I'm enjoying this series, but book #3 (this one) is not my favorite. It's mainly about the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere. I'm not a fan of romance, even so, this version was particularly silly. The rest of the book, and the rest of the series is really good though. ( )

Firstly, i haven't read the other books in this tetralogy but i don't think i've missed too much. Secondly, this is not for the arthurian novice, it seems to expect you to be quite familiar with the source material. Personally i'm not a fan of arthurian legend in general, but have absorbed most of the details through cultural osmosis. I've also read [b: Idylls of the King|393636|Idylls of the King|Alfred Tennyson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1380979896s/393636.jpg|937372] and a [b: Connecticut Yankee in the King Arthurs Court|162898|A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court|Mark Twain|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348239402s/162898.jpg|2621763].

This book is actually written like a biography or history as opposed to fiction. The author pretending that arthur was real but that historical scholars have so far not known the real facts and here they are. It does however occasionally do the annoying thing of admitting it doesn't have all the answers. This makes sense with real history but whenever it happens here i couldn't help but think, 'you're making it all up!, if you can't explain why someone is acting a certain way its because you're a bad writer!' :lol .

I thought this was going to be a lot darker than it is. A Watchmen style deconstruction of the arthurian heros, and i guess that's sort of true but without the darkness. I would say Idyll's is more like Watchmen, this is more like... Kickass :) . Idyll's gives us realistic heroes in an unreal world, while despite a fair bit more magic, White gives us real people in a fairly real world. He also gives us humour, some of which seems to come completely out of left field and the book seems quite uneven in tone.

Also there is a very odd aesthetic, in that the whole thing has this underlying 1940's viewpoint. He compares jousting to cricket and characters occasionally use modern vernacular at random moments. It actually feels like a Connecticut Yankee at times. As if the personality of the characters has been time-warped back from the 40's.

Overall my opinion went up and down quite a bit throughout, it did finally get into a gallop in the final quarter which is when it really seemed to make the points which it was trying to do throughout. I'd like to give it a lower score just to separate it from Idyll's but its still good while not a favorite of mine. I prefer fiction to history anyway, even if the history is fictional ;) . ( )

Live a little, Lance
complete the love triangle
try for a threesome. ( )

I'm enjoying this series, but book #3 (this one) is not my favorite. It's mainly about the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere. I'm not a fan of romance, even so, this version was particularly silly. The rest of the book, and the rest of the series is really good though. ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2559058.html

Years before The Mists of Avalon, White grappled with the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot triangle and came up with his own solution, of real people trying on the whole to do the decent thing in a time of bitter conflict, to a certain extent making it up as they go along; drawing on Malory and Spenser and Tennyson, but also making the story his own. I think I first read it when I was thirteen, and had maybe reread it once in the subsequent 35 years, but I was pleased at how much of it seemed both familiar and fresh. ( )