The Sword in the Stone

The book begins as a quite light-hearted account of the young Arthur's adventures, and is usually considered a great work of 'young adult' (YA) fiction, but don't think White's going to talk down to you. The complete opposite is true: his style is complex and learned, but it's also highly engaging.

   "The other three books in the quartet get really adult really fast."

Floyd C. Gale praised The Sword in the Stone as "blithely comic and entirely delightful", stating that it was "in utter contrast to the mounting tragedy" of the other three volumes of the series.

All the the books in The Once and Future King are full of words that are specific to medieval hunting, falconry, jousting, castle architecture, plant life, and even the game of cricket.

White also spends a lot of time making many of the characters speak with regional, ethnic, or class-inflected accents. Some of these can be difficult to read. That's not to say that this is dull and boring. Far from it. Instead, it's super engaging, and gives the text an immersive feel. All of the details have the effect of making us feel like we're part of the action, since it's so vivid.

The Once and Future King by T. H. White is based upon Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. It consists of four books which were first published in 1958. It collects and revises shorter novels published from 1938 to 1941, with much new material.