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King Arthur of Camelot,
with his Knights of the Round Table and Excalibur by his side,
searched for the Holy Grail.
In White's classic story about the boyhood of King
Arthur, Wart - unaware of his true identity - is tutored by Merlyn, who occasionally
transforms the young boy into various animals as a part of his schooling.
Contemporary children will still enjoy the text, which is both fantastical and
down-to-earth, but the well-executed color plates are unfortunately romanticised.
The Sword And The Stone recreates, against the background of magnificent pageantry and
dark magic that was medieval England, the education and training of young King Arthur, who
was to become the greatest of Britain's legendary rulers.
Growing up in a colorful world peopled by knights in armor and fair damsels, foul monsters
and evil witches, young Arthur slowly learns the code of being a gentleman.
Under the wise guidance of Merlin, the all-powerful magician for whom life progresses
backwards, the king-to-be is trained in the gusty pursuits of falconry, jousting, hunting
and sword play. He is even transformed by his remarkable old tutor into
various animals, so that he may experience life from all points of view.
In
every conceivable and exciting way he is readied for the day when he, and he alone of all
Englishmen, is destined to draw forth the marvellous sword from the magic stone and become
the rightful King of' England.
T.H. White's best In this often forgotten
conclusion to the King Arthur legend, White recaps his thoughts and ideas about humanity,
misery, hope, trust, where we have gone astray and why there is still hope. Subtle,
bitter-sweet, and profound, this book is worth its price 10 times over.
Excalibur: A Novel of Arthur immerses the reader in the
Britain of the Dark Ages. Merlin, the greatest of the Druids, believes that
the ancient gods are deserting Britain, and that the invading Saxons can't be defeated
without the gods' help. Mordred reigns with a brutal hand, and Arthur sees his
dreams of peace evaporate. The author provides exciting descriptions of
swordplay and battles, interspersed with somewhat gruesome depictions of ordinary life in
those days - greasy, waist-length beards serving as napkins, lambs bloodily sacrificed
before festivals, and rampant lice.
But at the heart of Excalibur - what makes the Arthurian legends eternally fascinating -
is the larger-than-life company of heroes, from Sagramor the warrior to Taliesin the bard,
Guinevere, Lancelot, and Arturus Rex himself. Cornwell treats them all with
warmth and dignity, revealing their human qualities without unnecessarily reinventing
them. This three-part saga of magic and bloodshed will grip readers from the
first page of The Winter King, through Enemy of God, to the last page of Excalibur.
--Blaise Selby
I found this a good book with superb
detail, but this is meant to be a childrens novel. It was often hard to read .
Overall, it was a pretty good book.
Written in a warm and entertaining style, The Arthurian
Companion contains over one thousand entries, cross-referenced and annotated.
It is
an alphabetical guide to the "who's who" of Arthurian legend, a "what's
what" of famous Arthurian weapons and
artifacts, and a "where's where" of geographical locations appearing in
Arthurian literature. An extensive chronology of Arthur's reign is included.
The Arthurian Companion is an invaluable reference for researchers and for lovers of
medieval romance. The Arthurian Companion is a "must" for any student of
the Arthurian mythologies -- and Phyllis Karr's Idylls Of The Queen is a literary
testament to how powerful those myths are to contemporary writers and readers of well
crafted fictions.
You may be looking for the famous generals of the US civil
war, the hunt for Osama bin
Laden, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis
or the
holocaust,
Vietnam or the Second World War, weapons through the
ages, US Military
Regulation Dress Swords, Medieval
Swords, costumes and uniforms,
Napoleon Bonaparte, the French
Revolution, Masonic Pope
or
Royal Regalia or GI Joe.
Australian Order of Precedence
Missile Crisis in Cuba - President John F. Kennedy - Bay of Pigs
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