The Once and Future King: Book Four.

I just finished book Four which also finished the book. I pretty much liked this book, but alot of it was just the characters thinking and basically no talking between the characters which made it a bit boring. But i liked it all the same.
I think why Arthur chose to persecute Lancelot and Gwenevere because he wanted so bad for his vision of Justice to work, since the vision of his table was basically ruined. But by wanting his vision of Justice to work so bad he knew that he would have to give up his two best friends in the process. Also Arthur was quite guilty after Mordred came back from Arthur sending him to die out on the boat. And Mordred made him feel guilty. So i also think it had to do with that, and how Mordred used the guilt that Arthur felt in order to persecute Lancelot and Guenevere for Agravaine. (Who wanted to do that in the beginning before he was killed).
The Fall of Camelot, i think, came from everyone always wanting to get back at a certain someone. For instance, in the last book Agravaine didn't like Lancelot, and when Lancelot killed Agraviane, Mordred pursued him. Maybe not by battling him but by making sure Lancelot was pursecuted. Also when Lancelot accidently killed Gareth and Gaheris, Sir Gawaine and Mordred did all they could to get at Lancelot and kill him. These are just a few examples, but so much of this was going on that i'm not suprised Camelot did fall. I even feel bad for Arthur because he tried with all his might not to let this happen but it did anyway.

I still find Arthur to be a good man. He tried to make right to the world by starting the round table, but that didn't work out, then he tried Justice. But for giving up his two best friends for that cause, some may say that didn't work out either. I think near the end of the book Arthur just didn't know what to do anymore so he gave in. I think why he listened to what Gawaine told him what to do was because he was fighting against the two friends he held dearest to him, and he just didn't know what to do anymore.
Lancelot to me will always be the kind of guy who would come to the rescue. Like he did to Guenevere so many times. He also in battle never killed a man who was on the ground, whether they were telling him to kill them or crying mercy. Which makes me think that fighting was so much more to him and not just killing the other person. He also never, that i know of, took revenge on someone for something that they did like most of the knights in the book.
I really don't know what i think of Guenevere. At first i thought she was just jealous woman when she didn't get what she wanted, and that when Lancelot went to Elaine, Guenevere either cryed for him to come home, or when he got home she would be mad at him and basically kick him out. Guenevere may be somewhat brave though, because when she and Lancelot were hiding, she told him that they should just surrender so as to stop the war, and take whatever should come to them. Also she was proposed to by Mordred, but then got a letter to Arthur, with what was going the happen. And part of me also thinks she was undeserving of both Arthur and Lancelot, and for the love they felt for her.

So my final thoughts for this chapter are that i think it was both depressing and hopeful. Depressing in the thought that it ended while a war was still being fought and we never got to know who won. Plus Arthur dies calling to Merlyn in hopes that he will help him, which is kind of sad and depressing if you think of it. It was also hopeful in the sense that Arthur told that page his dreams in hopes that the young page would go and tell it to everyone that would listen, which is a happy moment to me.

The Once and Furture King: Third Book.

I just read the third book of The Once and Furture King. And all i have to say is wow. That book was like packed full of action, and all kinds of different situations. So basically i wasn't bored while reading this book.
I thought the love triangle between Lancelot, Elaine, and Guenevere was quite funny. Because Guenevere and Elaine were so jealous of each other even though Guenevere tried to hide it most of the time. Then Lancelot would be called to Elaine, and Guenevere would be like "Just go, get out of my sight," or "no, no you can't go." And be the complete opposite when he came back. Like if she wanted him to go, she would completely devastated when he did, and when she didn't want him to go when he came back she would be angry and start yelling at him.
Though Elaine wasn't as bad, because i kind of expected her to be jealous. And she was better at letting Lancelot leave when he wanted too, even though she didn't want him too.
I was kind of angry when White didn't depict Lancelot as a handsome hero, because thats always what i pictured him as. haha. I expected him to be more handsome then Arthur, but obviously that wasn't how White saw him. I should guess that he chose to put him as a ugly person maybe for as simple as reason he didn't want him to be more handsome then Arthur, so maybe more complex like if he didn't grow up hating himself then he wouldn't have strived to be the best knight he could be, because he needed something in his life to be proud of. So thus White wouldn't have the life he created for Lancelot.
With the Orkney family i didn't really expect much more then what they did. They always seemed to me like a bunch of fighters, and what they did to Pellinore made me angry at them. Because i really liked Pellinore. haha.
Um. I dont really know what i feel about Arthur ignoring the relationship between Lancelot and Guenevere. Lets just say if he didn't, then we would have a completely different story. haha. But i think that he just didn't want to get into a fight with like his best friend, so he just ignored it. Or maybe he didn't really know. Maybe that deep down in his mind he did know something was there, but he ignored it because he wanted to believe that nothing was going on between the two.
Also, i loved it how when White was desribing the quests of Lancelot the first time he went, that he only described a couple (which i reconized from reading the packet Mallory wrote) and that if we wanted more the to read Le Morte De'Arthur, and he also said this when Lancelot was fighting in a tournement. I found this kind of funny. :)

The Once and Future King: Second Book

I just read the second book to The Once and Furture King. And well.. i thought it was interesting.
Morgause and her sons, don't really have that good of a relationship, i mean her sons want her to love them, and they know that she does, but Morgause doesn't show this to them, and some of them are starting to get a bit skeptical like Agravaine. I think that after "hunting" for a unicorn and how dissatisfied Morgause was, i think she then started i won't say realized but started to see how much she missed her son's and how much she kind of appreciated them when she was gone away for an amount of time like she was.
Morgause's sons have personalites so different, like they are almost completely opposites. For instance Gareth the younest was the most sensitive of the most, he didn't want to harm the unicorn, and he started to cry when they killed it. I mean i don't blame him, after-all he didn't want his brothers to ruin its beauty. Then Agravaine he seems to me like he likes to think things out sometimes, and that he gets in fights with his brothers for reason which i dont know yet, also he's the most skeptical of the brothers, where he questions the motives of their mother most of the time and whether or not she really cares about them. Gawaine is the big brother type, and it seems to me that he seems inclined to do things only because hes the oldest. Basically like most siblings. And Gaheris, i think i know about his personality the least, we don't really get to know him in this book, but from what i read he seems to interupt, or like try to be like Gawaine most of the time.
When King Pellinore came back into the story i was so excited! But kind of sad that he wasn't really questing the Questing Beast anymore, but happy that he was in Looovee. haha.
It was sooo funny when Sir Grummore and Sir Palomides dressed up as the "Questing Beast" then the real Questing Beast falling in love with them. That was a riot. Especially when they tryed to Psyco-analyze it and then it taking a liking to Sir Palomides. haha. :)
The Spancel. Hmm. I was kind of grossed out that it was a "ribbon" of skin taken from the body of a dead guy, then again i was really grossed out by the whole thing. Especially by the fact that King Arthur had a kid with his half-sister! Gross! I hope Merlin comes and tells Arthur who his mother was soon, then Arthur can like kick Morgause out, because i dont like her much. :)

Well the second book was interesting, and a bit weird. It seemed kind of like a filler book to me though, thats why it was so weird to me, and maybe a bit awkward in some parts.

First Book of : Once and Future King

After i read the First book, i decided i liked this book much more then the packet that we had to read.
I loved Merlyn's teachings for Arthur, i don't think i really had a favorite, i liked all the times he was turned into an animal.
But the one that i remember the most was when Arthur was turned into an Ant. It wasn't all that joyful for him and thats why it stood out to me. I think it made him realize or what Merlyn may have been trying to teach him was that being certain animals wasn't going to be all that fun and joyful. I mean in that chapter it said that he started feeling like all mindless and used because the other ants were just like eating out of his stomach? (which is a bit gross to me).

Kay seemed to me like a stuck up snob, and in some parts the thoughts of Arthur would be like yes, Kay can be a bit annoying sometimes but hes all around and okay person, but i didn't really much like him. I mean he treated Arthur sometimes like scum, but was nice to him only when he didn't want to do something alone, this kind of bothered me. Plus, how he treated Arthur when he forgot his sword at the inn, and was like go back and get it and i'll give you some money, like he was some kind of servant. I mean i know Arthur was technically "under" him, but he grew up with Arthur, he didn't need to treat him like dirt.
Arthur, or Wart, as they called him, seemed to me like all around good person. I mean i know he wasn't like perfect or anything, and he made many mistakes, but he was lucky he had Merlyn to change him into animals so he could learn about different cultures and different ways of doing things. Arthur seemed to me like a person with never ending curiosity, he was always wondering about things and asking questions and he learned alot through his questions. He also seemed like a person who help someone no matter what, like the time Kay let Cully go off into the forest after he didn't hunt and Kay just took off, while Arthur wanted to find Cully, because the person who raised Cully would be devastated. But Arthur seemed like a person who would do anything for anyone, whether he wanted or not because he knew he had to do it.
I absolutely loved King Pellinore, i don't know why but i did. I loved how everytime we saw him he was so confused and out of his wits, and talked differently from the others. Plus he was so bent on finding the Questing Beast, which we come to find out later was purposely running from him, and it was a sort of a game between the two.
I don't think Arthur cried when he found out he was to be King because he was scared i just think that he was so overwhelmed with it all. I mean think about it, all he wanted was to get a sword for Kay, then he was made to pull the sword out of the stone again and a couple more time. Plus the man he had come to know and love as a father bowed down to him, then his foster brother. He tries and tries to get him to stand and stop calling him Sir or Lord, and he just gets totally overwhelmed. Thats why i think he starts crying, because if something like that happened to me, i would start to sob too.
Over all i really liked T.H. White's writing, he had a lot more detail for almost everything, and i really liked that. I especially liked how on a couple of the chapters, for example i can't remember which chapter but at the beginning it gave us a very detailed description of the castle and all its rooms and stuff.

I really can't wait to keep reading. :)

Le Morte d'Arthur

At first I was a little sceptical to read this because I hadn't at all been interested in reading about King Arthur. Of course, i knew the basic story of King Arthur but i wasn't really a big fan.



So based on what i read about King Arthur, even though Malory the author didn't really go into much detail about giving us what he thought he was really like. I sort of didn't like how Arthur was automatically "destined" to be this almighty knight and king. I mean yeah, i know how Merlin prodicted it and stuff, but just because he was born from Queen Igraine and King Uther? No, that wasn't really cutting it for me. But then when Arthur pulled the sword from the stone I realized that yes, he must be the all destined one. Later though we saw some arrogance in his personality by him marrying Queen Gwynevere even though Merlin told him she was destined to love Sir Lancelot.



Lancelot to me seemed like the better man then Arthur. I mean even though again Malory didn't really give us much detail to who he really was, i thought that Lancelot showed alot of courage by taking the challenges of the other knights. Maybe some would say arrogance because he DID take their challenges and maybe he knew or thought he was going to win. But i say courage because in most of the fights that he was a part of he was saving someone, or rescuing someone from losing their kingdom or from slavery. And then another part of me thought that Lancelot seemed like kid because he didn't want to settle down, he was always looking for "adventure" and was always willing to challenge anyone, anywhere.



I didn't like Modred from the start, I knew he was up to no good and I was right. He was put in charge when King Arthur left for Britian, and then he had letters made and brought to him announcing the "death" of Arthur, so he can take the throne. When King Arthur comes back because he hears of this, Modred is ready for him when they get back. I'm very glad that Modred dies by a spear under his armor by Arthur, but at the same time he gives Arthur a very bad head wound. And Arthur dies a little while after the battle.



Yes, Malorys writing was easy to understand, but I really didn't like it. He gave little to no detail about who the characters were and why they did what they did. I'm the type of person who loves detail, and can't get enough of it, and to be honest i though the packet was a bit boring.