brian Stone

You certainly have to love the occasional lyric poetry, especially when it is about the end of everybody’s favourite legendary English king, Arthur Pendragon. Actually, I’m not sure if that is actually his last name, though it seems that this guy, and the legend that surrounds him, is much like Robin Hood – he may have existed, he may not have, but a huge legend has arisen around them while there doesn’t actually seem to be any consistency in these legends. In fact, this particular book contains two contrasting versions of his death, though the common feature is that he was killed by Mordred (though whether Mordred was his son or not is also up in the air because one of them suggests that he is, while the other suggests that he is just naughty lord).

 

Anyway, these two poems contain literally everything, and it is no wonder that the story of Arthur has been picked up by so many authors and film makers, and the stories that come out of it are vastly different in nature. For instance there was a film from the eighties called Excalibur which focused much more on the fantasy elements, with Excalibur, Merlin, and a tragic end as he searched for the holy grail. Another version (named King Arthur), was set during the times when the Romans pulled out of England, and Arthur was basically a Knight from the other side of the empire and was fighting to stop the Picts from overrunning the England.

 

There was also this book I remember called The Mists of Avalon, which I remember seeing as a kid, but never getting around to reading it, probably because upon looking at it I came to the conclusion that it was the thickest book ever written – in fact it was huge. Mind you, there are probably much, much thicker books these days, but that one still sits in my mind as being pretty thick. Oh, and we cannot forget to mention this all time classic.

 

As I previously mentioned there are two versions of the story, both of them dealing with Arthur’s death, so there is no mention of Merlin, nor of the sword, nor of the Lady in the Lake (or the test to remove the sword from the stone). In fact both stories seem to eschew the fantasy elements and come across much more historical. Anyway, the first story deals with Arthur going on conquests across Europe and coming to blows with the Emperor of Rome. He eventually defeats the emperor, however discovers that back in England Mordred has taken the throne for himself. Mind you, after going to war with Rome, Arthur has actually lost a lot of men, but with the handful of men he does have he returns to England, confronts Mordred’s much larger army, and defeats Mordred while dying in the process.

 

There are a couple of things that come out of this story, one of them being the plot where the King is abroad and the person keeping the throne warm decides to name himself as king. This is something that has happened a number of times in history, but the one event that comes to mind is that of Richard II (of which I have written two blog posts, the second being here). Mind you, I would hardly equate Arthur with Richard, particularly since if it wasn’t for Shakespeare’s play he would probably be little more than a footnote in history – Arthur is a legend. Mind you, it is noticeable that both die, because we can’t have Mordred defeating Arthur and giving us an evil laughter and riding off into the sunset. Mind you, even in Shakespeare’s tragedies the bad guy eventually gets it in the neck. In a way it seems as if you simply cannot have a situation where the bad guy wins, and the good guy simply cannot come back and eventually win the day – it is almost as if it is anathema in literature.

 

The other thing is how Arthur pretty much conquers Europe. This is taken directly out of History of the Kings of Britain, and seems to attribute the barbarian invasions of Rome to being an invasion let by Arthur. Mind you, Monmouth puts Arthur around 700 AD, which is sometime after Rome collapsed, but it is interesting how we have no record of any legendary king carving out a huge empire in Europe. However, it should also be noted that this is one of those empires that exists only on the personality of a single man, and it appears that after his death the kingdom pretty much disintegrates. Another thing that I have noticed is that Bede seems to have a gap in his Ecclesiastical history right around the time Monmouth has Arthur appear. That’s not to say that I am suggesting Arthur existed because, other than Charlemagne, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of a king establishing an Empire on the Continent, especially one where the throne was in England.

 

Mind you, this whole thing reeks of nationalism, yet it is interesting that England did have an identity as far back as the 10th century. Monmouth also suggested that two English Kings were responsible for crossing the channel in around 400 bc, conquering Europe, crossing the Alps, and sacking Rome. Obviously what is happening here is a medieval version of ‘Fake News’, though it is probably better described as being ‘fake history’ (though the Romans seems to have a lot of problems with this fake history) – this is history that really has no substance to it, and no archaeological support. Mind you, writers of history back in those days really didn’t take the academic and scientific approach that we do today (though all history is still tainted by opinion), but rather wrote from the legends that were in vogue.

 

The second story is pretty much the same (that is about how Arthur died), however it’s focus is more on the love affair between Lancelot and Guenevere. In fact, this affair could be considered one of the greatest affairs in literature (okay, there are probably others, but I really have no interest in stories about love affairs – I would call them forbidden love but it sounds so clichéd – still, something that you can’t have always seems much more desirable than something that you can). Whereas the first story has a lot more action and large scale battles, this one has a lot more intrigue where people are being killed, and then the murder is being covered up, and there is adultery, poisonings, duels, and finally King Arthur’s death.

 

In a way this is an incredibly painful episode to watch because we all know how it is going to end – badly – especially since Lancelot is one of Arthur’s most trusted knights. However, this episode is set mostly in the court of Camelot, and doesn’t even have any mention of wars and expeditions to foreign lands. Actually, come to think of it there is always the story of David and Bathsheba in the Bible – that’s a pretty well known love affair, but I digress. Anyway, it seems as if the story of Arthur is a story of betrayal, with his wife and best friend having hanky panky behind his back, and Mordred going off and stealing his throne (and dying in the process).

 

Anyway, before I finish off, I probably should end with this cartoon, especially considering the state of politics these days:

 

System of Government

Source: www.goodreads.com/review/show/1834226533
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text 2016-11-20 16:54
Reading progress update: I've read 340 out of 928 pages.
Merlin Trilogy - Mary Stewart
The Crystal Cave - Mary Stewart
The Hollow Hills - Mary Stewart

 

(Page numbers are for the omnibus edition.)

 

Well, I finished The Crystal Cave (a while ago in fact) and have now moved on to The Hollow Hills, which picks up right where the first book of the trilogy ends.  Merlin is still rather unlike the wise old wizard as whom I'd so far seen him and is becoming ever closer to what I'd so far imagined young Arthur to have been ... but I'm still enjoying the read as such.

 

For those who care, I thought I'd share a couple of photos from the location of the final chapters of The Crystal Cave and the first chapters of The Hollow Hills, Tintagel, where legend has it that King Arthur was conceived ... or, well, photos of what's left of the Tintagel castle ruins (which incidentally date from the 12th, not from the 6th century), as well as the paths that Merlin and Uther would have had to climb, first down to the beach and then back up along the face of the cliff, to get to the castle high up on the promontory:

 




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review 2016-11-20 16:37
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
The Crystal Cave (Merlin, #1) - Mary Stewart

Series: Arthurian Saga #1

 

Completely unmemorable.

 

The old man telling the child and then the young man’s story sounded stale to me. Merlin seemed to be more of a sock puppet than a person. I didn’t really care about anyone in the story, and most of the dialogue rang false, somehow.

 

The prose was so unmemorable that I’d pick up the book where I’d left off the night before and be completely unable to find my place because nothing sounded familiar (specifically in Book IV). I generally have a much better memory than that, so there was something about Stewart’s words that just wouldn’t stick in my head. In fact, it happened frequently that I’d discover that although I’d read every word in the preceding paragraphs, I couldn’t remember what they’d said. I don’t know why, but the book couldn’t hold my attention. The threads just slipped away.

 

I don’t blame my 8-year-old self for giving up even after passing the halfway point. The book adds nothing as an interpretation of the legend, or at least nothing interesting. My rating reflects the fact that the book completely failed to engage my interest and attention. Others evidently had different experiences.

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