Good thing this book is part of the Once and Future King, because all it really does is set up future events. You could really tell Tom was trying to emulate the comedy and lightness of the Sword in the Stone but there was too much going on that doesn't really do anything together. There's no way this would have been published today. It's too disjointed and things happen to the characters rather than the characters making anything happen. 3 or 4 separate plots that somehow come together in the end:

1) Arthur fighting a war against his half-sibling-in-law and other rebels while coming up with the concept of chivalry and the Round Table; 2) the 4 Orkney children having their random adventures influenced by 3) King Pelinore and his friends who are not chasing the Questing beast cause they're moping and being love-sick. 4 maybe?) Queen Morgause, the mother of the 4 Orkney children and half sister to Arthur, tries to help Pelinore but doesn't really do anything in the book.

Pelinore's crush eventually finds him and brings everyone to Arthur's castle for a wedding. She is mentioned early on but she doesn't actually appear until the last fifth of the book like a deus ex machina.

I'd almost want to see this rewritten to expand the titular character's role to manipulate and bring all of these threads together.