The Crystal Cave (Arthurian Saga, #1) in Around the Year in 52 Books

Nov 25, 2017 MichelleCH rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, group-reads, favorites, liked-an-earlier-book-by-author, fantasy, swashbuckling-and-adventure

Initially I was a little hesitant to start reading this novel thinking I wouldn't like it. I have to admit I was being judgy with the title. It felt like a throwback to my eighties childhood.

Once more I was so wrong. I should know by now that Mary Stewart knows how to tell a story and making it feel fresh and so believable. My plan is to dive into the rest of the Arthurian Saga this winter. One of the most amazing things about living in the Northeast are the winter nights where a good book is al ...more

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Sep 29, 2022 Marta rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio, mythology, female-author, historical-fiction, library, fantasy

As the first in the trilogy about Merlin, it covers his childhood and young adulthood. He grows up as a bastard prince whose father is unknown. He is intelligent and hungry for knowledge; excels in academics but not so much in fighting and physical exercise. He is an early nerd, and soon rumors start swirling that he was fathered by the devil and has magical powers; a rumor encouraged by his mother and later on by himself.

The book is marketed as fantasy, but it is more historical fiction with ve As the first in the trilogy about Merlin, it covers his childhood and young adulthood. He grows up as a bastard prince whose father is unknown. He is intelligent and hungry for knowledge; excels in academics but not so much in fighting and physical exercise. He is an early nerd, and soon rumors start swirling that he was fathered by the devil and has magical powers; a rumor encouraged by his mother and later on by himself.

The book is marketed as fantasy, but it is more historical fiction with very few fantastical elements. The only real power Merlin has is a vague gift of foresight that he can’t control and often can’t interpret. The rest is enhanced imagination of the endemic superstition of the times, helped along with a few theatrics and Merlin’s occasional raving fits that might be perfectly non-magical epileptic seizures.

The story is entertaining and rolls along at a good pace: neither too fast, nor too slow. There is plenty of action, but also time for character development. The writing is very good for the genre.

I was thoroughly entertained, but there were a few things that bugged me. I have a problem with anachronisms or historical inaccuracies. There is no way that people in fifth century Britain were classically educated, knew both reading and writing, had detailed maps and were conversant in classic Greek mythology. I was rolling my eyes when Merlin’s barely educated cousin refers to Helen of Troy; when Ambrosius sits at a desk covered with books and maps, and takes notes on parchment. I am sorry, but this was just not done. Nor were there convents at that early stage. People didn’t use plates, they used slices of bread as truncheons; and there were definitely no napkins. This might be a bit nitpicky and probably would not bother most readers, but I was rather spoiled by Bernard Cornwell’s meticulous historical research. (He knows just a bit too much about long bows and shield walls.)

It also annoys me when characters just do plain stupid things. If you were infiltrating the enemy and lied about whom you work for, would you be discussing your plans in great detail, naming names, places and dates, while in the house of your enemy? I wouldn’t - the chance of being overheard is roughly 87.5 percent. But clearly in the fifth century, risk assessment was not nearly so sophisticated. There were also some rather clunky scenes, like the one where Merlin’s mother is questioned and how easily they believe her.

Overall I rather enjoyed it, an entertaining tale for a mood for story-telling. ...more

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Sep 09, 2018 Viktoriya rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series, 2018

Told from Merlin's perspective, this is a tale of Merlin's life. It takes from his childhood, being a bastard without a father and a grandson to a King and ends on a night when the future King Arthur was conceived. It is so full of mystical and mysterious happenings that the reader doesn't even know what's real and what's not.
I found the writing a little inconsistent. Beginning of the novel had a nice pacing and a pleasant style of writing. Towards the middle, the writing style felt very differ ...more

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Sep 15, 2016 Bea rated it really liked it

What an interesting story! This is the story of Merlin - well, rather of the bastard son of a Welsh princess who would become the well-known Merlin.

I did keep trying to relate the names of the various rulers/pretenders to the King Arthur story I knew - mostly unsuccessfully. Perhaps book #2 will move the story more into the myth that I remember. Yet I did enjoy this back story of who Merlin was as a child and who his mentor was. I felt for this young man who was not accepted by his family and wh ...more

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