The Crystal Cave

By, Mary Stewart

Character List

Myridden Emry's or Merlin- The bastard son of a Welsh princess.

Niniane- Merlin's mother

King Gorlan of Lanascol

Moravik- Merlin's nurse who is a Christian from Breton Camlach- Merlin's uncle and the King's son

Uther Pendragon

King Vortigern

Olwen- The young queen

Dyved- The king's oldest son/heir that died, possibly poisoned.

Setting

This story takes place during Merlin's childhood, before Arthur, in Tyr-Myrddin or sometimes called Caer-Myrddin located near St Peter's Gate. 

Reviews

Mickayla- This book was surprisingly good! I really like the modernization of the text and how we get to learn more about Merlin's character. This book gives us the background information that is often missing from medieval texts. Through this modernized book we are able to make a connection to the characters and plot further which allows you to get lost in the words. 

Lauren- The book brings a modern twist to the tale of Merlin. While we got to read a bit about him in class, this book describes how Merlin came to be the great prophecy. It was definitely a page turner; you never knew what would happen to Merlin when he had his visions, and where they would lead him to. The book was an easy read, which made the story flow smoothly and quickly. I enjoyed how the book was divided up into subsections, instead of just one really long book. It was interesting to read the story from a different characters perspective. I'm so used to reading a story from either a prominent knights view, or from King Arthur himself. Because I had so little background information on Merlin, it was interesting to find out how he became a prophet and the things he had to go through. This was the first book in a series by Mary Stewart, and I would not hesitate to read the next one!

Stephanie Shannon
I highly recommend this book. It is a very long book long, but it is also entertaining. This book is a modern book, and it is written in a way that is very easy to read. It is also very interesting. It tells of the life of a young Merlin. Through this book we get to see how it all began with Merlin and how he came to prophesizing for King Arthur. Also, through this book we learn about Merlin’s family, which is a different view from most books that involve him in it. This story is basically based on Merlin’s life and how he came to be what society thinks of when we think of Merlin. I would recommend this book for someone who would like to know about Merlin’s life in depth. I would go on to the whole series after reading this book!

James Mabb

There are many things that can be said about this book, both good and bad. For starters, if a reader is looking for an exciting, fast paced, non-stop thriller than I would highly steer you away from The crystal cave, for its anything beyond exciting. However, I’m not totally ruling this book out of being a good read, it’s just not fast paced. This book is however extremely detailed in a variety of ways and is a great start to a trilogy. Merlin’s character begins his transformation from the bastard son of an “unknown” lord to the wizard that he’s known as in familiar tales. His characterization is well developed along with the landscapes which are painted beautifully with Stewart’s style of writing and her unique skill to incorporate well depicted historical information. Like I mentioned before this is book one of the merlin trilogy, so don’t be disappointed if you begin reading it and realize that your reading about merlin before he obtained his title as being “wizard.” This book is only the beginning, the format you could say, to the following books, “The hollow hills,” and “The last enchantment.”  Overall, I recommend this book to any Arthurian literature fans/ medieval buffs. I feel this book has what it takes to quench your thirst for some quality and “somewhat” accurate display of medieval history. However, if you’re the type searching for any magic, medieval duo and crave a pure action riddled plot I highly recommend a series like “A game of thrones” by George R.R. Martin