Excluding the work of the pedophile monster, please.
I know the basics, but i wanted to read something that has solid foundations in our world but doesn't do away with the fantasy, reading like historical fiction.
Example of arthurian media i loved: The Green Knight movie that came out few years ago. Absolutely LOVED THAT SHIT.
More of that.
Anything with that vibe?
Thank you!
by pulyx
12 Comments
The Warlords Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell. Based on post-roman Britain, and my favorite King Arthur series on the market. It’s a completed trilogy!
The Bright Sword
The new Lev Grossman novel Bright Sword is enjoyable and with a similar vibe to Green Knight. It may be more be mroe of a modern take than the ‘historical fiction’ you mentioned . if you like tThe Magicians Trilogy you will like this.
I’m completely out of the loop, who is the pedophile monster? I have a recommendation, and I’ve done a little research, but I’d like to be extra sure lol
edit : thank you for the quick response! Jack Whyte has a great historical fiction about King Arthur! But it starts with his grandfather, so you have a few books. If you decide to start, be sure to include “Uther”, as it’s not really part of the main story and I think was added later on. I personally started with Uther and GREATLY enjoyed it.
I think T.H. White’s The Once and Future King is probably the best known and best loved of the Arthurian genre. The first of those novels, The Sword in the Stone, may be the best. It’s certainly classic fantasy. Mark Twain’s novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is a very different kind of classic, but still good.
Wikipedia’s article on King Arthur also mentions Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave (and four sequels, so it must have been worth something). I was never a big Arthur fan, so I haven’t read those, but they’re probably pretty good.
Mary Stewart‘s three-parter:
The Crystal Cave
The Hollow Hills
The Last Enchantment
(There’s a fourth book, but it struck me as rushed, unfinished, and dragged down by a well-meaning attempt to redeem the big bad.)
Honestly, if you haven’t already read Malory’s Morte D’Arthur, that might be worth looking into? I’d advise getting a version with modern spelling and it doesn’t read exactly like a novel, but I still find it pretty compelling and The Green Knight film definitely captures the feeling of narratives like it for me.
The Camulod Chronicles by Jack Whyte is a different take – sounds like historical fiction that could be spun up into the mythos. Plus you learn a LOT about how life was probably lived after the Fall.
The Buried Giant is set in the years post-Arthur but it features one of his knights as a main character.
Someone has already recommended The Once and Future King by TH White. I completely endorse that.
Another one, if you can find copies of it, is the Merlin trilogy by Mary Stewart. It’s (duh) told from Merlin’s pov and the three volumes are The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, and The Last Enchantment. There’s a fourth volume but i haven’t read it so can’t comment on it.
Bernard Cornwell’s Winter King trilogy imagines a historical King Arthur. It’s quite good —better than quite good, really— and if you end the trilogy wanting more, a lot of people feel there’s a lot of connective tissue between this and his The Last Kingdom series.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain is a surprisingly fun little romp.
Jack Whyte’s Camulod Chronicles starts very strong many years before a possible historical King Arthur is born. Each book into the series gets a little weaker and a little weaker to the point where by the time Arthur is an adult and doing the things that would become myths and legends, you don’t really care anymore, unfortunately.
I have heard but not read that Steinbeck wrote a book about King Arthur. If I were doing a review of Arthur Books, I’d be interested in checking that one out myself.
Just adding more weight behind the **Once and Future King** recommendations! Sword in the Stone is great as a standalone if you feel it too daunting to read all of them, but the saga together is fantastic.