James Mustich's 1000 Books to Read Before You Die discussion

A discussion for the second book of the series The Once and Future King, The Queen of Air and Darkness.

Well, here’s a thing, this second book, which was published separately in somewhat different form as The Witch in the Wood originally, has no witch in the woods in The Once and Future King! I cannot cheaply come by a copy of the original 1939 book of that title, but it has been rewritten substantially, as it is only half the length of the original.
This is a darker book in alternating chapters, which:(view spoiler)[
• lays the groundwork that explains Igraine’s daughter’s intended revenge for Uther Pendragon’s forceful taking of Igraine, Countess of Cornwall, with slapstick comedy from King Pelinore; and
• Arthur’s triumph as king over a northern rebellion, with the reader being prepared for Merlyn’s departure. (hide spoiler)]
White develops these two storylines:
• the expected story of King Arthur battling against the rebellion of the Gaels (the old people, Picts, Cornish, Welsh and Scottish, also called Celts) against the Gauls (Normans and Saxons); and
• the story of Igraine’s four Orkney grandsons: Gawaine, Agravaine, Gaheris and Gareth.
Although abounding in surviving prehistoric and later monuments, it is difficult now to consider the Orkneys as a leading medieval kingdom if you look at the small size of the islands off the northern coast of mainland Scotland. However after the initial viking raids, it became the centre of a wide ranging seafaring kingdom which stretched south through the western isles of Scotland to the Isle of Man and Dublin.

Although it might be construed as condescending, I love White’s use of anachronistic, but appropriate, language to conjure up the various characters, particularly in his choice of the occasional archaic word. White uses Halidome, which apparently means a sacred place (Middle English from Old English hāligdōm, from hālig holy + -dōm -dom) and Shillelagh (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shillel..., where I remember the threat of I’ll give you shillelagh from my youth).

Overall this book was less satisfying for me, as it reads as a prologue (much more so than The Sword in the Stone) to the coming tragedy, and it is explicit at this stage that it will be a predestined tragedy, with apparently no free will to alter events, even with Merlyn’s foresight.

I do agree that this one was less satisfying. But it was overall very important in setting up the rest of the story. So many things happen in this book that ultimately give cause to the rest of the story.

Yeah, after The Sword in the Stone, this one felt a lot darker. I was actually a bit surprised by the descriptions of (view spoiler)[animal cruelty via the boiling of the cat and unicorn, and the large battles (hide spoiler)]

I think I enjoyed Sword in the Stone more, but I completely agree this felt like a prologue/setup for the rest of the book, so its hard to judge it on its own merit with the rest of the books looming.