Hi everyone, I was just wondering if any of you have read The Once and Future King. It's just been assigned to us in school, and it is very lengthy. We have to read it in a couple of weeks and I just wanted to see if it is going to be painful or not.

I have not read that book, but I believe that my brother has. When I have a chance, I will ask him and PM you what he says. :3

Hope you enjoy the book, though. In my class, we were assigned Lord of the Flies. It was very good. I belive the next book we are to read is the Princess Bride. :3

Originally Posted by Molotov21

I have not read that book, but I believe that my brother has. When I have a chance, I will ask him and PM you what he says. :3

Hope you enjoy the book, though. In my class, we were assigned Lord of the Flies. It was very good. I belive the next book we are to read is the Princess Bride. :3

Thank you, I would appreciate that very much.

And about Lord of the Flies, I read it over the summer for this year and enjoyed it very much. The allusions in the book were very interesting.

I agree. My teacher went over the various characters and items and told us what they symbolically stood for. I think the biblical allegory in the book is very interesting, as well as the fact that Golding wrote it so that the island was a microcosm of the outside world.

I agree. I especially liked the character Simon, and how he was portrayed as somewhat of a Christ-like individual. It was tragic and powerful how Golding portrayed the barbarity of mankind during the frightening bonfire beach scene.

Simon was one of the most intriguing characters. :3

I think that Golding did a wonderful job of paralleling the Bible in his allegory, from Simon representing Christ, all the way to the island actually representing the Garden of Eden.

Originally Posted by Molotov21

Simon was one of the most intriguing characters. :3

I think that Golding did a wonderful job of paralleling the Bible in his allegory, from Simon representing Christ, all the way to the island actually representing the Garden of Eden.

That's true. I just hope that this new book I'm about to read is as intriguing as Lord of the Flies. ^_^

I had to read it for English as an individual, and, I really enjoyed it. Admittedly, for the test, I ended up SparksNote'ing the final two hundred pages because nothing destroys my want for a book like making it homework, but, what I did get through I really liked. It was different than I expected - funny in a weird sort of way.

I enjoyed The Once and Future King book immensely. King Arthur is one of my favorite characters in literature. I'm actually in the middle of doing a research paper over King Arthur's influence in modern and contemporary fantasy/adventure/epic literature.

The book might be a little painful to read in some places. There are lulls in the adventure. Great lulls. You'll have to force yourself through those, though.

There's always SparkNotes if you need a little boost. ^^

I love the Once and Future King, it may be a little hard to understand though if you aren't really used to some of the terms they use. But it was a great book, yes very long, but if you were to sit down for a couple of hours you'll really get into it and you might get quite a lot of it read in one sitting.

By the way, if you like the book, there is the Book Of Merlin. It's basically the real end to the book and adds more to it.

The Once and Future King is one of my favorite Arthurian books, although I, like a lot of people, rather more enjoyed the first half. That was the fun bit, after all. I just adore the concept of Merlin aging backwards.

It's also one of the few Arthurian versions in which I actually liked Merlin. I'm not sure why so many authors like to portray him as a scheming manipulator. I like him better as a teacher.

I am reading that book in my school and I don't like it. The story gets more and more messed up and I don't get the point of why we are reading this at all. I like the King Arthur legends, but I don't like this book at all.

It's a very very good book, but it ain't no Harry Potter-it's about as beefy as a book can get. The description of everything is beautiful-which is exactly why it should never be assigned reading, because on a deadline one tends to skim over pretty parts and get to the plot points. And there are some very very large lulls. It's important to know that the plot parts aren't the main focus- it's kind of assumed that the reader is familiar with the story, so all the other parts (the lulls, heh) are more important.

I have to say that even though I loved the book I did skim over some of the parts with the uh irish sibling kids, Orkney I think, near the end. Their accent is hard to read, and at some points there will just be paragraphs of their dialogue and augh.

I'm a terrible procrastinator about assigned anything, especially books, but do try and pace yourself with this one and read as much as you can on your own time. Rushing through to make a deadline is going to be extremely painful, especially with the Orkney. It takes ages to decipher what they're saying, let alone interpret it for literary relevance and stuff.

also, what grade are you guys in to be assigned that book? I've heard of people in middle school reading the first book for fun or for an assignment, but I think you have to be much older than that to understand what's said in the later books.

The Once and Future King is among my favorite books of all time. I think it's absolutely beautiful. It it, without a doubt, the greatest book I've read as far as realistic characters go- every single one is such a heart-wrenchingly accurate depiction of a human soul. Haha, that sounds so dumb, but it's true!! I seriously adore all of the characters, even the wicked ones, just because their motives are so clear. Nothing anyone does in this book is without motivation.

The first part is fantastical and funny, the second is a little less fantastical and more serious, and the final half has very little of that fantasy element and is, for the most part, very serious. A few bits start to drag, but honestly, the overall novel is worht it!