Aug 31 2007
32/50 The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
The Crystal Cave (The Arthurian Saga, Book 1)
A year or two ago, a local bookstores was going out of business. As I browsed the clearance books for something cheap and interesting, I saw two discount books from Mary Stewart. I vaguely remembered reading something by her a long time ago and liking it so I picked them up. Lo and behold, these two books were books 3 and 4 in the series of hers that I had read 1 and 2 of. I bought them and eagerly went home to start them.
However, I quickly discovered that I remembered NOTHING about the first two books in the series (The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills) so I decided to backtrack and re-read those books (which I had originally read in 6th grade). I have been carrying The Crystal Cave around with me for a very long time now, on each trip when I might have a chance to read, and have had zero interest in starting it. On our recent beach vacation, in which I foolishly brought only 3 books, two of which were Lloyd Alexander which I have a tendency to blow right through because I enjoy them, so I was finally forced to start The Crystal Cave or die of boredom.
I was only a few chapters in when I remembered why I had loved this book the first time through. It’s the Arthur legend from the perspective of Merlin (starting with him as a small boy). In fact, by the end of The Crystal Cave, Arthur is only an infant so its The Hollow Hills that really starts the whole legend. Mary Stewart has a great writing style that manages to be funny and epic at the same time and her Merlin is a very likable character. So much of his "magic" is smoke and mirrors and the way she plays with that is great. Once I finally got started, I blew right through this book as well and I eagerly await re-reading the next book and then moving on to 3 and 4.
Hillary is an award winning playwright, fiction and non-fiction author best known for her play, The Love of Three Oranges which has been performed around the world. A Script Frenzy and NaNoWriMo ML, she loves connecting with other writers no matter what their experience levels. For the business side of blogging, publishing and selling, visit Hillary at The Whine Seller. See a complete list of Hillary’s blogs and books here.
