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This book is very burdened by its own world-building when it could be focusing on character arcs.

"Merlin made the round table in tokening of the roundness of the world" so in 1469 we're all on the same page on the world being round, but in 2025, SOME PEOPLE

And another reason Le Morte d'Arthur is crazy is that the chapter titles are waaaay too nonchalant. Book IV chapter I is titled "How Merlin was assotted and doted on one of the ladies of the lake, and how he was shut in a rock under a stone and there died."

And the chapter is TWO PAGES LONG.

Fewer than 40 pages into Le Morte d'Arthur, Merlin has TWICE magically disguised himself to give tidings to Arthur. And both times when Arthur is like "well who are you that I should listen?" To which Merlin is immediately like "Tis I, Merlin" and Arthur is like ah you again you silly wizard. Like. Are the disguises just for fun.

I am shaking the bars of my mental prison shouting "JUST ASK MRS. GARDINER TO TALK TO HIM FOR YOU!!!!!!!"

Okay when is it going to get interesting though

This is literally going to take me forever to finish because it's so good that sometimes I'll finish a page, and then go right back up the top to read the page again.

I'm so glad I'm not doing this over audiobook because I think having to hear his thoughts out loud would be nauseating

I'm both loving this prose but wringing my hands wondering if it's blasphemy

Ted Kennedy when I find you in Hell we're having WORDS

"Sorry, my Lady. We messed up catching him. He died."
Ohh this book is Bad bad. I see.

Women written by Daphne Du Maurier I love you

At this rate Bathsheba is just living the 19th century pastoral version of The Bachelorette.

Listen when I go a single day without thinking about Bronze Age Greece, you'll know.

I love Zara. Problematic queen.

Jane Austen understands that the sexiest thing in a man is him liking the same novels as you.

This is the sort of book that makes you want to write a book.

Giving up on about halfway through. Everything is a little underdeveloped and the pacing is throwing me off. Maybe I'll come back to this when I'm more in the mood.

This book is really good, but for something so short it feels like we're mostly done by the 60% point.

I love all these characters so much, and I hope nothing bad happens to them in this *check notes* horror story.

I totally forgot that the early chapters include a sweet little Penelope-Odysseus moment too. Now I want Madeline Miller to write about every famous mythical romance (even the murder ones)

Abandoning this book halfway through. Look, the world building would be fun if we were actually doing anything with it.

Interested in the plot, but seriously wondering when the protagonist is going to meaningfully interact with her environment, or how many times she's really going to have the same exact conversation with the deuteragonist.