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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
It just jumps from one story / character to the next rather quickly so I never felt fully immersed in any story.
adventurous
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A thoroughly enjoying read! It was fun to see some of the earliest root of what I might call fantasy, but what I found even more fun was the way the language mimicked many of the fairy tales I remember hearing as a child.
adventurous
fast-paced
This is a book of how men see themselves as great knights that can defeat anything. Incredibly Catholic but also magic? A lot of jousting and random adventures. Nobody has been more quick to accept a quest from stranger than the knights of the round table.
So like pretty much every 11th grade student in the state of Michigan, I had to read the story "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" at some point. I remember reading it, and watching cartoons like Justice League and Gargoyles (who had elements borrowed from these stories) and thinking "Okay, I wonder what other fantastical adventures King Arthur had other than just these two stories I've heard of? So I can finally say now that I know of them, sort of.
I have to admit, I feel a bit let down. I made the mistake I have made before of listening to an Audiobook version which left me kind of confused and feeling left in the dust. I am very willing to actually give this book a second try with a physical copy in the future as a result. Part of the problem was the language (which is dated) and the other with the characters and the way they are written. It is almost like you are expected to come into this book knowing who half this people are. "Oh King Aflered of North Wales! I've heard of this guy before! No, his kingdom is next to Cameldown not Camelot! I totally know where they're going. Classic Aflered!" I almost wish I had a primer to read this book with, or a very well read college Professor to take breaks and converse with and ask questions to. It felt like a LOT of stuff was just thrown out and not explained.
So yeah, this book is definitely not some book you can casually listen to in Audiobook format, unless you're a scholar in Middle English Epics or something like that. I did enjoy some of the stories, and in some ways it made me nostalgic for my 11th Grade English teacher who explained what they all meant by this action or this character.
But I felt a lot like the experience was a little sour for me. I wish I could have taken the time, read the book and even read more background information on the book. I will definitely give this a re-read one day. You know, once I finish the other 400 books on my TBR pile.
I have to admit, I feel a bit let down. I made the mistake I have made before of listening to an Audiobook version which left me kind of confused and feeling left in the dust. I am very willing to actually give this book a second try with a physical copy in the future as a result. Part of the problem was the language (which is dated) and the other with the characters and the way they are written. It is almost like you are expected to come into this book knowing who half this people are. "Oh King Aflered of North Wales! I've heard of this guy before! No, his kingdom is next to Cameldown not Camelot! I totally know where they're going. Classic Aflered!" I almost wish I had a primer to read this book with, or a very well read college Professor to take breaks and converse with and ask questions to. It felt like a LOT of stuff was just thrown out and not explained.
So yeah, this book is definitely not some book you can casually listen to in Audiobook format, unless you're a scholar in Middle English Epics or something like that. I did enjoy some of the stories, and in some ways it made me nostalgic for my 11th Grade English teacher who explained what they all meant by this action or this character.
But I felt a lot like the experience was a little sour for me. I wish I could have taken the time, read the book and even read more background information on the book. I will definitely give this a re-read one day. You know, once I finish the other 400 books on my TBR pile.
A good read if you're interested in the origins of certain ideas seen in fantasy set in medieval England.
The story isa familiar tale of Western Literature. The story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Many of the characters are familiar, Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, Lady Guinevere however there are many that I did not recognize. It is full of adventure, including wizards, enchantresses, giants, and even dragons, knights and damsels in distress. The way the women are portrayed in the story is my least favorite part of the story, they are either portrayed as weak and helpless or ungrateful complainers or just pure evil. However since the book was written in the 19TH century and is ultimate about chivalry, I guess it is expected. If you are looking for a book full of adventure this maybe the book for you.
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.
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.
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.
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.