Le Morte D'Arthur

I give this a five out of ten with the MOST enthusiasm possible. At times I really enjoyed Le Morte d’Arthur, the whimsical, straight forward nature of the group of knights is endearing in all the best ways as they bumble around for hundreds of pages on end, but I couldn’t say I would recommend someone read it either.

First thing you’ll have to get used to is the way its written, it’s very “old time english” and at first is very difficult to get into. Once you do, I think the flow of it can be charming but it is a barrier to entry. Secondly at times it can drag A LOT. There is a whole midsection of the book (books 8-10) which are much longer then any other section and are also just filled with endless nothingness that made me put the whole book on hold for half a year.

There’s also what feels like a lot of repetition in events throughout, almost every book contains multiple joust tourneys where inevitably Lancelot will disguise himself as someone so he can fight against the round table.(happens so often, Gawaine calls it out in book 19). The most egregious moment is when Malory writes out the names of 86 knights back to back that show up to help someone. It goes on and on.

Probably best to stick to an abridged version. There's a lot to enjoy here to me but A LOT to sludge through as well