Tomorrow's Magic

New Magic Trilogy #1-2

by Pamela F. Service

It's 500 years after the nuclear holocaust that devastated the earth's population and left the few survivors dealing with unending winter. At their remote British boarding school, Wellington Jones and Heather McKenna
have a lot in common. Both are misfits trying to avoid attention, and both are fascinated by Earl, a tall, calm, older boy with no recollection of his past, but a remarkable knack for showing up when he is needed most.

When a blow to the head brings Earl's memory back, he claims that he is actually Merlin . . . a 2000-year-old wizard.

Originally published in two volumes in the mid-1980s, Pamela F. Service's creative, futuristic spin on the Camelot legend will appeal to Arthurian purists and fantasy lovers alike.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Arthurian, Adventure, Magic, Childrens, Fiction

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Born in Berkeley, California, Pamela F. Service grew up loving to hear, read, and tell stories - particularly about weird stuff. Pamela earned a BA in Political Science from UC Berkeley followed by an MA in history and archaeology from the University of London.

She spent many years living in Bloomington, Indiana, writing, serving on the city council, and being curator of a history museum. She has a grown daughter, Alex, who is also a museum curator. Pamela is now living in Eureka, California, where she writes, works as a museum curator, and acts in community theater.

Reviews

[Foggygirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is actually two books that were first published in 1985 and 1987 but they were re-released in 2007 as one volume for which I am profoundly grateful! The action takes place approximately 500 years in the future after the world has expierenced a nuclear devastation and the world has been knocked back technologically about 1000 years. Into this "dark age" of Britain tales of King Arthur, Merlin and Morgan La fay still survive and three young heros go on a quest to return the High King to this devastated landscape. It was a very intriging story and I look forward to reading the next two books in the series.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was originally two books, Winter of Magic's Return and Tomorrow's Magic. Winter of Magic's Return, but not the sequel, was in my library growing up and I read it at least once. It made enough of an impression that as an adult I've decided to seek it out. I was surprised to find that shortly after the first book came out, there had been a sequel--and now it's been expanded into a trilogy, with the original two books combined to make the first book of the trilogy. The first book has held up well, though the combination of the two is awkward. A quartet would have been better (though thrown off the title pattern Service uses).

The premise is that the nations of the world became involved in World War III, a nuclear war, wiping out much of the world's population. Britain disarmed before the war started, and only London was hit, leaving a small population to adapt to the high radiation levels and ensuing nuclear winter. Set 500 years after this Devastation, life has reverted to feudalism, with Britain divided up into small warring kingdoms.

Two misfits (Welly Jones and Heather McKenna) at a Welsh boarding school for the children of the new nobility befriend another misfit, the strangely pale Earl Bedwas who has no memory of his past before the age of 7, when he was found outside a mining accident, and brought to the school. Earl is secretly Merlin, trapped in a cave and surviving the eons by aging backwards and forwards over and over again. Once his memory is restored, he sets off with Welly and Heather to bring King Arthur back in the hour of Britain's greatest need. Morgan Le Fay, who was survived through dark magics, is preparing to complete the destruction humanity brought on itself. Merlin, Welly, and Heather beat her back and bring Arthur back from Avalon. Here endeth book 1.

There is a very rough transitional paragraph between books 1 and 2, to attempt to smooth over the differences in books previously published separately. There is a jump forward in time, and we learn that Arthur has established his court in Keswick and is working to unite Britain through diplomacy and war. Meanwhile, Welly is developing into a warrior, though he is increasingly sidelined in favor of Merlin and Heather, and Heather is discovering her own magical abilities with animals. Merlin is frustrated by the changes in how magic works and sets off alone to find a silver bowl he used to scry in the past. Welly and Heather set out after him, and help rescue him from Heather's mother and stepfather, who have captured him at the behest of Morgan Le Fay. They flee the castle, but not before Heather has been given an amulet by her mother, claiming it's a family heirloom. Merlin finds the bowl, which is less helpful than he'd hoped. Heather, who has been torn between a normal life vs the lonely isolation of being a magic user, finally decides to embrace her powers. But the amulet was actually one of Morgan Le Fay's, and she uses it to lure Heather and Welly into a trap, while also fooling Merlin into believing Heather chose "normalcy" over magic--and him. Luckily this part isn't too drawn out, and Merlin chases after his friends, who have been sent back in time to the day of the Devastation. He brings them back to the 26th century, and figures out Morgan Le Fay's plan in the meantime--to use the souls of those who died as her army of the dead--and uses the new magic, based on people and love, to send them to rest.

The writing is solid--the characters feel like people, and the story is fresh and original despite some cliche plot elements like the big nasty bully at the school. Very enjoyable still.

[Liana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this! This is the second volume to the awesome dystopian King Arthur series. The story really focuses a lot on Heather this time and her mysterious bond with animals, which is really cool. John Wesley joining their bandwagon was a nice pleasant surprise too! But sad about his family back at home... and sadder yet when HE FREAKING GETS KILL!!! WHYYYYY?! He needed more epic time! This book has the world’s cutest troll in it by the way.

Tomorrow's Magic is a great middle grade read, but the rude usage of the ‘B’ word surprised me for this age level. A lot of things in this book would probably appeal more to young adults, now that I think of it... XD

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story got off to a pretty good start. After that it was vaguely entertaining. I felt that the plot didn't reall seem to have a point. The story just wandered around. I kept reading because I felt it really had potential, it just never quite seemed to reach that potential.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was very imaginative and very funny in parts. It was well- developed and I hope to read more of this author's books.

[Melissa McShane · Rating 4 out of 5]

For an explanation of why I read this book, click here.

I bought this in omnibus on Kindle, which turned out to be convenient. Having finished Winter of Magic's Return, I moved on to the sequel. Here, King Arthur has established his court and is working on regaining power and uniting a fractured Great Britain in this postapocalyptic landscape. His chief wizard Merlin has recovered from the amnesia that cost him his magic, and even though he's now a teenager, he's still quite powerful. Heather and Welly, Merlin's friends from before he regained his memories, are also high in Arthur's confidences. But Arthur's enemy Morgan Le Fay is still out there, and between her threat and the constant warfare, the three teens face more challenges than before.

This was about as good as the first one, which means it was entertaining and action-packed. Service does a good job establishing that Merlin, though many centuries old, is currently physically a teenager and subject to mood swings and irrationality. This is important because Merlin falls in love with Heather, who is fourteen and in my opinion way too young for him regardless of his physical age, but whatever. Their romance is awkward in the way only a teenage romance could be, and I found it charming.

The ending, in which Heather and Welly are cast out of their own time by Morgan Le Fay, feels a little rushed until you realize there's another book in the series. I think Service gave a lot more thought to her worldbuilding than is immediately obvious, and the ending works really well.

I'm not sure I'm interested in continuing, partly because the ending is wrapped up decently and partly because I have a ton of other books to read. But this was worth picking up.

[Fainne Firmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

These two books were, erm, uh - um - how do I put this - okay.

Now, I utterly love the whole "return of King Arthur in the future" thing. I've got a WIP on it. So I love the concept, this just didn't quite do things right. It's not bad, it's just . . . I think it's the writing.

To start off with, the summary made me think Welly would at least be the MC, if not Merlin reincarnated. He is neither of those things, and he gets less prominent the more the two books progress. Instead it focuses more on Merlin and Heather, which is fine. They're not bad characters. Nor is the plot they have to go through bad.

I really think the problem is the writing. When I think about the bones of the books, it all works. It should be good. But it's just 'meh'. The writing gives very little description, just a few lines here and there, which might be okay if the rest wasn't "this happened. that happened. Merlin had an existential crisis. then he had an epiphany." It's a lot of telling and very little showing, I guess. I mean that's not quite the right way to describe it, but I'm not sure how else to.

Basically these two books work on paper as concepts, but the lackluster writing means it was passable. There's nothing epic or grand about it. It's a shame.

If you're like me and love the "return of king Arthur" (future or present doesn't matter) or King Arthur in general and you want to get away from the 5 million takes on his life, then it won't be a waste of your time. It does provide a slightly different spin than one is used to, but unless you really feel a need to read them (I did - one again, there's that WIP of mine) I would advise you to save a little money. It's probably not worth it.

[Curt Bobbitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This third-person narration describes the military campaign of a (presumed) returned or reincarnated King Arthur Pendragon on the island of the former Britain after a devastating worldwide war. In an unspecified way, Merlin has also reappeared as Earl Bedwas who has a vague memory of his previous life as Arthur's supporter. Morgan has also survived and schemes for world control, supported by muties and other villainous creatures. Heather McKenna, a 14-year-old young woman, has nascent magical powers, which she gradually accesses to help Earl/Merlin. Another young character, Kyle O'Mara, attaches himself to Arthur as a harper and storyteller. A troll strongly resembling Smeagol/Gollum from Lord of the Rings attaches himself to Earl/Merlin, providing access to otherworldly creatures that oppose Morgan. At the end of the novel, Arthur's forces have defeated Morgan.

[Evalyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really really really enjoyed that. I was worried when I was getting close to the end and things didn't seem to be wrapping up (despite the next book being out and immediately available through Kindle, I was still worried about a cliffhanger!) but I was pleasantly surprised when things were wrapped up rather neatly. Now to go get the next book!

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable! I was revisiting an old favorite, and the reread was just as good as the first time. In the time between reads, I have also had the opportunity to become more familiar with the region discussed in the book, which made some of the traveling sections even more interesting!

[Magda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Post-apocalyptic Arturian adventure. The first book is more from Welly's perspective, and the second book from Heather's and Merlin's. I was woefully underprepared in terms of British geography and needed a map of the counties to figure out a significant portion of the goings-on.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover of this book is what got my attention when I saw it in a thrift store. I find I am often drawn to books by their cover art more than anything. It worked well in this case.

Imagine a post apocalyptic world in which only a handful of the human race exist. Those that survived the fallout from the nuclear war are mostly mutated. There are some that are normal. Now imagine the legends of King Arthur and Merlin coming alive in order to restore the world.

This book brings magic back to a dying world and helps give a glimpse into a world after a nuclear fallout. It isn't pretty. But can they do it? There are also some surprise twists and turns added in to keep the story moving.

Recommended for the younger crowd or the young at heart. I love mythology, and Arthurian legends are always great. Very detail oriented writing and does get caught up in descriptions occasionally, but I found it easy to imagine the world and be more immersed into it.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun book, especially because it combines my love for post-apocalyptic fantasy stories with my love for King Arthur. It's five hundred years after the nuclear war known as the Devastation, and the British Isles are slowly recovering. Thankfully the UK disarmed, so only London got hit directly. Things are pretty rough for everyone, but at least their still alive, and there's even a school where nobles are taught pre-Devastation history, science, and literature so they can rule over their petty kingdoms some day. At this school are Welly, Heather, and Earl, three seemingly ordinary kids who, of course, go off on a magical adventure when they discover Earl is actually an amnesiac Merlin. It seems that Merlin managed to survive his imprisonment and was recently released as the age of magic is returning to the world. Now he and his friends must first find King Arthur and then help him restore unity to Britain. All three protagonists are interesting characters with flaws that make them fun to read about. Welly is fat and nearsighted, so he can never become the warrior he wants to be. He makes up for this with devotion to his friends and a study of tactics. Heather wishes she was beautiful and loved because her family rejects her. And Earl has to deal not only with seeing how far humanity has fallen, but with the feelings that he shouldn't become close to anyone for fear of repeating his affair with Nimue. Arthur is also fun, even if he's somewhat distant. I like that he and Merlin discuss how badly things turned out the first time and what they can do to make it better this time around. Plus, I like having Morganna around as the villain. She also wants to unite the world, but only so she can rule it with an iron fist. The plots are generally fetch quest sort of affairs, but there's some nice bits of the heroes meeting both the post-apocalyptic survivors and the returning creatures of Faerie. There are some fun battles, and a brilliant and moving sequence towards the end of the second half of the book where all three heroes are sent back to the day of the Devastation. The way things are wrapped up and the battles tend to be a little short, but I can forgive that in a children's book, and a lot of the ideas and use of fantasy tropes here are excellent. I'm glad I stumbled upon this thanks to Goodreads. It was definitely well worth reading, and I'm looking forward to reading the sequels to see where things go from here.

[Aelvana · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review of the first novel in this duology is under Winter of Magic's Return.

Three years after bringing Arthur from Avalon, the former king has become King again. With a number of the formerly-squabbling dukedoms united under his command, Arthur is slowly working to reunite Britain. But although much has changed, much is still the same. Morgan is still intent on her own unification of Britain under her dark rule, and her allies are growing every day. And Morgan has special plans for Earl, Welly, and Heather, who are still Arthur's strongest supporters.

The weird fusion of the Arthur mythos with a post-apocalypse Britain continues to work well. The times, though completely different, are still so much the same: small, warring city-states, rampant poverty, and a raging sorceress determined to work it all for her own ends. Thankfully, the story continues to stick close to Earl, Welly, and Heather. They've grown up some since Winter of Magic's Return, enough to fall into more teenage concerns like romance (and Earl, despite his years, is not immune).

The most compelling parts of the story, however, are Earl's increasingly desperate attempts to stop everything from coming out the same way they did the first time around. And he's not just looking at what happened to Arthur; the whole Devastation deeply concerns him, and he can't help feeling even if Arthur is victorious the world may again head down the same path. Earl, however, tends to focus so tightly on the big picture he misses out on the vital little details of his own life---a downfall Morgan is well-prepared to exploit time and again.

The weakest part of the story is unfortunately Arthur himself. Because the narrative follows Earl, Welly, and Heather so strongly, Arthur gets very little time to develop as a character, which makes some of his own reactions (particularly the romantic ones) rather puzzling. It seemed rather destined when Arthur met a particular woman which way the relationship would eventually go, but to have the both of them change so much by the end of the book---entirely off-screen---felt a little jarring.

Overall, though, it's still a good read, if only to continue the bizarre juxtaposition of Arthur and the post-apocalypse. I rate this book Recommended.

[Conan Tigard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tomorrow's Magic is an interesting story featuring two of Fantasy's most beloved characters: Merlin the Wizard and King Arthur Pendragon. I was luck enough to read this book after just having finished watching all five seasons of the BBC television series Merlin with my daughter. So, these character from Camelot were already fresh in my mind, which made the reading even more pleasurable.

I have always loved a good story that deals with the world recovering from a nuclear war. My favorite is the Shannara series, but I have read many others too. There is something about the thought of magic being real and the world really having all those creatures that we can truly only really dream about. So, I was ecstatic to discover the frigid world that Pamela F. Service created for this book, as it was different from any other story I had ever read.

This book is actually a combination of two books that were originally written back inthe 1980's, way before the Harry Potter series. The two tales in this book are Book One: Winter of Magic's Return (1985) and Book Two: Tomorrow's Magic (1987).

The author does a wonderful job of bringing the classic heroes to life. She also created terrific characters in both Welly and Heather. These are kids that young readers will instantly bond with. And silly me, I didn't read the inside cover before I started reading the book, so I was surprised and overjoyed to learn that Earl was Merlin the Wizard. When I told my daughter about the book, she demanded that I give it to her, but I couldn't because I hadn't finished reading it. Tomorrow's Magic will be in her hands tonight and I know she will start reading it right away.

I cruised though this book and always found myself enjoying every page. The neat thing about this book is that it takes two classic characters, removes them from their timeline, and places them in a strange and frozen world of a post-nuclear war. How cool is that? And still, they both stand out as power characters that just jump off the pages.

Overall, Tomorrow's Magic is great story that I really enjoyed. I always looked forward to picking up this book and reading more. I became engrossed in both stories and couldn't wait to see how it all ended. This book was high entertaining and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a well-written novel.

I rated this book an 8 out of 10.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now this is an inspiring book for magic, and I absolutely admire it.

The book these characters are from takes place a 5 centuries in the future. London was the center of an immense nuclear bomb, and it killed probably a lot more than 20,000,000 living and non-living things. Most of Europe's continent, probably the whole world went back to the older ways-like lighting candles, and maybe lower quality buildings. This is the background of this book.

Magic (power) comes back to the world, taking place in and even human beings get a variety of sizes of power. Merlin was sealed in a mountain by Morgan Le Fay and her tool, Nimue, the woman he fell in love with, and used waves of time of his age to sustain his life. When a mountain was blown up, he comes back to the world with the same amount of power he has had, but as a seven year old with the name given as Earl Bedwas (-he was found in Bedwas). Seven years later, he gets to know Heather and Wellington (Welly). The two help Merlin as his friends as he regains his memory of his past life. On a bumpy road of the choices between loneliness and friendship, Merlin accepts Heather and Welly's help to find and bring the king back from a safe place who was king in another era in England. He comes back to England, and unites most of his country.

I am pretty sure most of you have at least some knowledge to the extent that you know who Merlin is. Now the thing is, it has a little romance. Now, see, Earl and Heather will have something they have is common with different experiences. They have a feeling they share and can't explain. So... yeah. I guess you can infer how that goes.

Morgan Le Fay is an evil woman who is specialized with the dead, and evil beings, and objects in general. Also, she will stop at nothing to create the same devastation is the future. Merlin/Earl, Heather, and Welly will stop at nothing to find a way to defeat her.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series, the blending of old, old, modern and a future dystopia is woven so well. I love the characters and look forward to reading the other three in the series

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you ever wonder what happened to Merlin after that sneaky Nimue locked him up in a rock? And when will King Arthur wake from his magic sleep in Avalon? This book answers these questions with a surprise twist in a post-Nuclear-destruction Britain. Children from a boarding school in Wales help Merlin with his quest to wake King Arthur. On the way, the wicked Morgan Le Fay resurfaces, and mythical creatures, good and bad, begin to return, as humans try to make the world better, without launching it down the path to future nuclear war again.

I don't like wars, so the bloody scenes were distasteful to me, but I loved Heather, Welly and Rus. I was also completely satisfied with the end, as regards King Arthur and Merlin. More I will not say, except that I really enjoyed it. The book does have a message: war is sometimes necessary, but it is always bad, and should be avoided when possible - and nuclear war should never happen at all - but it doesn't absolutely force the moral down your throat, so I cheerfully acknowledged it's existence, and then enjoyed the story.

[Patricia - Lady with Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pamela Service’s writing is good but not fantastic. The second book in the series is just a good as the first, meaning both end up being okay. Both books share a slow start and things don’t really start happening until the latter half. I think I read the New Magic Series mostly because of my obsession with anything Arthurian but someone else might find the books lackluster. The copy of the book I have has a funny cover. Morgan Le Fay is described to be a beautiful woman in the story but the woman they have on the cover has huge teeth and deep wrinkles. I can only assume that the boy is supposed to be Merlin, which is so weird it’s funny.

Please pop over to my blog for the whole review.
Lady with Books

[Nat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A re-read of a book I first read a long time ago. The concept is super neat, basically revisiting the part of the King Arthur legend that says he'll return some day. In the wake of a nuclear apocalypse, with the world consigned to eternal winter, Merlin re-awakens and brings back King Arthur to reunite all of Britain, which has dissolved into various warring counties. I think the idea is really innovative, and it's neat how it mashes up old-timey Arthurian legend stuff with post-apocalyptic dystopian tropes. However, a lot of this was sort of boring, and I found myself skimming. I'll leave it at five stars out of nostalgia and it's still a fun read, but sadly not quite as brilliantly exciting as I recall it being.

[Elzbeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story takes place 2,000 years after King Aurthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The world has got through a Devastation, and has been destroyed.
Welly and Heather meet a boy named Earl, who has no memory from before he was 7. When Earl's supposed aunt comes to take him home, Welly, Heather and Earl run away from the school to find Earl's memory. On the way, Earl falls down a hole, smacks his head and remembers who he is. The ancient wizard Merlin. Merlin realizes that he must travel to the world of Faerie to find King Aurthur and bring him to back to the world he left where Aurthur must reunite broken England.

[Liana · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I got this book, I was a little confused about the title and the size of the book itself. I had read Tomorrow's Magic already and this looked a LOT bigger than what I remembered it to be. That's because THIS Tomorrow's Magic is actually volumes 1 and 2 together, Winter of Magic's return and Tomorrow's Magic. ...The real Tomorrow's Magic, book 2. Personally, I wished this collection of the two stories was called something else rather than its second book's name, but whatevs.

Both stories are really good though, and I loved the atmosphere of an apocalyptic modern Aurthurian story. It's VERY cool, and I absolutely loved Earl. (Aka, Merlin!)

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so many Arthurian books that add very little new insight into the legend, that I usually skip right over them. But there was something really appealing about the premise of this book which is set around 500 years in the future of a world that is trying to survive after a nuclear holocaust. Although several key figures play roles in Tomorrow's Magic (Arthur, Morgan, Merlin)Service does a fantastic job weaving the story through the friendship of Welly, Heather and Earl. The right mix of battle, magic, and friendship made this book a lot of fun!

[Ellice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A juvenile novel set in the UK 500 years after a nuclear apocalypse into which youthful versions of King Arthur and Merlin emerge, as well as their archenemy Morgan le Fay? This is SO in my wheelhouse, and, not surprisingly, I enjoyed it. It did seem a bit long in some places, and I have to say I wasn't a huge fan of the ending (I found it a little sudden, unbelievable, and preachy). Still, it was an entertaining read. I'd recommend it to folks, but I think its target audience will self-select in based on the words "dystopia" and "Arthurian legend."

[Leta Hawk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as Winter of Magic's Return; the plot in this one seemed a bit crowded at times, with too much going on at one time. The characters, understandably, were more complex and mature in this book, and Heather especially experienced a lot of growing pains in this book as she discovered her own magical abilities as well as a growing love for a certain other character. There were some darker surprises in this book as well, one especially that I had to caution my son about before he read it for himself.

[Azar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first time I read this book, I was twelve years old and I'd rescued it from a box of my uncle's discards at the estate sale for my late grandmother. I fell in love with it at once, and it's lost none of its charm over the years. This hardcover omnibus edition compiles both that first book--Winter of Magic's Return--and its sequel, Tomorrow's Magic, into a single volume but the best thing about it is that this one won't fall apart as quickly as my paperbacks did from constant rereading!

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like 2.5 stars. It's a better book that its predecessor, Winter of Magic's Return, but it's still rather pallid. I admire it as a cautionary tale and as a concept, but the plotting and the writing itself -- especially the characterization (Arthur and Merlin, for being such iconic figures, are here thin as can be, while Heather is a dimwit) -- are decidedly amateurish, sometimes laughably so.

[Los Feliz Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like Amanda, I wish Goodreads had a half star rating.
Here's the thing-I first read these when I was in middle school, and I think I have a soft spot for them. However, reading these with adult eyes, it is at best a mediocre two books.
But the conceit, of a Merlin and Arthur coming back after a nuclear holocaust and working to make the world better.

[Victoria Ugarte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic if only people knew about it’

Set in a post apocalyptic future, it takes the old Arthurian legends and turns them on their head. merlin is great but the winner here is Heather, a descendent if survivors of the nuclear holocaust. worth it for fans of sci-fi and fantasy alike.

[Rad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one by a local author. I found this one particularly engaging and inventive, as it combines science fiction and fantasy. Unfortunately, Welly doesn't get nearly as much development as Heather.