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

I love this book! At times it is a little hard to follow for me, but I thought the plot was great and the characters are so recognizable yet different.

The sequel to Taliesin, I couldn't help reading it because Taliesin was so good. Spoiler: Merlin is the son of Taliesin and the Lady of the Lake Charis, and his story picks up where the other leaves off. Merlin's early life, and rise into manhood has a lot of surprises. But so much of the Merlin myth is of his involvement with Arthur, and the book makes a very believable back story to that myth. It also makes Merlin out to be a prophet of God, not a sorcerer. A definite twist on the usual myth, but it fits better with the Arthur/ Grail myth and the time the book is set in. Merlin becomes sort of like an dark ages Elijah full of the power and purpose of the Lord.

In this story, we are treated to the broad life story of Taliesin's son, Merlin. Yes, that Merlin. By the very nature of Lawhead's combining multiple legends and history into one, this will not bear much resemblance to the legends of Merlin we already know. But, in Lawhead's typical fashion, we are shown the highs and lows of Merlin's life as he discovers his place in the legends that are coming into being around him.
This is more of a direct prequel to Arthurian legends than the previous novel, Taliesin, which was a prequel's prequel, to some extent. As such, to those who know the legends already, the setups are a bit clearer and provide many opportunities to point excitedly and say, "Ooh! I know that!"

Un bon roman, le deuxième de la série, qui nous raconte cette fois la vie de Merlin. Les personnages sont intéressants, bien développés, les intrigues sont nombreuses et variées, mais malgré de nombreux points positifs et pratiquemment aucun négatif, ce roman ne semble pas mériter plus de quatre étoiles. Peut-être est-ce le rythme un peu lent ou j'ignore quoi d'autre, mais je ne peux lui donner un cinq étoiles. Tout de même un bon livre, que les fans des légendes Arthurienne aimeront certainnement.

Originally published on my blog here in October 2001.

The second of the novels in Lawhead's Arthurian series is written from the point of view of Merlin, who is made a descendant of the Atlanteans who settled in Britain in the first novel about Merlin's father Taliesyn. The plot will be familiar - the traditional build-up to the accession o Arthur as king: the madness of Merlin, Vortigern inviting the Saxons to come to Britain as mercenaries, Ambrosius and Uther, the conception and hidden childhood of Arthur.

With any Arthurian novel, as opposed to a simple retelling of the myth, the question which immediately arises is how the author has made the story his or her own. In Lawhead's case, this has two aspects. The first is the quality of his writing, perhaps more obvious here than in any of his other novels. This is particularly the case in the retelling of the tale of Manawydan from [b:The Mabinogion|455219|The Mabinogion|Anonymous|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1334993150s/455219.jpg|162739], and in the (first person) description of Merlin's recovery from madness, following a break in the narrative during his actual raving.

The second is the Christian subtext. The story of Arthur, with its conflicts between the Christian Celts and pagan Saxons, lends itself to this, and so to make it an important part of the story is not new to Lawhead (though it has rather gone out of fashion in recent retellings, which have tended to emphasise aspects likely to appeal to students of the New Age). Expressing a Christian apologetic in fiction is difficult to do well, however, as is usually the case with any agenda imposed upon a story. Here, though, it works as well as with any writer since [a:C.S. Lewis|1069006|C.S. Lewis|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1211981595p2/1069006.jpg], and this is because the story comes first and the spiritual aspects seem to arise naturally from the author's own faith rather than been forced into the narrative out of a sense of duty.

It was just as good as i expected. So amazing!

Part of the long long Pendragon cycle, but if you want an Arthurian legend that'll keep you interested on every page, you've found it.

Rating: 2.5* of five

The Publisher Says: He was born to greatness, the son of a druid bard and a princess of lost Atlantis. A trained warrior, blessed with the gifts of prophecy and song, he grew to manhood in a land ravaged by the brutal greed of petty chieftains and barbarian invaders.

Merlin: Respected, feared and hated by many, he was to have a higher destiny. for It was he who prepared the way for the momentous event that would unite the Island of the Mighty—the coming of Arthur Pendragon, Lord of the Kingdom of Summer.

My Review: Merlin's first-person narrative of how he makes Arthur into ARTHUR.

More Jesusy stuff. Now admittedly it's not the Roman Catholic horror that's called, very puzzlingly, Christianity (it's not); but the whole subject area grates on me when presented to me as An Undelniable, Inevitable Progressive Event. It wasn't. It made things a lot worse for a lot of people for over a millenium. (Religious wars pretty much non-stop from Western Imperial fall until...wait, until now! So TWO millenia!)

I liked Merlin's first-person narrative voice a lot more than the first book's omniscient narration. But the Atlantean horse pucky and the religious nonsense...well, had it not been for a cute boy wanting me to read his favorite books, I'd've dropped them fast.


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