Synopsis (from Goodreads):
A strange meteorite.
A deadly enchantment.
And only Merlin can destroy it.
A meteorite brings a mysterious black stone whose sinister power ensnares everyone except Merlin, the blind son of a swordsmith. Soon, all of Britain will be under its power, and he must destroy the stone—or die trying. (Released April 16th)
Now something
you might not know about me is that I love Arthurian legend. I have read heaps
of different books and watched plenty of movies and tv shows that are centred
on Arthurian legend, so I went into this book with high expectations and I was
not disappointed.
This book is the
first in the series and I felt that it was the perfect balance of setting up
the world and leading to greater events, and probably the more well-known part
of the myths. In this book, Merlin is only 18 years old, Arthur is around one
year of age and Uther is still the High King of Briton. Although this book was
used for setting up the world and the greater events, it was still action packed
and well written.
I loved how
Merlin was a half-blind, son of a blacksmith. He wasn’t anyone well known to
the world, and even someone who was looked down on by the people in his
village. I felt that this was a different take to the story. I also found it different
that Merlin was a Christian instead of being a warlock and maybe aligning himself
to the Druids. I felt that it was original and I liked how it added something
new.
I really liked
the amount that religion played in the storyline. Simply put, and without
giving too much away, it was Christianity versus the pagan religion of the
Druids. I found the spiritual battle between the two to be very intriguing.
Again, I felt it added something different to the legend.
I loved how well
written the characters in this story were. The good characters were easy to
relate to and sympathise with, and yet I often found myself at least feeling
sorry for some of the bad characters, because I understood the reasoning behind
their decisions. I loved how some characters redeemed themselves. I also loved
watching the characters grow throughout their different trials, particularly
Merlin as he came to terms to what was going on in his village.
I felt that the
plot was interesting and surprising. There were a few times throughout the book
where I would just have to put it down in shock at what was revealed,
particularly with the revelations of Owain’s (Merlin’s father) past. I also
felt that the ending was really well timed. It wasn’t rushed and tidy and yet
it wasn’t drawn out and too complex either. I thought that the story was really
well paced.
If I had to say
anything bad about this book, it would be that some of the dialogue was written
for the accent and so at times it was a little hard to understand what some of
the characters were saying. However, that was just a small annoyance of mine.
Finally, on a quick note, I just want to say how great this cover is. It has so many aspects that relate to the story and I really like it.
I felt that this
was a good set-up to the series, and yet also a fast-paced and action packed
book. I am looking forward to the release of the sequel, Merlin’s Shadow, in
September. I give this book 5/5 stars.
I received a
copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review.
Mel.
Up next: Seven on Saturday - Favourite Male Characters
