Book Review: The Once and Future King (published by Folio Society)

  King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, is one of the most enduring stories of all time. It is a beautiful, yet tragic story about justice, chivalry, and good vs. evil. There are many incarnations of King Arthur in literature. The most famous, and most authentic material, is Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur", written in 1485 (The death of Arthur).

The Once and Future King, is a book written by T.H White, about the story of King Arthur. Intended to be a set of children's books, the story is largely based on Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. Since its publication, this book has become a classic, well loved by many readers. The reason for its success is not only because the easily accessible prose. More importantly, the story invites its readers to explore thought provoking topics, such as power, justice, and human nature.

This hefty volume is composed of 4 novels: The Sword in the Stone, The Queen of Air and Darkenss, The Ill-Made Knight, and The Candle in the Wind. The story starts with the light hearted novel in The "Sword in the stone", then gradually progressed with a more bleak, and more serious tone until the end of King Arthur's life, a beautiful and fitting conclusion, in "The Candle in the wind".

 The Once and Future King will make you think. Almost every sentence, paragraph and passage in the book is meant to be a reflection of our world, and to be interpreted more than its face value. As a matter of fact, I can think of more than 100 favorite quotes from this book. Although T.W White is a self proclaimed agnostic, it is very interesting that he has a very deep and profound understanding of the Christian concept "human sin". By retelling one of the most famous legends in the world, King Arthur and his knights of the round table, White managed to convey a compelling story, illuminating many truths about our struggles and failures as humankind,

If you haven't read T.W White's masterpiece yet, be sure to pick it up. This is not an easy book to digest, but if you are wiling to invest some time, and make some efforts to think, you will find this book won't disappoint its readers.

P.S: The above artworks, are samples of interior illustrations, from Folio Society's edition of "The Once and Future King". This is an out of print edition. While I do own this book, but I do not own the copyright to these artworks, the pictures are presented here for the purpose of this book review only.