Favorite retelling of Arthurian legend

I've been looking for a good piece of work on my favorite subject. There are so many books out there that deal with this topic-it's hard to sort the good from the bad. So, with no further ado, what is your favorite piece of work dealing with the legend?
Mine is probably The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I read it freshman year and instantly loved it. It's told from the women's point of view which I thought was very new and interesting. I also liked the fact that it emphasized the Pagan religion in Britian at the time. Gwenhwyfar wasn't a very likeable character in this book though...

My favorite are the Mary Stewart books : The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, and The Last Enchantment. There is a fourth book, The Wicked Day, but I've not read it so I don't know whether it's any good or not.

I'm with seitherin here. Although I really enjoyed Mists, the Mary Stewart books are much better written, IMHO. I haven't reread them for years, but they were a staple of my teen years.

The Wicked Day was not as good at the rest, though.

I love Mary Stewart's Merlin books as well. I just unpacked them, so I'll need to re-read them. I've got the book club editions, and they're falling apart, so I'll have to get new copies--oh, the horror.

I also loved Mists of Avalon. I have read several Arthurian type books but this would be the best so far. I even got that one on audio book and it was just as great!

I have a soft spot for The Once and Future King, read once, with love, more than thirty years ago. I've never forgotten King Pellinore - '"Name of King Pellinore," continued the Knight. "May have heard of me, what?"' - and his eternal pursuit of the Questin' Beast.

Oh yeah, The Once and Future King by T. H. White. I just love that book.

Favorite retelling of Arthurian legend:

"That's easy! Monty Python & The Holy Grail!"

*mrgrooism is cast into the Gorge of Eternal Peril*

"AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa..."

I'm there with you, mrgrooism!
It's so bizarre; I'll say no more. Not their best, but good enough ;-)

I especially like the coconuts!

I'm reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court with one of my classes. Does that count?

Stephen Lawhead's the Paradise War probably, although it isn't strictly speaking arthurian, it is set similarly and always feels authorian to me. The first two books are great, the ending of the third slightly less so, but still way way better than anything else he wrote, if you've only read some of his other works, read this and be amazed at the difference.

I haven't found any modern retellings to equal Le Morte d'Arthur, which is really a retelling anyway. I took an Arthurian Literature class a couple of years ago where we read all the "original" legends.

Then again, I've read very little contemporary Arthurian lit besides The Once and Future King, so I may have to investigate the suggestions in this thread.

If you want a fun retelling of the legend, be sure to check out Peter David's King Arthur series: Knight Life, One Knight Only, and Fall of Knight

Basically, it's Arthur in the modern era. It's a fun read. Haven't read the third one yet, though.

I'm with Groo. Monty Python all the way!

Oddly enough, I find that King Arthur doesn't usually do much for me. I'm very fond of him in theory, but in actuality.... well, I get bored. My mother's over the moon about Jack Whyte's take on him, though, so I'll probably give those a try eventually.

I love the Jack Whyte books. I started reading them a few years back when I was traveling through Wales,and have been hooked ever since. He just out the last one in the Camulod Chronicles The Eagle in Jan, and I am sad to see this series end.

I am also a big fan of the Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell.

And well, I am also a sucker for Monty Python.

I adored the Mary Stewart books, although I stopped after the first two because I HATE the way the legend ends.

I also liked The Forever King although the second and third books were rubbish. Rubbish!

OH, and Courtway Jones wrote a book called In the Shadow of the Oak King of which I am particularly fond, but I didn't care for the second book Witch of the North and haven't read A Prince in Camelot.

There's a lot of good ones out there.

I have to admit I'm more of a Robin Hood fan than King Arthur, but I liked what Winston Churchill had to say about him in his History of the English Speaking Peoples, Vol. 1, granted, it wasn't the legend, but then nobody knows for sure. I just liked his speculations.

A.A. Anastasio's take on the Arthur legend was pretty cool...the first book in the series is The Dragon and the Unicorn. Although I agree with the other posts...Mary Stewarts Merlin Trilogy is fantastic!

I don't know that I've read enough retellings to really have a favorite... I've keep picking up retellings at used book sales, because I know I want to read more, but somehow they keep getting shuffled further down the TBR stack.

I've read Mists of Avalon, which I thought was great, and Nancy McKenzie's Queen of Camelot, Grail Prince, and Prince of Dreams (only the first of which is really about Arthur proper), which were a competent enough retelling, but featured way too much weeping for my tastes.

For movies... I saw The Sword in the Stone when I was too young to remember much about it; I was ruined for Monty Python by being surrounded by people who had quoted the entire thing to me fifteen times before I actually saw it; First Knight was seen in a group of giggling hormonal highschoolers, so who I was sitting next to made more of an impression than the movie, and The Mists of Avalon miniseries is so bad that it's worth watching just to have a drink with friends and subject it to the MST3K treatment... plus it features Michael Vartan as Lancelot, which, well, let's just say I wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating crackers.

I actually just read The Mists of Avalon before the book I just finished last night, and I loved it! I thought the characters were all well fleshed out, you could see good and evil in everyone. There were some where I really couldn't decide how I felt about them...which is good, in my opinion, more like real people!

I'll add my vote to Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy, they hooked me when I was a teen and I've loved them ever since, defined my idea of who and what Merlin was. I also love Tennyson's Idylls of the King, used to know passages by heart.

I have to agree with #18. I have plans to revisit Dragon and the Unicorn as I have the second book to that series but have yet to read it.

Jack Whyte does an excellent job of retelling the Arthurian legend. You need to be patient, the first book starts with Aurthur's grandfather (or was it great grandfather?). Anyways, they are a great read; the first is The Skystone. I'm looking forward to cracking the spine on his new Knights Templar series, Knights of Black and White.

I have read both The Once and Future King and Lawhead's Pendragon cycle, and prefer the later.

#24 It's a toss-up for me too tho' I think The Once and Future King has a special mystic about it. That may be because I read it at a very young age whereas the Pendragon cycle came later just before I began teaching a class on Arthur.

I read Mists of Avalon over winter break while I was sick and I loved it. I was really feverish at some points, and so when I stopped reading the book because it was straining my eyes or something I kept on imagining what the characters were doing and how the plot could be evolving in my feverish hallucinations. Being sick over break wasn't any fun, but it did give me a unique chance to really immerse myself in the novel.

I really love Merlin's Booke by Jane Yolen. It's a collection of unconnected short stories about Merlin - each with its unique take on the character. Some of them are unbelievably haunting.

I quite like Camelot 3000

and Gwyneth Jones Bold As Love,Castles Made of Sand etc.

11 - rf, The Paradise War is about Lugh, and modern guy in the tale, even, not sure why that is Arthurian, apart from 'has mythological warrior' in it?

Similarish in style to his actual Arthurian series, I suppose, apart from the whole Burroughs bit.

I find the whole feel of the celtic 'albion' of a similar style to the 'authurian' legends but much better written than his actual athurian stuff. It was just a thought if you've not read it before. If you have, then there are probably better things to re-read.

You know, I absolutely LOVED Lawhead's books Taliesin and Merlin, but I DETESTED Arthur and Pendragon. As a set of books, it was a let down. I thought the first two were just stunning, though.

As a lifelong devotee of all things Arthurian, I was thrilled to discover the books of Parke Godwin. Firelord is his central book about Arthur, and I can't recommend it highly enough. As much as I adore the Arthurian books of Mary Stewart books, T. H. White, John Steinbeck, and many of the others mentioned here, I think Godwin has become my favorite of the modern reworkings. If you enjoy it, you may wish to check out some of Godwin's other related books: Beloved Exile, which deals with Guinevere after Arthur's death; The Last Rainbow, a prequel of sorts featuring St. Patrick among the Pretannic tribes; and The Lovers: The Legend of Trystan and Yseult (credited to Kate Hawks).

One of my all-time favorite books is The Road to Avalon by Joan Wolf. It has a unique perspective, in that Morgan is not a witch nor is she evil: she is Arthur's true love. Merlin is not a wizard. Instead he trains Arthur for his future role as King. Lancelot is replaced by a Celtic prince, Bedwyr, but is very similar otherwise. This book has almost no magic, unless you count telepathy. It brings these well known characters to very human life. Highly, highly recommended.

Loved Forest House, Mists of Avalon and Lady of Avalon. Beautifully done and it was nice to have another view of the court.

The Fionavar Tapestry books. (Does that count?)

I'm still getting into the Arthur legends, but I really enjoy the Gerald Morris series for children. The first book is The Squire's Tale. I enjoy them because they point out some of the more outlandish parts of the legend and have fun with it. The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf has a whole theme with Tristan and Isolde in it that is just hilarious. And there's the classic poem Gawain and the Green Knight. I'm still trying to finish that one. I also like the Merlin series by Jane Yolen. I think it starts with Passager. Not completely sure on that one, but I liked it.

CMB

King's Peace by Jo Walton. I've never liked Mist of Avalon. It's too, well, misty. King's Peace is gruff but much more tender in the end than Mists. Plus it makes more sense and isn't 900,000 pages long.

Anway. Don't mean to be hating, just thought King's Peace was a breath of fresh air.

#36

A friend of mine was reading Kings peace at the same time I read Mists.
Then we debated about which book was better.

In the end we decided that they were both fantastic books. Mists is longer and at times does seem to have more detail than you really need to know but its still very well written.

#34 - I haven't read the last one yet, (hurry up, postal system!), but right now I agree. These are great books. Not strictly retellings, but there's a lot of Arthurian stuff going on.

#38 - Off topic, but how does the Fionavar Tapestry books compare to the later works by Guy Gavriel Kay, in your opinion?
Right now I've placed them next last (before Ysabel) on my "read everything by Kay"-list, as I thought they less good than the others...?

#39 - I've only read three of his books thus far, (the first two Fionavar novels and Sailing to Sarantium), but it seems like he's still finding his stride in the earlier books. They're much more in the traditional fantasy vein, and they do a lot with archetypes and Celtic/Arthurian legends. I initially didn't think much of The Summer Tree, but somewhere around the halfway point something clicked for me and I started to enjoy it. The Wandering Fire, on the other hand, grabbed me right away, and left me eager to see how things turned out for these people.

#40 - OK, maybe I will move them up the line in my TBR... I really really recommend A song for Arbonne and The Lions of Al-Rassan, the last of which I still think is the best (I've read those two plus Tigana and Sailing to Sarantium /finished yesterday/ - all of them good but with Lions... as an absolute favourite).

I'm very excited to have found an author this good!

Busifer, it makes me smile every time you talk about Kay. I felt the same way when a friend gave me her copies of The Fionavar Tapistry (that was back when they were the only things he'd written). I told everybody I knew about these great books, and I couldn't wait until his next one came out, and until Ysabel they just seemed to get better all the time. I really hope that once he's finished screen writing he'll write another book worthy of Lions of Al-Rassan

#42 - Everyone says Ysabel is a let down, so I've not planned to read it. Sad, I think. And my hopes are like yours, that he will gather his wits and manage to write another one as Lions of Al-Rassan :-)

Now, I have to read a few work related books (among them Information Dashboard Design) before I go on to fiction again; I've decided to try an author from the middle east/arabic sphere, but not sure yet which one (I'm watching the LT group discussing that subject to get ideas)...

I think the perspectives reading can bring is very exciting!

I love the Stephen R. Lawhead Pendragon series, cause it just doesn't cover Arthur but all the years leading up to him Taliesin, Merlin And there's even a what if Arthur was reborn in the 21st century Avalon

When I was in high school (early 70's sigh), I was allowed to design for myself an honor's English program for one part of my senior year . I read Le Morte D' Arthur, Once and Future King, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and the Crystal Cave as I was looking for a variety of styles. It was wonderful and I've been hooked on Arthur ever since.

I'm loving all the suggestions. The TBR list grows and grows (ain't it wonderful!)

For Mary Stewart fans, there is also The Prince and the Pilgrim which not a retelling of the Arthurian tale, but is the story of a young knight setting off for Camelot, who gets a bit sidetracked by Morgan Le Fay, etc.

Emphatic "yeah!s" on Mary Stewart and T. H. White. The cartoon of The Sword in the Stone was a staple of my childhood, and of my children's. Thanks for all the new names.

A couple of relatively recent fantasy novels use/refer to the Arthurian material: Lewis' That Hideous Strength and Gene Wolfe's Castleview, one of the most fun books I've ever read.

Glad to see several folks reading Guy Kay, whose Fionavar Trilogy, his first published work after he assisted with the completion of The Silmarillion, has a strong Arthurian element. I agree that his writing has improved since then and that Lions of Al-Rassan is his best. Ysabel is a bit of a departure from his other novels, but it's a very easy read, with some welcome reappearances; I encourage anyone feeling doubtful to give it a try. Fionavar fans, look at the last line of the book.

Welcome Sarah Squee, my old friend! WOOOO-HOOOOO, glad you can join us!!!

really liked the trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland. It had a different spin on the story.

During my late teens and twenties, Arthurian tales were my staple literary diet. Agree, Mary Stewart series were a favourite. A surprise find though was John Steinbeck's "The Acts of King Arthur hand his Noble Knights". Loved it.

Has anyone read Here Lies Arthur? I remember enjoying it immensely. It gives a fresh perspective to the Arthurian legends.

Thanks for sharing this thread. I am realizing that maybe I have read more Arthurian-related books than I had realized, in addition to the many references to the legends that pop up in lots of other places like Stephen King's Dark Tower series and various tv shows and movies.

I've already read all of MZB's Avalon books, The Once And Future King, the Fionavar Tapestry books, A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell.

Mary Stewarts trilogy has been lingering in my TBR pile for awhile, and have downloaded the first of the Pendragon Cycle books based on recommendations, so I expect to fit those in sometime soon.

A favourite of mine, not mentioned here is Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset, which attempts to portray the Romano-British warlord behind the myth.

ETA: he also appears as a young man, and a minor character, in her award-winning children's novel, The Lantern Bearers (one of my favourite books for (older) children).

>52 -pilgrim-: That one was a DNF for me. I was in my early 20s and put off by the realism, if I remember correctly.

This is one of the things I love about LT - somehow we ended up here after much digression. It really is like being at a cocktail party, except all the conversationalists are interesting :)

>53 clamairy: Maybe it helped to have come in through the Eagle of the Ninth sequence, in which Artos is a minor character.

I enjoy the humour of The Sword on the Stone and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, but otherwise I found retellings of the more mediaeval version of Arthur to be just pale imitations of Malory et al. (I have tried Lawhead, Mary Stewart and DNFed on both - which is rare for me. I just got bored.)

On the other hand, I did enjoy Phyllis Ann Karr's Idylls of the Queen recently...

I must go back and try the other books in The Once and Future King cycle. I was 11 when I last tried them, and found the darker tone, compared to the first book, too much of a shock.

I recommend The Once and Future King more than any other book.

>2 seitherin: I have these on my bookshelf and think I will re-read them.

I have read and reread Mary Stewart's series. I love them.

>58 MerryMary: Yes, I really need to reread at least the first two before my brain becomes too addled to appreciate them.

Once again, you walked into my brain!

>60 MerryMary: I moved in a while ago. ;o) Always great to see you posting!

And I have bought another copy of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green. This was the first book about Arthur that I ever read. It is marketed as a book for children now, but I got my first copy off my parents'bookshelves.

I had intended this as a present for a friend, but it may now be repurposed for a detour...

>62 -pilgrim-: If you're very careful you can gift it after you reread it.

>63 clamairy: ):-)

I've never had much interest in Arthuriana. I do count A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Tortilla Flat among my favorite novels but it's not because the stories are Arthurian.

The Idylls of the Queen is one of my all-time favorite novels. Perhaps I took to it so much because I'm not well-versed in Arthurian legends. I know the basics, but that's it, so my expectations were different. I was fascinated by the fantasy-tinged historical mystery—Who offed Sir Patrise?—and by Karr's unpacking of the damage done by chivalric constraints.

BTW I wholeheartedly recommend King Arthur: History and Legend by Dorsey Armstrong. It's one of The Great Courses and the author/narrator is a professor at Purdue University. I got it through Audible, but I'm pretty sure it's available to borrow through OverDrive as both an audio book and a video.

Actually, this makes me want to watch the video now, as I only listened to it, and she probably has a bunch of maps and photos.

>65 libraryperilous: Uhoh, I think that was a bullet.

Any interest in some poetry? Idylls of the King has been mentioned. Charles Williams's two volumes of poetry, Taliessin Through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars, are based on the legend, and Arthurian Torso, which is a collection of fragments and some commentary, edited by C S Lewis, includes an essay by Williams on the legend and a commentary by Lewis on the poems. The poems use characters from the legend to expound themes in Williams's theology. I recall that they made a great impression on me many years ago, but I haven't re-read them for a long time, fearing the baneful attentions of the Suck Fairy.

Just discovered that Stephen R Lawhead, whose name has occurred a few times above, has a book called In the Region of the Summer Stars, and going by the LT and GoodReads descriptions it has nothing to do with the Arthurian legends. The LT reviews do not inspire in me any desire to read it.

>67 haydninvienna: Idylls of the King is one of those books I am half afraid to revisit, in case my tastes have changed.

I did also enjoy the Middle English Gawaine and the Green Knight.

Also the Arthurian references in The Red Book of Hergest, which I read when borrowing The Four Ancient Books of Wales from the National Library of Wales. (I was out on to that one by Alan Garner.)

Not for everyone, but I found these Triads, with their references too otherwise unknown stories, hypnotic.

I had not heard of Williams' Arthurian poetry. And you have reminded me that I should really try his novels again; I have just bought a Kindle edition of the seven...

>68 -pilgrim-: A sometime acquaintance of mine, who was a professor of literature, said when I mentioned Williams’s poetry, “You mean Charles Williams the minor novelist?”.

And as long as we are bringing in books to which Taliessin is central, how about Thomas Love Peacock’s The Misfortunes of Elphin?

>69 haydninvienna: how about Thomas Love Peacock’s The Misfortunes of Elphin?

Another book that is sitting on a TBR pile that I cannot physically access!

(Fun fact: I was first taught songs about Elphin and Taliesin (and Maelgwyn) at junior school. Maybe the fact that the headmaster was Welsh is relevant here?)

>66 clamairy: It's around $3 on Kindle, but you didn't hear that from me.

I also recommend Karr's At Amberleaf Fair, which has nothing to do with the topic of this thread. Nonetheless, it's a gentle, slice-of-life fantasy with some interesting sociopolitical commentary on class and gender woven into it.

>68 -pilgrim-: I am quite fond of Tennyson, against all odds, but I, too, am afraid that the Suck Fairy might have come on this one.

>71 libraryperilous: Seconding At Amberleaf Fair! It is a lovely read.

>71 libraryperilous: It's also available for immediate download from OverDrive, so I added it to my wishlist.

Apropos of >67 haydninvienna:, >68 -pilgrim-: I wish to inform all and sundry that @haydninvienna's sniping has taken effect - although not perhaps exactly as intended.

I have completed the first of Charles Williams' novels: War in Heaven (review here).

And I am back where my conversation with @Darth-Heather started, all those weeks ago - with a quest for the Grail!

>74 -pilgrim-: another volley: @Majel-Susan has expressed the intention of reading the remaining 2 volumes of Lewis's Space Trilogy. The last one (That Hideous Strength) gets a bit Arthurian.

>75 haydninvienna: Yes, I am tempted to stay with that too - even though Out of the Silent Planet distracted me from the middle of Many Dimensions!

But @Sakerfalcon and I have a joint read of Omon Ra to schedule too...

>74 -pilgrim-: I have made my way through The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills and hope to fit The Last Enchantment into my list soon. I'm really enjoying her view of Merlin as an approachable and fallible guy.