The Once and Future King

Written by T. H. White, this book contains all five stories that White wrote about the Arthurian legend. Filled with politics, religion, fantasy, chivalry, education, and ideology, I’m forewarning everyone that this is a good, but really hard read. 

The Sword In the Stone tells the tale of Arthur (then named Wart)’s education under the direction of Merlyn, a magician who lives life backwards. As Arthur walks amongst the ants, the birds, the fish, and Robin Hood’s merry men, he learns valuable lessons that will prepare him for his rule as King of England. 

The Witch in the Wood tells the tale of Arthur’s incestuous relations with Queen Morgause, his half sister, and his preparation for a great war that saw the birth of chivalry and the demise of Might is Right. 

The Ill-Made Knight tells the tale of Sir Lancelot and all his famous adventures as well as his affair with Queen Guinevere, Arthur’s wife. 

The Candle In the Wind sees the world changing and Arthur’s world of chivalry has been ripped apart. He has had to banish his best friend, Sir Lancelot, for treason and his own son, Mordred, has declared himself King of England whilst Arthur is besieging Lancelot in the pursuit for justice. 

The Book of Merlyn sees Arthur a tired old man who, towards the end of his reign, meets his childhood tutor again and is taught more lessons about the human race and their love of war. 

As I mentioned before, this is a really hard book to read. Not only for the fact that it is five books combined into one, but simply for the way in which it is written! The style of writing changes so often and so abruptly that it’s absurdly hard to keep up. For the most part, the book is written as a fantasy adventure from the third person register with occasional modern references thrown in to make it easier to visualise what the writer is talking about. “Jousting is similar to cricket”, stuff like that. These jagged and random interruptions shatter the fantasy and bring us back to reality, which defeats the purpose of reading a fictional book. For the other half, the book is written like a history textbook or a piece of non-fiction and it feels like you’re studying rather than reading. The occasional scribblings in Latin complicates the reading further and White’s tendency to write with certain accents also presents a challenge for the reader. 

I do have to say though, that some very interesting and important political points are brought up in this book and it does cause you to think about the direction in which Man is going. One particular line that I simply loved was: “I am an anarchist like any other sensible person” spoken by Merlyn in the final book. Food for thought. 

Filled with betrayal, treason, fantasy, action, adventure, forbidden romance, politics, religion, quests, and crusades, The Once and Future King was a long and challenging read. I did enjoy it, don’t get me wrong, but it really was long and hard. This book is not for the faint-hearted.