The Crystal Cave - Mary Stewart

...with fantasy.

The Crystal Cave is the first of five novels in the Arthurian series ( three of which focus on Merlin) and covers Merlin's childhood and young adulthood in fifth century Britain.

Merlin is the illegitimate son of a Welsh Princess and is at best tolerated by the members of his family. His mother will not name his father and this enrages Merlin's grandfather who is King. He is seen as a nuisance but is also regarded ...
...he has to run from the court in order to survive. His flight leads him to a strange cave in the hills where an old hermit lives.

The hermit, Galapas, helps Merlin to develop his visions and also educates him. The Crystal Cave of the title is a part of the cave where Merlin lives with Galapas, where Merlin goes to receive visions.

Merlin eventually makes his way to Brittany where he comes to the attention of King Ambrosius, ... more

I originally picked up this book never having heard of Mary Stewart or her highly popular Merlin series. Stewart is a fairly popular novelist who is best known for her Merlin series which blends historical fiction with fantasy.

The Crystal Cave is the first of five novels in the Arthurian series ( three of which focus on Merlin) and covers Merlin's childhood and young adulthood in fifth century Britain.

Merlin is the illegitimate son of a Welsh Princess and is at best tolerated by the members of his family. His mother will not name his father and this enrages Merlin's grandfather who is King. He is seen as a nuisance but is also regarded as strange as he has visions.

When Merlin's uncle tries to poison him, seeing him as a threat, he has to run from the court in order to survive. His flight leads him to a strange cave in the hills where an old hermit lives.

The hermit, Galapas, helps Merlin to develop his visions and also educates him. The Crystal Cave of the title is a part of the cave where Merlin lives with Galapas, where Merlin goes to receive visions.

Merlin eventually makes his way to Brittany where he comes to the attention of King Ambrosius, who is preparing to unite Britain and become its High King. We see that Merlin is primarily an engineer and mathematician rather than an enchanter. He does have some visions but most of his "magic" is down to his intellect.

Although this is the first in an Arthurian series Arthur is nowhere to be seen in this book. Stewart holds the focus squarely on Merlin and gives us a character that is more than just magical myth. Of course Stewart's character is based on conjecture and legend but it definitely gives a more grounded version of Merlin and also of him as more than King Arthur's magician.

The book ends with Arthur's conception - which was only brought about by Merlin's cunning in aiding King Uther (brother of Ambrosius) to reach Ygraine - the young wife of the powerful Duke of Cornwall.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel but it was a bit slow-paced and didn't always command attention. It did however hold my interest and made me want to read the rest of the trilogy.

There was alot of interesting history in this book, such as the fragmented kingdoms of Britain after the withdrawal of the Romans and the infighting between the petty Kings. The struggle to become High King is quite a central theme to this story.

Overall I would recommend this book if you find the Merlin myths interesting and don't mind that it can be a bit slow.

This book was also developed into a TV series by the BBC in 1991 retitled Merlin of the Crystal Cave. I haven't seen this but would imagine it would be a bit dated by now. 

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