Reviews and Comments

Although these stories are collected into a book, this is not a novel, and it's just Part 1. On the other hand the stories are stand alone, so I think I can review it a bit.

The first part is all about King Arthur's lineage and them him consolidating his kingdom. It's not that exciting because Merlin just tells King Arthur what to do and he does it and everything goes well. Everyone does "marvelous deeds of arms" and is a "passing good knight". I don't suggest skipping it because it gets you used to the style and rhythm of the story. I do suggest sticking with it even if you find the start a little boring.

After King Arthur's court is established things get more interesting. The various books choose particular knights or groups of knights to follow and we get their adventures. Like I said in an in-progress review, the book is old and written in a style that takes a while to get used to. But it's not so strange that you can't get used to. I found that when I had trouble following what was happening, reading out loud helped. There's a lot of repetition and formulaic phrasing which feels strange reading silently but as soon as I read it out loud makes sense. I think this stuff was meant to be read out loud and listened to.

People seem to get annoyed about various aspects of this book, such as the archaic morality, or the archaic writing style. I don't know what to say to that. The book is not the kind of book you're probably used to reading. I think as a modern reader of an old text, it's my duty to take the text as it is and understand it from its own point of view. I can also view it in a meta context, in that it tells you things about the writers that the writers may not have intended to tell you about them. I think that's fascinating. The stories are also good and often delightfully weird. And the archaic language has its own rule and rhythm that give their own kind of pleasure, too.

I've awarded the fist volume five stars because I enjoyed it and because I think it's an important and influential piece of writing that is also a historical document (not about King Arthur. About the people who told the stories about King Arthur).

This is a review of the updated version. I understand the first version was a lot more focused on het couples. Although this isn't primarily a book about leather scene history in San Francisco, you get to learn a lot about it on the way. Maybe all this great queer stuff wasn't there in the first edition.

A couple of things make this book stand out in a world of sex and BDSM advice books and tech manuals. First, the writing. It's really good! A lot of books about sex, in an attempt to be not salacious, get really dry and medical. Calfia manages to write about sex in a way that's both colloquial and informative, and yes, sexy. The little bits of erotica at the end of each chapter that demonstrate what has been discussed are erotic (except for a couple that were really not my kink, even in fiction so YMMV) and represent a delightful sampling of sexual orientations. (Very much not just het monogamy).

Second, this book is very insightful about the psychological side of BDSM. Lots of manuals tell you in detail how to perform some technical thing. This one talks about the emotional.