Maybe I would have enjoyed this book more had I read it at a different time. But I could not be bothered with so much detail. It just went on and on and on, and I felt that I was no longer interested in Merlin and the others. He felt too much like Taliesin from the last book, so much so that I was a bit annoyed. Merlin wasn't very distinguished. The plot was struggling to keep my attention. I skimmed most of the second half and may pick up the third, but certainly not now. Still, it deserves three stars because it was not bad. Just simply not for me at this time.

Edit: Now that I've had some time to think about it, I've changed my rating down to two stars.

An awesome take on Merlin.

I so wanted to like this book. I really wanted to enjoy this book, as the story of Merlin has always fascinated me. I enjoyed Lawhead's previous book in the Pendragon Cycle, Taliesin, so I thought this one would be a hit as well. Alas, I just could not get into the story, finding it hard to slog through; so it, unfortunately, lands in my DNF pile.

A few things:

First, I think Merlin has helped me to realize that I am just not a fan of first-person narration, or at least Lawhead's style of it (because now that I think about it, there are first-person novels I have enjoyed quite a bit). There's an adage of "show, don't tell" when you want to write a good story, and I just could not get it out of my mind that Merlin was telling us the story and not showing us what happened.

Second, I think my issue with the first-person narrative was not helped by Lawhead's prose. In many places, especially as you get further into the novel, he gets quite verbose and I found myself saying, "Alright already. I get it. Let's move on now."

Finally, whereas Bradley's Mists of Avalon did everything it could to eschew and denigrate Christianity, I think Lawhead goes too far in the other direction. Merlin practically becomes a Christian missionary in this tale, and it just didn't seem to fit for me. The bad fit isn't due to my personal religious background, by any means: I am a Catholic deacon studying to be a priest myself! But again, some of the heavy ideology and the way it was presented just did not seem to mesh well with this part of the Pendragon Cycle.

Perhaps I just need more patience! Perhaps this simply wasn't the right time for me to read this particular book and I will come back to it in the future. In a way, I certainly hope this is the case because I really wanted to enjoy this one.

Segueixo amb la sèrie de Pendragón. En aquest llibre, la història està narrada per en Merlí, i ens explica la seva vida des del moment en què va néixer fins a poc després del naixement del rei Artur.

El llibre està dividit en tres parts diferenciades, i és difícil saber quina és la millor.

A la primera part ens explica la infantesa d'en Merlí, fins que es casa i espera una criatura. La part que em va agradar més va ser tot el temps que va estar raptat pel poble de "las colinas". Però el retrobament amb altres familiars que també provenien de l'Atlàntida, i com va conèixer la seva dona són també d'allò més interessants.

La segona part comença amb un Merlí boig. He de reconèixer que el principi d'aquesta part em va fer abandonar el llibre unes setmanes, ja que no entenia què havia passat, o per què m'estava explicant allò sense explicar la raó. Però un cop vaig saber la raó, la manera com està narrat em va semblar una genialitat.

Un cop en Merlí es recupera de la seva bogeria comença la última part, en la que intentarà unir tots els reis dels petits pobles d'Anglaterra per instaurar un Monarca Suprem, que serà el que regnarà a tota Anglaterra. És una part plena de batalles i intrigues polítiques, que també té el seu encant.

I, en general, un gran llibre, que et deixa amb ganes de continuar aviat amb la tercera part, on suposo que ens narrarà la infantesa del rei Artur.

Rarely have I had such a strong negative reaction to a book. I hated it. And part of the reason, I think, I that the first volume, Taliesin, was superb. But while in Taliesin Lawhead spun an intriguing tale that treated the source material with respect, Merlin quickly becomes a religious tract proclaiming how superior christianity is to the pagan religions that it displaces.

For me, Lawhead did two unforgivable things in this book. First, he makes Merlin a christian and a missionary. Yes, of course the Arthur cycle is part of European christian heritage - but Merlin is ALWAYS the link back to the pagan past, the holder of the magic of ancient knowledge and the oral tradition that stretches back before the christians and even the Romans. To co-opt him as a tool to preach the christian that destroys that tradition, when almost every other aspect of the story already serves that purpose, is both pointless and offensive.

And even worse than this, the author turns aside from writing a fine, gripping, meaningful story with strong religious sentiments and begins to write a sermon.

4.75. As the second book in the 5 part series, this one was much better than the first. The Pendragon series often reads more like historical fiction than fantasy, and this one has quite a bit of emotional turmoil.

Great retelling of Merlin's backstory and how he played into the Pendragons' dynasty.

Still not nearly as good, by a long shot, as the Mary Stewart series.