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Merlin #1
Merlin: Part 1 - The Old Magic
A TIMELESS EPIC, A NEW CLASSIC FOR ALL AGES -- MERLIN
"Once upon a time...no, no, that's not the way to start. You'll think this is a fairy tale. And it isn't".
In the terrible years of tyrants and invaders, England's surviving pagans cry out for help to their deity -- and Mab, Queen of the Faery realms, creates for them a champion.
Merlin. Half human, half Magic; raised in the love of his foster mother, Ambrosia, trained in sorcery by the gnome Frick, destined by Mab to lead England back to the Old Ways. But Mab, once beloved, has grown selfish and cruel, so Merlin turns against her.
And their war of magic will change the world.
"Once upon a time...no, no, that's not the way to start. You'll think this is a fairy tale. And it isn't".
In the terrible years of tyrants and invaders, England's surviving pagans cry out for help to their deity -- and Mab, Queen of the Faery realms, creates for them a champion.
Merlin. Half human, half Magic; raised in the love of his foster mother, Ambrosia, trained in sorcery by the gnome Frick, destined by Mab to lead England back to the Old Ways. But Mab, once beloved, has grown selfish and cruel, so Merlin turns against her.
And their war of magic will change the world.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published August 1, 1999
10 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
James Mallory
35 books93 followersJames Mallory is a professional ghostwriter with several books to his credit. Under his own name, he wrote the three-part novelization of the Hallmark Merlin miniseries: The Old Magic, The King's Wizard, and The End of Magic.
James was born in San Francisco and attended schools in California and the Midwest, before moving to New York to pursue a career in writing. He has held an assortment of jobs in the publishing industry, but has been fortunate enough to devote his full time to writing for a number of years, including the opportunity to collaborate with Mercedes Lackey on the critically-acclaimed Obsidian Mountain trilogy. Their partnership will continue with the upcoming Enduring Flame trilogy.
From an early age, James has been fascinated both with the Arthurian legends and their historical evolution, an avocation which triggered a lifelong interest in fantasy literature. He also enjoys studying medieval and European history, comparative religion, and the iconography and symbology of traditional folk legends. His other interests include hiking and cinema.
James resides in California with his faithful companion Diogenes, who is no less philosophical for being canine-American.
James was born in San Francisco and attended schools in California and the Midwest, before moving to New York to pursue a career in writing. He has held an assortment of jobs in the publishing industry, but has been fortunate enough to devote his full time to writing for a number of years, including the opportunity to collaborate with Mercedes Lackey on the critically-acclaimed Obsidian Mountain trilogy. Their partnership will continue with the upcoming Enduring Flame trilogy.
From an early age, James has been fascinated both with the Arthurian legends and their historical evolution, an avocation which triggered a lifelong interest in fantasy literature. He also enjoys studying medieval and European history, comparative religion, and the iconography and symbology of traditional folk legends. His other interests include hiking and cinema.
James resides in California with his faithful companion Diogenes, who is no less philosophical for being canine-American.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 21, 2024
Never knew there was a novelisation of the 1998 Merlin series until I found these books in a secondhand bookshop in New Zealand... The first fleshes out Merlin's childhood and tuition in magic more than the show did, along with a bit more expansion into British mythology and lore... A bit slow in places but still a good read...
February 27, 2023
I am going to preface this with a disclaimer: I did graduate work in Arthurian literature and know the source material extremely well: Welsh, French, and, of course, Sir Thomas Malory. I have a sort of canon in mind for the characters and plot points of any modern treatment of the Arthurian cycle, and that shades some of my poor attitude toward this work.
Now, that said, for the average fan of fantasy fiction, my review can be taken with a grain of salt because it comes from someone with preconceived expectations for treatments of the Matter of Britain. The introduction of the gnome, Frik, lends an element of whimsy and fun to the story. He is probably one of the better supporting characters created specifically for this novel. The scene in which Mab uses magic to conceive Merlin upon the young Grail Guardian Elissa is evocative, and the gravitas with which Mab selfishly corrects Ambrosia after snatching the infant Merlin from the womb of a dying Elissa, "She's not dying! She's dead!" is particularly grand, leaving the reader with a full understanding of her dark character. I channeled Miranda Richardson's portrayal of this scene as I read it yet again. I could actually see the actors from the miniseries this novel was based on.
Now, for my gripes:
Vortigern portrayed as a Saxon ground my gears. Now, the legends of Arthur are born out of history, but most of the characters were steeped in myth, lived during other times than the one portrayed in the legends, or were completely fabricated whole cloth (despite the medieval tendency of writers to swear that they didn't do that). One figure we know is directly out of history is Vortigern, and he wasn't a Saxon. He was a Briton. Known as Vortigern the Traitor because he INVITED the Saxons to the British shores after the Roman legions withdrew from Britain and informed the Britons in 410 that Rome had its own problems, and Britain would have to look to its own defenses. I would have preferred Vortigern to be portrayed as a British king who colluded with the Saxons. That is how I would have portrayed him if I were writing my own adaptation of the Arthurian cycle.
The other major gripe I have is how the author seemed to use the catalog of names of heroes from various heroes of Arthur as just that - a box from which to randomly apply names to characters. As I recognized a name from one of the many tales I have read over the years, I lamented that it was nothing more than an empty name for yet another extra used by the author. I think Mallory could have achieved more effective gravitas had he sourced British and Saxon names and left the known names alone.
The novel ends with Merlin having just arrived at the construction site of Vortigern's new fortress, which has had the unfortunate circumstance of falling every night after work is done. We have Vortigern's tyrannical character reinforced here, as he thinks to himself that he already knows that nothing the engineers can do will keep the fortress supported, but he has simply started executing engineers for the heck of it. This is actually a pretty poignant depiction of the villain of the novel. So, Part I ends with a cliffhanger to be picked up in Part II, which I will review apace in a couple of days.
Just one word of caution: if you aren't a stickler for the Arthurian Cycle, you might like this book a little better than I did. So, my two stars might be worth more like three for you.
Now, that said, for the average fan of fantasy fiction, my review can be taken with a grain of salt because it comes from someone with preconceived expectations for treatments of the Matter of Britain. The introduction of the gnome, Frik, lends an element of whimsy and fun to the story. He is probably one of the better supporting characters created specifically for this novel. The scene in which Mab uses magic to conceive Merlin upon the young Grail Guardian Elissa is evocative, and the gravitas with which Mab selfishly corrects Ambrosia after snatching the infant Merlin from the womb of a dying Elissa, "She's not dying! She's dead!" is particularly grand, leaving the reader with a full understanding of her dark character. I channeled Miranda Richardson's portrayal of this scene as I read it yet again. I could actually see the actors from the miniseries this novel was based on.
Now, for my gripes:
Vortigern portrayed as a Saxon ground my gears. Now, the legends of Arthur are born out of history, but most of the characters were steeped in myth, lived during other times than the one portrayed in the legends, or were completely fabricated whole cloth (despite the medieval tendency of writers to swear that they didn't do that). One figure we know is directly out of history is Vortigern, and he wasn't a Saxon. He was a Briton. Known as Vortigern the Traitor because he INVITED the Saxons to the British shores after the Roman legions withdrew from Britain and informed the Britons in 410 that Rome had its own problems, and Britain would have to look to its own defenses. I would have preferred Vortigern to be portrayed as a British king who colluded with the Saxons. That is how I would have portrayed him if I were writing my own adaptation of the Arthurian cycle.
The other major gripe I have is how the author seemed to use the catalog of names of heroes from various heroes of Arthur as just that - a box from which to randomly apply names to characters. As I recognized a name from one of the many tales I have read over the years, I lamented that it was nothing more than an empty name for yet another extra used by the author. I think Mallory could have achieved more effective gravitas had he sourced British and Saxon names and left the known names alone.
The novel ends with Merlin having just arrived at the construction site of Vortigern's new fortress, which has had the unfortunate circumstance of falling every night after work is done. We have Vortigern's tyrannical character reinforced here, as he thinks to himself that he already knows that nothing the engineers can do will keep the fortress supported, but he has simply started executing engineers for the heck of it. This is actually a pretty poignant depiction of the villain of the novel. So, Part I ends with a cliffhanger to be picked up in Part II, which I will review apace in a couple of days.
Just one word of caution: if you aren't a stickler for the Arthurian Cycle, you might like this book a little better than I did. So, my two stars might be worth more like three for you.
July 8, 2017
I should admit, my high rating of this series is more to do with the fact that I am a massive fangirl of the miniseries that this is based on, rather than any particular qualities of the books themselves. Not to say that they are bad as stand alone books, but I wouldn't say that they were spectacular either- it could definitely have used a bit of proof reading in parts (Merlin, at one point, seems to have gotten confused as to when he last saw Mab in Book 3, for example, and the way the final battle is written seems a bit at odds with how it is portrayed in the actual series).
For fans of the miniseries, these are definitely worth a read, particularly Book 1 and 3, as there are a lot of "extra scenes", if you will, which make interesting additions, and it's fun to see inside the heads of some of the characters. Book 2 is probably the weakest, as it contains the majority of the actual televised story (running from around halfway through Episode 1 to halfway through Episode 2), and so is mostly a direct screen-to-page translation, with little room for anything else. I think it perhaps would have benefited by being stretched into another book, but maybe that's just me.
But, yes. Overall, definitely worth a read if you are a fan of the series- it's hard to say otherwise.
For fans of the miniseries, these are definitely worth a read, particularly Book 1 and 3, as there are a lot of "extra scenes", if you will, which make interesting additions, and it's fun to see inside the heads of some of the characters. Book 2 is probably the weakest, as it contains the majority of the actual televised story (running from around halfway through Episode 1 to halfway through Episode 2), and so is mostly a direct screen-to-page translation, with little room for anything else. I think it perhaps would have benefited by being stretched into another book, but maybe that's just me.
But, yes. Overall, definitely worth a read if you are a fan of the series- it's hard to say otherwise.
January 13, 2016
I think it is a surprisingly good film-to-book adaptation. Most adaptions are absolute crap and word-for-word. The first half of book #1 is new material not seen in the film. (books #2-3 are mostly verbatim.) Most of book #1 takes place in the Land of Magic, which is awesome, because I wished we had seen more of Mab's world in the film. I think the books would be reasonably enjoyable if you haven't seen the movie, but really, everyone who reads these books is doing so probably because they are an uber-fan who wants every last detail they can find. It's all still mainly from Merlin's biased point of view, of course. I need someone to write an entire Mab-centric series please.
May 29, 2017
Part of a wonderful trilogy that was written based on the Hallmark movie. These books flush out both Merlin and Arthur's story from the beginnings of Merlin's life till the end of Arthur's. This first book focuses on Merlin's early life, his family, how he meets his worst enemy and his greatest love. This trilogy goes into so much more depth and characterization which is wonderful. Merlin's origin story is slightly different in this version than anything else I have read or seen, but the uniqueness is what makes it creative. Merlin's life's course is established in this book based on what happens to him, we get to follow that course in books two and three.
May 19, 2014
Some books are like old friends - nice to get acquainted again, good sir!
This book was one of my childhood favorites, and despite it being written to accompany the (also marvellous) BBC mini-series 'Merlin', the writer manages to mix screen-to-paper-scenes with Arthurian and other legends. It may not be a jewel regarding style, but well worth the time for anyone who wishes to be served a fresh view on the Arthur legend.
This book was one of my childhood favorites, and despite it being written to accompany the (also marvellous) BBC mini-series 'Merlin', the writer manages to mix screen-to-paper-scenes with Arthurian and other legends. It may not be a jewel regarding style, but well worth the time for anyone who wishes to be served a fresh view on the Arthur legend.
November 29, 2013
Based on an NBC miniseries, this first of three novelizations has better writing than usual for a book based on a TV show. See my review of the entire trilogy here:
http://rwlreviews.blogspot.com/2013/0...
http://rwlreviews.blogspot.com/2013/0...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews