• The Once and Future King

  • By: T. H. White
  • Narrated by: Neville Jason
  • Length: 33 hrs
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (5,449 ratings)

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The Once and Future King  By  cover art

The Once and Future King

By: T. H. White
Narrated by: Neville Jason
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Publisher's summary

The complete "box set" of T. H. White's epic fantasy novel of the Arthurian legend. The novel is made up of five parts: "The Sword in the Stone", "The Witch in the Wood", "The Ill-Made Knight", "The Candle in the Wind", and "The Book of Merlyn".

Merlyn instructs the Wart (Arthur) and his brother, Sir Kay, in the ways of the world. One of them will need it: the king has died, leaving no heir, and a rightful one must be found by pulling a sword from an anvil resting on a stone. In the second and third parts of the novel, Arthur has become king and the kingdom is threatened from the north. In the final two books, the ageing king faces his greatest challenge, when his own son threatens to overthrow him. In "The Book of Merlyn", Arthur's tutor Merlyn reappears and teaches him that, even in the face of apparent ruin, there is hope.

©1939, 1940, 1958 T. H. White (P)2008 Naxos Audiobooks

Critic reviews

AudioFile Earphones Award, 2009

"For those who have never read these five books, prepare to be surprised by their adultness, their laugh-out-loud humor and tongue-in-cheek commentary on modern life; for those who know them well, prepare to be delighted with Neville Jason's transcendent reading. The lovely timbre of his narrative voice, his rhythmic, easy pacing and host of individual characterizations transport listeners into White's weird and wonderful otherworld as quickly as Alice slipped through the looking glass. This long production is so entrancing that one wishes it would never end." (AudioFile)

Featured Article: The top 100 fantasy listens of all time


When compiling our list of the best fantasy listening out there, we immediately came up against the age-old question: Is this fantasy or science fiction? The distinction is not as clear as you may think. Dragons, elves, and wizards are definitely fantasy, but what about wizards that also fly space ships? (Looking at you, Star Wars.) For the sake of fantasy purity, the top 100 fantasy listens include the best audio works in all manner of fantasy subgenres.

What listeners say about The Once and Future King

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Wonderful story

This is a book that I wish had read when I was ten, revisited when I was 20, and now again. I'll certainly be revisiting it, I'm just sorry it took me so long to get to.

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WOW!

I have always loved this book, but the reader Neville Jason brings so much depth and beautiful performance to every character and description, I will never read it again without hearing HIS Merlin, his Arthur, his Pellinor. He is a gem and I'm so glad I listened to this.

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Wonderful

One of my favorite books. Also it destroys communism, so I’m not sure if that’s why it’s my favorite books, but either way it wrecks communism and is amazing. Go read it

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excellent reading of an excellent classic

The narrator did an amazing job of capturing people's tones and really encapsulating the individual characters. excellent book. excellent story.

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The Great and Noble King Arthur!

The Great and Noble King Arthur! as a kid I always heard the stories of King Arthur, I never realized most of the stories of him and Merlin came from this book.

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Well Narrated Classic

I loved this collection of Arthurian Legend! Told in an anachronistic fashion with recovery from the second world war in mind, it serves as a creative reflection on man and his folly. It's also a delight to encounter the source material for Disney's The Sword in the Stone.

Neville Jason's narration is charming and carries the story well. I was never bored of listening, even in the more philosophical moments. Further, Jason's talent is clearly demonstrated given the number of characters he gives voice to across the book. Each character had a unique enough voice that I could easily identify and follow who was speaking.

I enjoyed this audiobook and highly recommend it!

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Mind blown.

It's such a familiar story, so deeply woven into our cultural fabric, that I didn't expect to be swept away but I was. I haven't read Malory which may be the original, but from references to it, this book is much more emotional. Many more characters than I expected are richly drawn. It's just beautiful and I miss it already.

Also, the narrator is superb. A little whiffy with female voices but just a little and that is forgivable.

Finding books like this in the Plus catalog makes Audible's absurd pricing worth it.

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A perfect balance of originality and faithfulness

T.H. White is someone who both truly understands Arthurian legend and is also willing to do interesting things with it. He takes the stories of these characters and reworks them in clever ways while still staying true to the older stories. It is an impressive balance that he manages to strike between old and new. Reading it I could feel the love he has for the Arthurian literary tradition.

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so cool

loved by many people and me this is the best book the whole year aye

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Classic writing, great listen

Worth the time and credit. Beautifully written. A little longer than necessary but t'd recommend it to the whole family.

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11 people found this helpful