Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book for all ages, through all ages!, 13 Aug 2005
By A Customer
This is undoubtedly one of the best books I have ever read, and is highly deserving of its place as a 'classic'. Unfortunately, to many people being dubbed a classic suggests that a book must be boring. Far from it! Forget Disney's rendition of 'The Sword in the Stone', because it doesn't come anywhere near the literary prowess, intricate descriptions and luxurious fantasy of this masterpiece. If, on the other hand, you have seen the film 'Excalibur' then you have an idea of the immensely wise, slightly insane and incredibly funny character of Merlin that you will meet in this book.
White tells a fascinating story, builds interesting and enjoyable characters and fleshes the story out with excellent descriptions of bygone pursuits, such as falconry and questing, ancient customs and agriculture, interwoven with magic that spans centuries and civilisations at times. The character of Merlin is particularly enjoyable, and although the book is perhaps a little slow in the first couple of chapters, once Merlin comes on the scene we are whisked off on one magical journey after another.
Read it, enjoy it. Maybe even share it with a child! Like all the best "children's literature", this book is just as entertaining for adults.
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11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the boyhood of King Arthur - infinitely better than Disney, 12 Dec 2002
Firstly, I would like to say the previous reviewer is a chump. Ornithology indeed! Yes, White knew a lot about birds of prey, having kept them, and his knowledge and feeling for them make up some of the best details of the Wart's transformation into a hawk as part of his education by Merlin. Yet that leaves out all the rest - what it feels like to swim as a fish, to grow as a tree, to cower as a snake. All of these magical experiences come together when the boy Wart gathers his strength to finally lift the sword from the stone, and become King Arthur.If you only know this story from the Disney version, think again. It's a hundred times funnier, more gripping and less crude - the one thing Disney added were the self-washing plates, which I seem to recall appearing in Sleeping Beauty too. The bits about Sir Pelinnor and the Questing Beast a trifle heavy-handed, but otherwise it's a feast. Don't bother with the subsequent novels, though.
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6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
it's more than it seems!, 15 Jun 2003
all the reviews so far have been fair, but overlook one important aspect to the books - in particular 'the book of merlyn', the last in the group. as with orwell's 'animal farm', there is an urgent political subtext to them - obvious in say, arthur's life as an ant - that is very much a sign of the times in which they were written. this is part of a more general questioning of moral, social and political systems. arthur chooses his round table and code, but they do not seem to be enough, and by the end of his life he is questioning more fiercely than ever. the books are all about the failings of good intentions. in general, the natural world is appealed to as 'better' than our own, but there is no great certainty to be found anywhere. the best white chooses to offer is a general well-meaningness, but he increasingly seems to suggest that this is not enough. though incredibly intelligent, original children's reads, it is a great mistake to think that these books are nothing more.
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by T. H. White
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