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Merlin's Legacy #4
Shadows of Camelot
Warrior and sorcerer Truan is sent back in time to the side of Merlin the magician, where, armed with the sword Excalibur, the Holy Grail, and the Prophecy of Cassandra, he struggles to save the life of the woman he loves. Original.
319 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1997
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203 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 14, 2019
Yep, my defining memory of this book is completely accurate: underwater sex that involves Truan using magic to breathe for Amber. Once you read that as an impressionable thirteen year old...
Anyway, even though this was the book I remembered most clearly , I actually prefer Cassandra's book over this, in part because all of the "development" between Truan and Amber happens in Cassandra's book, according to the author, so none of it actually happens from their perspectives in this one. It's completely cheating, because a truly great romance would have been about Truan making up for his asshole behavior... and instead . But Truan remains a Defining Hero for me (give me all of the tortured man pain about not being good enough!), so I still enjoyed it overall.
Mostly because I also really lived for the drama of a Secret Child, Guinevere, the appearance of the actual Camelot, even though , the hilarity of all the sisters together, the actual sadness I experienced over , and my feelings of hilarious disbelief when .
So, I basically liked the book for everything beyond the actual main couple. Now I'm just curious about the very last book in the series, as I don't think I'll bother with the next... and update: just kidding. Apparently the last book is about Meg's daughter, who, as far as I know, we never meet, so I don't really care? Okay, I'm satisfied!
Anyway, even though this was the book I remembered most clearly , I actually prefer Cassandra's book over this, in part because all of the "development" between Truan and Amber happens in Cassandra's book, according to the author, so none of it actually happens from their perspectives in this one. It's completely cheating, because a truly great romance would have been about Truan making up for his asshole behavior... and instead . But Truan remains a Defining Hero for me (give me all of the tortured man pain about not being good enough!), so I still enjoyed it overall.
Mostly because I also really lived for the drama of a Secret Child, Guinevere, the appearance of the actual Camelot, even though , the hilarity of all the sisters together, the actual sadness I experienced over , and my feelings of hilarious disbelief when .
So, I basically liked the book for everything beyond the actual main couple. Now I'm just curious about the very last book in the series, as I don't think I'll bother with the next... and update: just kidding. Apparently the last book is about Meg's daughter, who, as far as I know, we never meet, so I don't really care? Okay, I'm satisfied!
April 23, 2024
Truly a romance for the ages
Excellent expansion on the legends of Camelot, King Arthur, his Queen Guinevere, and the mythical heroes of the Round Table.
Once more, I request a proof reader. There are errors that can and should be caught!
Excellent expansion on the legends of Camelot, King Arthur, his Queen Guinevere, and the mythical heroes of the Round Table.
Once more, I request a proof reader. There are errors that can and should be caught!
January 1, 2026
Awesome
Wonderful story, keep going, it's like being 13 again and reading Camelot the first time! Love it, love it,love it!
Wonderful story, keep going, it's like being 13 again and reading Camelot the first time! Love it, love it,love it!
April 15, 2025
Scarred emotionally by her family's traumatic murder, the heroine has relapsed into silence, not speaking a word since the slaughter. For a time, the hero was a source of truly happiness for her. His magic tricks, no matter how silly or childish, made her smile and in him she found a true friend. The issue soon became her developing feelings for the man they call the fool. Gone was the innocence in matter such as love and she looked to him as a man rather than a boy. He was the first and only man to inspire these feelings within her, especially considering her rape and torture at the hands of the men who ruined her life. But she regrets this change within her heart because after one brief but intense kiss, he turned his back to her. No longer was he the friend she relied upon, he is now a perfect stranger. He speaks only when he must and his words are hurtful and cause her a great deal of pain to hear his low opinion of her. One day, while in the woods, she is attacked and savaging wounded by a wolf. She is saved by another wolf but does not remember that her savior turned into the form of a man before she lost consciousness.
The hero loves the heroine with a passion that sets his blood on fire. He knows she cares for him and he can't ignore the hopeful and innocent come hither eyes she casts his way but there's a reason he went cold to her. He can't risk her discovering the truth, that he is a shapeshifter and that the man she once knew and loved is nothing but a monster. But when the heroine is kidnapped and brought back through a time portal to the time of Kind Arthur, the hero doesn't hesitate to travel back to fetch her. He didn't count on arriving in Camelot to the heroine who had lost her memory and therefore her terror at speaking. To hear her voice is like magic to him and he truly fears returning her to their time if it will only take that spark of happiness from her eyes. Lost in the games of court and the characters of the round table, the hero must find the source of the evil darkness lurking in the fabled city and also come to terms with his love for the heroine. He must realize that to save her life, he may have to reveal his horrible secret and the idea of her turning those pretty eyes his way in disgust is almost too much to bare but the idea of her not in his world is torture.
Okay. When I started this book, for a moment I began to wonder why I remembered this story as not so good because I was so into the start of it. The tortured heroine, lost in a world of silence and innocence lost. She was sweet and kind and selfless and every time the hero turned those callous words her way it made me horribly sad. She loved him and she didn't understand what she had done to make him hate her so. The hero in turn was cold for a reason. He feared the discovery of his wolf and as such, to save himself and her the pain of love lost in future, he decided to turn his back on her. A rash decision perhaps and a tad dramatic but he thought it best. I could see the novel start to develop and I anticipated the reunion of these two damage people who could be so special together....And then, the time travel happened and I remember what was wrong with this book. The main issue, the plot was so not about the hero and heroine's love. Sure that was a part but the story focused a lot on the myth of Arthur and Guinevere. The story deviated away from what I wanted most to read about- the romance. The heroine lost her vulnerability because she lost her memories and yes it was merciful of the author for taking them and for the hero for allowing them to remain hidden but it caused the heroine to become generic. I lost the interest I had at the start and it never recovered. The story itself was horribly disjointed and the POV and plotline jumped from one person to the next and I found it become muddled. I was disappointed with this book because I felt it could have been so much better. As it is, I didn't hate this book but It's not something that interests me in future.
The hero loves the heroine with a passion that sets his blood on fire. He knows she cares for him and he can't ignore the hopeful and innocent come hither eyes she casts his way but there's a reason he went cold to her. He can't risk her discovering the truth, that he is a shapeshifter and that the man she once knew and loved is nothing but a monster. But when the heroine is kidnapped and brought back through a time portal to the time of Kind Arthur, the hero doesn't hesitate to travel back to fetch her. He didn't count on arriving in Camelot to the heroine who had lost her memory and therefore her terror at speaking. To hear her voice is like magic to him and he truly fears returning her to their time if it will only take that spark of happiness from her eyes. Lost in the games of court and the characters of the round table, the hero must find the source of the evil darkness lurking in the fabled city and also come to terms with his love for the heroine. He must realize that to save her life, he may have to reveal his horrible secret and the idea of her turning those pretty eyes his way in disgust is almost too much to bare but the idea of her not in his world is torture.
Okay. When I started this book, for a moment I began to wonder why I remembered this story as not so good because I was so into the start of it. The tortured heroine, lost in a world of silence and innocence lost. She was sweet and kind and selfless and every time the hero turned those callous words her way it made me horribly sad. She loved him and she didn't understand what she had done to make him hate her so. The hero in turn was cold for a reason. He feared the discovery of his wolf and as such, to save himself and her the pain of love lost in future, he decided to turn his back on her. A rash decision perhaps and a tad dramatic but he thought it best. I could see the novel start to develop and I anticipated the reunion of these two damage people who could be so special together....And then, the time travel happened and I remember what was wrong with this book. The main issue, the plot was so not about the hero and heroine's love. Sure that was a part but the story focused a lot on the myth of Arthur and Guinevere. The story deviated away from what I wanted most to read about- the romance. The heroine lost her vulnerability because she lost her memories and yes it was merciful of the author for taking them and for the hero for allowing them to remain hidden but it caused the heroine to become generic. I lost the interest I had at the start and it never recovered. The story itself was horribly disjointed and the POV and plotline jumped from one person to the next and I found it become muddled. I was disappointed with this book because I felt it could have been so much better. As it is, I didn't hate this book but It's not something that interests me in future.
January 7, 2026
This was the book I remember enjoying the least when I first read the series in my teens, and one of the ones I skipped when revisiting them in my twenties. Finally picking it up again as a full-fledged adult, I have to admit that my younger self had the right idea. This book is the weakest out of all of them by far. It’s truly a shame, because the set up for Truan’s story in the previous book is probably the best in the series—as it had to be, to knock my guy Gavin from his rightful place in line as Next Protagonist—and Amber brings several elements to the story that I have never seen utilized by a main character in a romance novel. Sadly, all of that is squandered. Amber herself is barely a character in what is entirely Truan’s story. Which is not uninteresting one to be fair, but it is brought down by this lack of balance between the two leads, which is especially unfortunate when giving Amber more attention and more agency would have likely been the only way to navigate the extremely tricky territory this story drifts into in terms of consent while still winding up in the emotional place the narrative seems to wants us to be by the end.
And of course, I have arranged my takeaway thoughts on the story itself into a haiku, as is my way:
"Sometimes new chapters
Are bought with omissions that
Can undo it all."
And of course, I have arranged my takeaway thoughts on the story itself into a haiku, as is my way:
"Sometimes new chapters
Are bought with omissions that
Can undo it all."
August 17, 2021
Fjerde og siste boka på norsk. Gjensyn med Truan og Amber fra forrige bok, her får vi vite hvem Truan egentlig er, og ikke minst hva han kan. Nesten en av de beste bøkene av de fire, særlig på grunn av mellomshistorien med Arthur, Guinevere og Merlin.
Synd at de to siste bøkene ikke er oversatt, men sånn er det nå en gang.
Synd at de to siste bøkene ikke er oversatt, men sånn er det nå en gang.
January 29, 2012
These have always been all right. This one had more... well, sex in it. At least it seemed so to me, and since that's what you read a romance novel for, a little better than the predecessors.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews