Rating: 
Summary: Great book
Review: I read it for an English class in Highschool and still can't forget it.
Descriptive and captivating.
A must-read classic!!!
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: I have read this book twice now and I am amazed at how great it was. Mary Stewart is so skilled a writer especially in the areas of description. Sometimes today, a few years after reading the book, out of the blue a picture comes to mind of some far away medieval or classical place. I ask myself what movie it could have come from and then I realize it is from a description of some place in the Crystal Cave or the following books in the same series. You can visualize everything so clearly with her technique.
This book alone made me interested in the Arthurian Legend and after reading it I began a long period of research on the topic, which led me to read other novels from the Arthurian Romance.
The characters in this book are also very well-developed and I found myself feeling sad when Merlin was sad and surprised when Merlin found something out and it was almost always Merlin who I sympathized with because the novel is written in the first person. At the end of the book I know that you will have to read the second one because it is a cliffhanger and you don't want to stop being iside of Merlin's head. You feel connected to him.
Although the book has the prophetic skill in the book it doesn't feel like anything impossible happens in the book. Everything seems like it could have happened that way. You are in no doubt that this book is absolute truth.
I would reccomend this book to anyone interested in the lifestyle of the older days, history, prophecy, or anything like that.
Rating: 
Summary: I don't see what all the hype is about
Review: A friend shoved this book into my hands, and as it was a hard back with the paper sleeve missing, I had no idea what it was. I opened it a few nights ago and began to read. I was hooked immediately. The writing style is very vivid and I was instantly interested in the characters. Weither you're into the Arthurian legend or not, this is a great book and I can't wait to read the whole series!
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Start
Review: Whenever I delve into a saga with sequels and prequels, the first book is the critical dertermining factor as to whether or not I continue the series. While I have read more compelling first books of the Arthurian legend, I did not find anything in this book to dissuade me from continuing onto Book Two. Merlin is honestly the single character in the Arthurian legend who holds very little interest for me. Much too much has been made of they legend and most stories stray into the realm of dragons and shape changing and such. Stewart is careful to keep Merlin in the realm of human life allowing him a sixth sense...and almost soothsayer-like ability ...but tempers it with a mystique that even Merlin does not understand nor control himself. I found the characters of Ambrosius and Uther well done; and I liked the connection between Merlin and Ambrosius. It finally gave a reason to Merlin's rational for being involved with these men at all...when often in the story it is clear he simply wishes for the simple life of a healer.So far, Igraine is developing well also - with a much stronger sense of herself than I think other authors have given her. She is not the typical "vessel for the birth of Arthur" and nothing more. I also find myself intrigued that no mention has yet been made of Morgause or Morgan. I'm eager to find out how they fit or do not fit into Stewart's telling of this old tale. Dialog seems to be realisitic - especially when it involves the slaves and servants. Stewart is descriptive but limits it to painting the backdrop and then moves on. Overly flowery and much too lengthy descriptions of scenery were a point I disliked in the Cornwell Warlord Trilogy books. I particularly like the descriptions of Tintagel. Having been there, I was able to build on my memories of the site and make it into an actual castle in my mind. Now - as I said -this was not the most compelling "first installment" I have ever read. In fact, I have opted to disrupt the continuation onto The Hollow Hills and will first read another novel - totally unrelated- that has come to my attention before I continue with the Stewart Series. That being said, I WILL continue...later.
| 
