Advantages: fabulous story with lots of magic as only Disney can do
Disadvantages: the end seems a bit rushed

...in medieval times and the king dies without an heir and as no one has managed to pull out the sword, which lies in an old churchyard embedded into stone, the tournament will decide who will be king. For anyone who hasnt guessed yet this is based on the legend of King Arthur. The Wart literally stumbles upon Merlin as he falls through his roof and is very surprised to learn that Merlin has been waiting for him. Of course he is shocked and dismayed when Merlin announces that he should give up his squiring duties and get an education and when Wart goes back to the castle, Merlin tags along which is when the magic and fun start as he and his rather rude talking owl Archimedes move in. Thats when the fun starts as Merlin teaches him all the important lessons in life by looking at how other species cope - when Wart doesn't quite get the point... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Exciting, uplifting, amusing, and "right".
Disadvantages: The later books are quite sad.

...The Sword in the Stone tells the story of Wart (make sure you rhyme it with 'art' please) as he's known, from the time the magician Merlyn becomes his tutor until the day he pulls the sword from its stone. Wart, an orphan child, in is the care of Sir Ector and is being brought up with Ector's son Kay. He is destined to become Kay's squire once Kay has grown up and become a knight, so he's being raised and educated along with him. The book is the first of a series of four written by T H White, known as The Once and Future King, telling the Arthur story through until its sad but hopeful end. So, once you've read this one there are three more to go, each as good. The story opens with Wart alone in the Forest Sauvage as he attempts to rescue Cully, an escaped goshawk. He is already showing the sense of responsibility that will mark him... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Live the story of Arthur.
Disadvantages: Characters can get stuck in some bits.

...Genre: RPG/Strategy/Action Rating : 15 Players: 1 Price: Bought from amazon for £14.99 Story For those of you who dont know the story of arthur, it is a tale of magic, mystery, honour, valour, love and war. We meet our lowly squire Arthur at the beginning who has to go and find a sword for his step brother who is about to go into battle. Upon finding the only sword he can, which is stuck in a stone by a magic spell, Arthur takes it out with ease and becomes the newly appointed king. From here on, Arthur must rescue villages from Morgans soldiers, help defend a castle, take back camelot, recruit knights for his round table, help the innocent, rescue dwarves from a mine, acquire the holy grail and then take the fight head on to morgan at her castle. It follows the story of Arthur/Exalibur pretty accurately apart... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Brilliant book
Disadvantages: It has to end

.... Supposedly he brings back to life those of his men who have been loyal to him in life. The Bloodking is being overwhelmed by rebellions and invasion. The Saxons, Angles, Jutes and British tribes regularly rise against his rule. He now has to go up against 20,000 Gothic warriors and a dark Necromancer. Everything goes terribly wrong when the Kings soul is chained and tormented in hell and the Sword of power formerly Cunobelins blade has disappeared. This book is brilliant. If you have read the first books of The Stones Of Power you have to read this. It's quite easy to read but would definitely not recommend for children. This is more of an adults book. It is quite short for David Gemmells standards with only 314 pages. As you read it you will recognise some names from the stories about King Arthur. And it is very clever how everything... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Merlin, Archimedes, jolly good fun.
Disadvantages: Patchy animation, bit of a greatest hits package.

...myself in these adventures (and I was at one time a moderately keen Arthurian enthusiast), two of the main characters take on different shapes in my mind's eye. Noble King Arthur, last seen as a Roman general snogging Keira Knightley has something decidely sparrow-like about him and Merlin, whether talking guff about 'the Dragon's breath' or being trapped in crystal caves... well, there's always something a little BLUE about him. Yes, my introduction to Athurian legend, and indeed cinema, was Disney's 'The Sword in the Stone'. It was showing on a double bill with a worthy B-movie about disabled children called 'The Pigeon That Worked A Miracle'. Don't think I've even checked to see if that's on the Ciao database. I mostly remember getting really annoyed at the number of adverts before the film, crying at the trailers because I kept thinking... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Family film with all the features of a classis
Disadvantages: None - it's Disney!

...an heir, and, when war seemed imminent, suddenly a miracle occurred. The Sword in the stone. It came with the message 'Who so pulleth out this sword shall be named king of all England'. But though many men tried, no one could move the sword. They were all missing something. Some quality that was necessary. Just as the land is giving up hope, and planning to hold a jousting tournament to find the king, Merlin the wizard makes a discovery. A young scullery boy named Wart, downtrodden by his masters, but nonetheless possessing goodness, intelligence and integrity. Merlin, helped by the rather impolite owl Archimedes begin to educate him immediately. They teach Wart amazing lessons so that he might understand the mysteries of life. In between battling dragons, escaping wolves, and finding new ways to wash dishes, Merlin turns Wart into a bird... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: It's a great game and really fills up hours of your day!
Disadvantages: Can get a bit frustrating when you cant work out what to do next.

...After goign round a mtes house he told me about this game and seeing as he's not the cleverest of cats and I'm gonna be studying medicine at Oxford he thought he'd let me have a go to prove once again, my unbelievable mental capcity! LOL! I got home and began to play. I hand never played Broken sword 1 but I didnt think it would matter that much and luckily for me it didnt! You start off by watching an introduction with you and a girlfriend going to what you think is gonna be archeologist's house. You get inside, your girlfriend is knocked out and kidnapped while you are tied to a chair with a big spider coming towards you and fire at the doorway. You have to try and work out how to kill the spider, untie your self from the chair and get out of the house. It is quite a challenge, even for me! To do this you move around your cursor... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Easy to read informative book
Disadvantages: Little infomation in some chapters

...chunks makes it easier to understand. Personally my favorite character is Author, the teenage boy. He is not my favorite character because he is the main one but because he comes across as normal for his age. He is better at his bow skills than his sword play and jousting but despite taunting from his brothers he still manages to enjoy things and improve his weaker skills. Another interesting character is Sir William who is a 63 year old knight who is big and burly but lacks common sense and other feelings towards friends and relatives you and I will have. Despite being 63 he somehow manages to join up for a third and fourth crusade. Despite the teenage Arthur’s story being written in the form of a diary we see King Arthur’s story being told as Arthur looks at him through his magical seeing stone and from the first person view of King... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: it is very exciting
Disadvantages: it is rather long

...the sword in the stone is a fantasy book for ages of eight and above. it it appealed to me at first was when i looked on the back of the book to see what it was about it said, "a book about knights witches and magicians" and because i liked all three of those things i decided to take it and read it. It is about a boy who looks for a bird in a wood and eventually finds merlyn the magician, and many of his magical possesions and he soon find lots of adventures waiting for him. It is based on the original story about king arthur, and it is also about his chldhood. I would recommend this book to people who like a really good fantastic fantasy story. With knights and witches and magicians. You will never have another dull or boring dream at night. I liked this book because even though it was quite long and drony, it was so exciting that i... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great storytelling, visuals and voice acting; Fun; Later chapters challenging
Disadvantages: Some problems with the sound; Earlier chapters too easy

...More than six years after the first two instalments of the acclaimed Broken Sword series, George Stobbart and Nico Collard return for their third outing – Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon. Broken Sword 1 and 2 were 2D adventure “point and click” style games in the tradition of Monkey Island and Grim Fandango, and are generally considered to be classics of the genre. I was a big fan of these games and was very excited to hear that (finally) a third Broken Sword game was going to be made. When it was announced that Broken Sword 3 was going to be presented in 3D, however, I was a little worried, thinking that it may be turned into a Tomb Raider style action game. For some years now there has been a steady decline in 2D adventure games, as game producers have an annoying habit of viewing them as old-fashioned in comparison to the sort... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful