Reading 1001 discussion

Read 2010; A rewrite of Arthurian Legend combining other works into one great book of 600 plus pages that traces Arthur through childhood to old age.

This retelling of the Arthur legend was somewhat disappointing to me. It is hard for me to review as a single book because it felt like a series of separate books that followed each other chronologically but were quite different in style and intended audience. I enjoyed the early part of the story with Arthur's childhood and education with Merlin. By the third book I was still appreciating the story but not enjoying it as much. Then by the fifth book it just seemed to drag on and on about politics instead of actually developing a plot that involved the characters.

I did think the audio narration by Neville Jason was wonderful.

Rating: 5 stars


I must have read a different copy, because mine was well over 800 pages. It had 5 books instead of the 4 books in the version attached to the post. I'm not sure which version is correct for the 1001 list. Oh well.

I loved this. It was a different take on the traditional Arthur story, and pulled in stories of other legendary characters, as well. The time period more recent than the original story, probably to allow for things like castles with moats and a more familiar backdrop of historical events.

As Daisey mentioned, the style does change across the books. The first book, The Sword in the Stone, seems more intended for a younger audience. It is more "Disney" (and really was made into a Disney movie). The rest of the books are darker and probably intended for a more mature audience. The third and fourth books are my favorite. The second book was short and just seemed to set the tone for the later books. The fifth book was intended to tie together the other books and explain the ending in the 4th book. I could have done without both the second and fifth books.

Despite it's length, I found this very entertaining. I will probably re-read this one some day.

“To disbelieve in original sin, does not mean that you must believe in original virtue. It only means that you must not believe that people are utterly wicked.”

Great book: 5 stars. I started the audiobook thinking this was going to be more in the vein of 'serious' retelling: like an Ivanhoe or even Mists of Avalon type of thing. I didn't realize the Sword in the Stone was the actual story that Disney adapted. I was listening and got to the part where "the fish agreed it needed a psychologist" and I thought it was the wrong book for a hot minute. This story is much more in the "Merlin shows up in a Hawaiian shirt" vein, and it was hilarious. Surprising number of references to psychologists, and by the time it was like "the badgers are communists" I lost it.

But, weirdly enough, was also dark, mature, and moving at points as well. I thought this wild tonal shift was well executed, and it is a surprisingly humanist book about medieval Christian folklore.