Reason for Reading: A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Genre: Young Adult Christian Fantasy
Review
Merlin has been living peacefully as the blind son of a village blacksmith when druids invade the area with an evil stone that usurps the minds of the villagers and turns them against God. Merlin is the only villager who is unaffected by the stone's powers. His problems become worse when the High King Uther and his infant son Arthur arrive in the village and are attacked by the druids. Merlin must save his village as well as the young prince. This was a fun retelling of the young Merlin's back-story. It's marketed as a Young Adult Christian Fiction, though I think it could be enjoyed by a wider audience. Merlin's Blade isn't "preachy," which is a complaint of many Christian Fiction books, though it does (understandably) perceive the worship of a stone to be an "evil" act. The druids are portrayed as mostly bad (or at least mislead) people, but I appreciated that some of the druids were actually rather likable. I'm a fan of Christian fiction writers who are able to see the humans behind the non-Christian characters. So, if you're a fan of retellings (especially YA retellings), I think this is a book you might enjoy. It took some interesting liberties with the story of Merlin and Arthur, but it was also rather fun to see how that sword got stuck in the stone to begin with. :)
I'll be waiting for the next book in the series!
You're already ahead of me for this month--two reviews already!
ReplyDeleteI've got a June review ready for the 1001 team....whenever you're ready for it (mostly read in May, though).
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review!
I'm glad you noticed my sympathetic portrayal of some of the druids. Unfortunately I had to cut some scenes from the novel because it was too long, and so some sympathetic scenes with Trothek were cut, but I'll be putting those up on my blog for free.
-Robert