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booksandyarniness's review against another edition
3.0
Listened to live reading of this book. King Arthur's tales told by this dude were way more misogynistic than other versions that I have read.
caidyn's review against another edition
2.0
I read this on a free version on my e-reader, which probably wasn't the best idea. Boring for most of it and it had consistent spelling mistakes -- Modred for Morded and Morgan for Morgana -- that bothered me to no end. Along with that was how a damsel always needed saving and some battle always was happening. Too repetitive for my liking. I don't know if it was just this book, but I plan on trying another sometime soon.
jessiqa's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a retelling of Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur and was first published in 1862. It includes many of the stories from Malory’s book, including sections dedicated to Sirs Gawain, Gareth, Lancelot, and Tristan. Having read Malory and other Arthurian texts, these stories were not new to me, but still made me smile. It was like visiting an old friend.
There are always parts that mystify me as a modern reader, like how many times knights will ride their horses so long and so hard that the horse falls dead under the knight. No medieval knight would ever actually do this and destroy his mode of transportation (and in such a cruel manner), yet it’s all over Arthurian (and medieval) texts. I find this hilarious.
The story of Sir Gareth plays out like rom-com in some ways at the start, where the Damsel Linet is leading him to her Lady Lyones in order to save her. Gareth starts out as a kitchen servant (though he is actually a prince in disguise and brother to Sir Gawain). He asks King Arthur for the boon of taking the Damsel Linet’s quest and to have Sir Lancelot knight him. He has many perils to fight along the way to reach Lady Lyones, and Linet berates him the whole way, saying he is no true knight since he had been a kitchen servant. If this were a modern story, by the time she realized that he was indeed very knightly, the pair of them would have fallen in love. Instead he falls for Lady Lyones upon first sight, and Linet fades into the background. Not gonna lie, I was disappointed at that.
Anyway, if you fancy an introduction to Arthurian legend, these is a decent place to start. It’s a bit shorter than Le Morte D’Arthur but it includes all the important parts.
There are always parts that mystify me as a modern reader, like how many times knights will ride their horses so long and so hard that the horse falls dead under the knight. No medieval knight would ever actually do this and destroy his mode of transportation (and in such a cruel manner), yet it’s all over Arthurian (and medieval) texts. I find this hilarious.
The story of Sir Gareth plays out like rom-com in some ways at the start, where the Damsel Linet is leading him to her Lady Lyones in order to save her. Gareth starts out as a kitchen servant (though he is actually a prince in disguise and brother to Sir Gawain). He asks King Arthur for the boon of taking the Damsel Linet’s quest and to have Sir Lancelot knight him. He has many perils to fight along the way to reach Lady Lyones, and Linet berates him the whole way, saying he is no true knight since he had been a kitchen servant. If this were a modern story, by the time she realized that he was indeed very knightly, the pair of them would have fallen in love. Instead he falls for Lady Lyones upon first sight, and Linet fades into the background. Not gonna lie, I was disappointed at that.
Anyway, if you fancy an introduction to Arthurian legend, these is a decent place to start. It’s a bit shorter than Le Morte D’Arthur but it includes all the important parts.
vulturetime's review against another edition
3.0
This was mainly an 'okay' book for me. The prose was rather simplistic in that it did a lot more telling than showing, and sometimes the pacing was wonky. I never truly knew how much time was passing.
I also quickly got tired of the brothers almost or actually killing each other, knights killing other knights in general and regretting it, and knights realizing they had children.
There were some parts that I thought were cool (like Gawain getting judged by a court of all women) but it was mostly okay.
I also quickly got tired of the brothers almost or actually killing each other, knights killing other knights in general and regretting it, and knights realizing they had children.
There were some parts that I thought were cool (like Gawain getting judged by a court of all women) but it was mostly okay.
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