The crystal cave.

I really loved this.

I had read a review that made me hesitant as it doesn't deal with women nicely as there are no "good" women and some not so great, but really the woman are not dealt with much at all as they are in the background. This is in the 5th century and dealt with the men. I believe the women were commodities pretty much and here they rarely played a part other than Merlin believing at some point that he had to reject the advances of one.

So this starts with Merlin as a lad and not knowing who his father was but his mother was the daughter of the King of Wales. It goes until the conception of Arthur. There is an epilogue to say where the story goes from there and a passage telling of the story that lead to this interpretation and fiction, then a little note from the author on where her names and ideas came from and background. I felt like this rounded out the story. I could now read on with the next 2 in the trilogy but feel like I got the story ahead.

The author weaves a story so vivid that you can imagine the people and places. You understand the thoughts of the characters, mainly Merlin and the direction that he decides to go. She paints Merlin as a seer that inflates his power, though usually it is others that do it for him. At a point, he starts to realize he needs to direct some of the future happenings and we are along for the ride. He does find out about his conception finally and it actually puts him on a path and on a side.

I loved the whole concept of how his myth was truly and how it became the legend.

Finally read after over 20 years of having a book given to me from a friend, probably in the late 90s.

I really enjoyed this spin on the Merlin legend. While I don't usually enjoy books with so few women I have to admit this one had me hooked. If you're at all into things-Camelot you need to read this book.