MERLIN
The End of Magic
By James Mallory

Voyager (Harper Collins) - 2000
ISBN: 0006512917 - Paperback
Fantasy

Reviewed by: Rachel Hyde, MyShelf.Com
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If you watched the miniseries over Easter 1999 and enjoyed it – or you missed it - then you will be glad to hear that it has been novelised as a trilogy (well, it is a fantasy after all) and this is the final part. There is more in this book than we were shown on TV as Merlin is put through his paces with the breakup of Arthur’s kingdom, Guinevere and Lancelot’c clandestine love and all the usual parts that make up The Mater of Britain.  But here we also have Queen Mab spiking Merlin’s guns and bringing on protégé Morgan’s son Mordred and Merlin’s own romance with the hapless Nimue and of course Mab’s gnomish sidekick Frik as an added dimension.

Everything that was on screen is gone into in greater detail so perhaps the makers should have turned it into a longer series…or perhaps not.  If you are fan of the Arthurian legends then this is certainly an interesting and very free retelling of the story from an unusual angle so maybe even if you didn’t see the series you might still enjoy this one. As with many TV and film novelizations the visual treat loses something in being pinned down on paper and the prose is not exactly inspired but it is interesting to see the old stories being dusted down and given a new lease of life for a modern audience.  On the whole, the unusual angle of the story works well and provides a foil to the many contemporary retellings showing Dark Age Britain in all its murk and mayhem. 

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