Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Sword in the Stone [Book Review]

[Some spoilers included.]

"The Sword in the Stone" is a novel written by T. H. White, and it was published in 1938. It was later adapted into an animated movie by Disney, which was what got me interested in this book. I do this a lot with Disney films. I'll even read movie adaptations if I can gain a greater insight into the story of the film. In this case, the movie came way after the book because World War 2 got in the way.

The story covers the early days of a boy who everyone is calling the Wart, but he is really just a young Arthur, who will inevitably become King Arthur after a particular event plays out. The bulk of the story is mostly about his adventures with his tutor named Merlyn, who is a magician who is living his long life completely backwards.

The book differs from the movie quite a bit. The biggest loss for me was the lack of the squirrel scene from the film. I was really hopping that was in the book to give me more insight into it. I love that scene, and it was really the reason I wanted to read the book. Despite this sad reality, the Wart still gets turned into a lot of different animals, and many of them were fascinating experiences.

Probably the most notable transformation in the book was when the Wart asks to be turned into an ant. This one chapter actually played out very similarly to the book "Nineteen Eighty-Four." The similarities are so stark, that I actually wonder if Orwell read this book first! I have no way of knowing though.

One somewhat annoying thing about this book is the author's obsession with birds. The Wart gets turned into birds more than any other animal. Although the birds of prey were very interesting and entertaining, he went a little too far with the goose chapter. It's sort of just there. I got bored with it frankly. I do get the idea that the author really loves geese and just couldn't help himself.

My final disappointment with the book came by way of different versions. There are a couple different versions of this book where the author added some stuff and took others away. Apparently, the version I got, a revision done in 1958, did not have the "Madam Mim" witch chapter. It was a very big portion of the movie, and I am a little irritated that I did not get to read about it. Apparently the added material was the ant and goose episodes. Although the ant section was brilliant, I would have rather seen the bit about the witch. Why did he drop it?!

All in all, I am left with a feeling of disappointment. The book is still good. I did like most of what I read, but the fact that the author fiddled around with his work in such an annoying way makes it hard to recommend this one. If there was a supreme version that included all of his chapters, then that would make it worth it, but breaking up your own story for no reason like this just makes things a chore. That said, the movie was the reason I even bothered to read this, and it is brilliant. I'd recommend seeing that over the book at this point.

This blog was written on May 8, 2022.

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