so, you pulled the sword from the stone, now what?
were you a fan of BBC’s Merlin? did you like the King Arthur subplot of Once Upon a Time? have you ever dreamt about pulling a sword from a stone? this list of aurthurian inspired books is for you!
disclaimer: I have not read all of these books
as always, taking any and all suggestions!!
created by erintripsey
last updated January, 2026
Comments
Recommending the Once & Future series by Kieron Gillen if you're open to graphic novels. One of my absolute favorites!
amazing!!! I love graphic novels, I haven’t read nearly enough! adding now :)
The best, probably most realistic, and likely the most researched King Arthur book I’ve ever read is Rosemary Sutcliff’s Sword at Sunset. It focused on the king/leader/warrior known as Artos the Bear. Sutcliff was known as a YA fiction writer whose stories focused primarily on the fall of Rome in Britain. Her stories were all well researched. This was her only adult book. I thought it was fantastic.
Incredible!!! Thank you for this thoughtful suggestion! I will certainly be adding it now!!!
Woah, I've had this as a naked hardcover on my shelves for years. I found it at a used bookstore without the dust jacket and never really looked into it—I wanted it more as a display/accent piece since it was in the 25 cent pile. What a small world! Maybe I'll actually add it to my tbr
That sounds incredible. I have been reading a few and they having been 'hitting' the spot.
I’m getting an Arthurian itch again. I read a few of these a while ago, almost all of Jack Whyte’s Camulod Chronicles, but now I’m feeling I want to read more.
Looking up that now, you are a wealth of knowledge 🤩
the everlasting!! una everlasting is an amalgamation of king arthur and his knights and all those stories
smashing the add button immediately!!!!
AGREE WITH EVERYTHING THAT I FUCKING HAVE.
I feel so seen by the description for this list! I LOVED BBC’s Merlin show 🤩 excited to add some of these books to by TBR 🎉 thank you to compiling this list
yay!!! I’m so glad you found some books from this list!!!
I just started So This is Ever After and I thought about your list! In the blurb it says it's Arthurian inspired and I believe it. The main character has a sword from a bog, he's destined to get rid of evil, and he's named Arek and his best friend that he's in love with is Matt! Very Arthur and Merlin if you ask me
omg that sounds so good I’m adding it to this list immediately and to my tbr!!!
Please let me know if you end up reading it, I would love to chat about it with someone
I just went to Libby and I already had it tagged for my tbr on there so!!! placing a hold now!!
I love it! I’ve never really looked at king author retelling except legendborn. So this is so fun!
thank you!! several of these are on my tbr so I’m looking forward to getting into them next year!
i dnfed "a tempest of tea" pretty early. i didn't know it was arthurian inspired? how so? /gen
the mc is named Arthie and the Arthurian aspect has to do with how she acquired her weapon, so while it is pretty loosely inspired by Arthurian lore, it’s there!
Thanks for making this list! You might be able to include The Lady of the Lake by Jean Menzies. The author note directly mentions BBC's Merlin.
oooh! Thank you for the suggestion, I just added it!!!
