Scan barcode
A review by sydnie
Le Morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table by Thomas Malory
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I had to read this book for an English project, and it was kind of the worst. There were a few moments that were so bizarre that I found them iconic, including but not limited to:
1) Arthur's father's reaction to being rejected by a married woman being to declare war against them, kill the woman's husband, magically transform himself into looking like her recently deceased husband, and then conceiving Arthur with her. Bonus points for Igraine being happy about this when she finds out her current husband (because you bet Arthur's dad wifed her up real quick after she found out she had been widowed, because of course he did) assaulted her by impersonating her ex-husband.
2) Merlin dying on like page 60 because he simped for a sorceress so bad that she was able to bury him alive. Woof.
3) Arthur sleeping with his sister. I mean, he didn't know, and Merlin was like, "God's got a bone(r) to pick with you," so he defo paid for it, but it made me set the book down.
4) Morgan le Fay only trying to kill Arthur like once before deciding she'd rather just stir shit up. She gives Sir Tristram a shield that shows Guinevere's affair with Lancelot and tells him to bring it to Arthur's court if he doesn't want to be held prisoner, and he's like "ok lol," and THAT'S IT. Arthur is like, "huh, that's weird," and moves on. Nothing comes of it, besides Arthur proving he's once again an idiot because literally everyone and their mom knows his wife has been porking Lancelot. Morgan was the only valid character. Material gorl.
5) Arthur and Guinevere releasing a diss track on King Mark for being annoying instead of killing him. So camp.
In conclusion, I gained nothing from reading this book. There were like fifty different people with similar names that I did not care about. Monty Python did it better. I'm not surprised Malory was supposedly in prison on charges of assault, robbery, and sexual assault when he wrote this. He's the worst, and so is this story.
1) Arthur's father's reaction to being rejected by a married woman being to declare war against them, kill the woman's husband, magically transform himself into looking like her recently deceased husband, and then conceiving Arthur with her. Bonus points for Igraine being happy about this when she finds out her current husband (because you bet Arthur's dad wifed her up real quick after she found out she had been widowed, because of course he did) assaulted her by impersonating her ex-husband.
2) Merlin dying on like page 60 because he simped for a sorceress so bad that she was able to bury him alive. Woof.
3) Arthur sleeping with his sister. I mean, he didn't know, and Merlin was like, "God's got a bone(r) to pick with you," so he defo paid for it, but it made me set the book down.
4) Morgan le Fay only trying to kill Arthur like once before deciding she'd rather just stir shit up. She gives Sir Tristram a shield that shows Guinevere's affair with Lancelot and tells him to bring it to Arthur's court if he doesn't want to be held prisoner, and he's like "ok lol," and THAT'S IT. Arthur is like, "huh, that's weird," and moves on. Nothing comes of it, besides Arthur proving he's once again an idiot because literally everyone and their mom knows his wife has been porking Lancelot. Morgan was the only valid character. Material gorl.
5) Arthur and Guinevere releasing a diss track on King Mark for being annoying instead of killing him. So camp.
In conclusion, I gained nothing from reading this book. There were like fifty different people with similar names that I did not care about. Monty Python did it better. I'm not surprised Malory was supposedly in prison on charges of assault, robbery, and sexual assault when he wrote this. He's the worst, and so is this story.