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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.

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