Book Review: The Crystal Cave (The Arthurian Saga #1) by Mary Stewart

The Crystal Cave (The Arthurian Saga #1) by Mary Stewart 
Release Date: 6th May 2003

Publisher: Harper Collins 
Format: eBook
Pages: 494
Rating: 4.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 BSR

Summary from Amazon:

"Born the bastard son of a Welsh princess, Myridden Emrys -- or as he would later be known, Merlin -- leads a perilous childhood, haunted by portents and visions. But destiny has great plans for this no-man's-son, taking him from prophesying before the High King Vortigern to the crowning of Uther Pendragon . . . and the conception of Arthur -- king for once and always."

Review:
For a start, I feel like the name of this series is misleading. For a series named 'The Arthurian Saga', the elusive Arthur himself isn't even born until the end of this novel. Since this story follows Merlin, from his young childhood up until his role beside Uther Pendragon and the birth of Arthur, I feel like this series should be called 'Merlin's Chronicles' or something like that. But, maybe in the second novel, we'll have more of an emphasis on Arthur himself.

That aside, I really enjoyed this book. It took a while to get into at first - Merlin's childhood wasn't all that interesting, and I didn't feel like much was happening. When it all changed for me, I think, was after Merlin's first experience in the crystal cave and that vivid vision he had. There was action, things were happening, it was getting interesting. And then I feel that the book basically continued on the same heightened wavelength right until the end. Every little plot point was interesting, and it all tied in really well with all my preconceived ideas about the characters - I think we've all heard of Merlin before, and I found that I particularly liked the way Merlin was portrayed in this novel.

Overall, a solid read. Maybe there was a bit too much emphasis on Merlin's early childhood for me, but I do understand why it was there - we saw some interesting tidbits about Merlin's family and his powers, things that we needed to know. In the end, I felt like the story was wrapped up pretty well, and I'm not dying to get onto the next novel, but I'm sure I will at some point or another.