The Book of Merlyn, as the conclusion of White's modern retelling of Malory's Le Morte Darthur, recounts one of the most important legends of the English speaking peoples. White has inherited a story and cast of characters that have enthralled readers for centuries. However, The Book of Merlyn is further removed from Malory than is The Once and Future King. Only the last few pages of the novel are devoted to Malory's material, and the events of Arthur's final battle are narrated in a curiously detached tone. In moving away from the events narrated in Malory, White falls into lecturing the reader, and even seems aware of doing so. At one point, Archimedes, Merlyn's owl, asks the philosophical wizard, "Do you realize that the audience has not understood a single word that you are saying, for several minutes?" But White seems not to have been able...