Arthurian Saga Book 1: The Crystal Cave

Harlo B: I first read the Crystal Cave in 1971 (I was 24), and had to wait patiently for The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment and the Wicked Day. Mary Stewart is an incredible author, and masterful in engaging her readers. I have read this series 5 times (every 10-years), and pick up on things I missed during previous readings. I’m 75 now, and have decided to let Derek Perkins read me the series through Audible. I cannot express sufficient praise for his skill and artistry in presenting these marvelous volumes.

I highly recommend this wonderful series to young and old alike. TEN ⭐️’s as far as I’m concerned.

United States on Aug 14, 2023

shirley temple: nearly 2 months to arrive, but worth the wait.

United Kingdom on Jul 11, 2023

fra7299: I’ll be the first to admit that, despite reading a few Arthurian-based tales in high school and college, I am not very well versed in the Arthurian legends and consider myself a novice. However, I found that The Crystal Cave was an enjoyable ride, filled with entertainment, fantasy and high drama.

It’s only my second novel from Mary Stewart, but I have a strong inclination and belief that she is just a really good writer who engages her audience. I think this is especially true with this novels because, while I had some criticisms, she overcomes them all by creating an interesting tale from young Merlin’s point of view and bringing this setting and world to authentic life.

The Crystal Cave is the first in a series of Arthurian retellings, and the initial focuses on a young Merlin’s vantage point and chronicles his adventures from childhood to becoming a young man. As a youngster, Merlin begins to become aware gradually that he has a gift if you will, of second sight. One of the more prevalent scenes begins when Merlin visits a cave and has a strange vision.

The crystal cave, the basis of the title, sort of comes to embody the overall symbol of...

United States on Apr 07, 2023

KBa76: Having heard the stories of King Arthur for years, I was curious to see what this was all about while looking for a book to fulfil a reading challenge. This book takes us back to what you could regard as the beginning, focusing on Merlin.
The book opens with us seeing Merlin as a young boy. Used to being ignored by those around him, Merlin knows his father’s identity is the source of many rumours. His mother refuses to share the name of the man who made her pregnant, but we are plunged into a world of intrigue and machinations. In this tumultuous environment, Merlin tries to find his way.
We follow Merlin as he is trained by a hermit. We see his uncanny ability to see things he should not know. We also see him in danger as he escapes threats from his mother’s family. Through luck and the use of his wits, Merlin finds himself taken under the wing of a man challenging for the right to rule the kingdom.
Of course, much of the story has a sense of familiarity. It was interesting to gain a sense of Merlin growing into his role, and the part he plays in the life of King Arthur.
While this could in no way be regarded as a historical account, it was a great story.

United Kingdom on Feb 05, 2022

Kindle Customer: Mary Stewart was a gifted writer. ( She passed away in 2014). Her use of language is a joy to read. Her words paint a vivid picture which transports the reader to the time and place. Added to that this book is a brilliant, fascinating read. It brings to life all the legends of Merlin to life in a way that is imaginative but believable. I am looking forward to reading all the others in this series. I highly recommend this book as an imaginative and engrossing read.

United Kingdom on Jan 05, 2021

PlantBirdWoman: I had my Arthurian period like many readers. There was a time when I found the legends of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and Merlin irresistible.

The period when I was most susceptible to these stories happened to coincide with the time of greatest popularity of the Lerner and Lowe musical adaptation of them, known as Camelot. Come to think of it, maybe that wasn't a coincidence. How I loved that musical!

At any rate, it had been a number of years since I paid a visit to Camelot, but when Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave was recommended to me, I was intrigued. In spite of the reading I had done concerning the legends, I had never read Stewart's work. Obviously, that was a serious oversight on my part.

Stewart was an excellent writer and she pulls together all the threads of the Merlin origination story and weaves them into a page turner of a tale.

Merlin was the bastard child of a Welsh princess. His mother never told him, or anyone, the name of his father. As a child, he lived with his mother at his grandfather's court, but he was an outcast, without status or friends.

As he got older, he enjoyed wandering the hills on his own and...

United States on May 30, 2016

Maha Upasika Gotami: Beautifully written, this first of five Arthurian novels was published in 1970 and was an instant bestseller. Factual accounts of King Arthur are few and of Merlin even scanter but out of fancy and legend and based on Henry of Monmouth's account in his fanciful 'history' of Britain as a springboard Mary Stewart beguiles us into a believable world of post-Roman Britain in a lively and action-packed tale of the beginnings of the Arthurian legend beginning with the childhood of Merlin as illegitimate son of the Princess of Wales following him through contact with Ambrosius in Brittany, the conquest of Vortigern and Britain, the raising of Stonehenge and the crowning of Ambrosius' son, Uther, as king.
It ends dramatically with the conception of Arthur when Uther cuckolds his chief commander, Gorlais of Cornwall, in a secret rendezvous with Ygraine, Gorlais' wife, at the windswept fortress of Tintagel during a wild storm while her husband is being killed in a battle nearby.

United Kingdom on Sep 03, 2015

R. A. Davison: One of the most enduring legends of British culture is the story of King Arthur and his magician Merlin. The Crystal Cave is another re-telling of that story. Well, I say "another" it was published in the 1970's originally and drew my attention based on the fact that it was in the list of great forgotten reads alongside Cronin's 'Keys Of The Kingdom'. My copy is second hand and rather quaintly cost £1.50 at time of publication, imagine paying £1.50 for a paperback now...I am reliably informed however that £1.50 in its day would have been considered roughly the same as £6.99 now.

This story differs from the usual in that it focuses entirely on Merlin. The Crystal Cave is the beginning of a trilogy and is followed by 'The Hollow Hills' and 'The Last Enchantment'. I believe that a fourth novel 'The Wicked Day' was later added as an afterthought. Arthur does not appear at all in the novel, having not yet been born the story concentrating instead on Merlin's life before Arthur, beginning with him aged six, and chronicling his childhood and the developing of his magic skills.

Much of Merlin's magic with the exception of when he falls into trances and prophesises, is...

United Kingdom on Feb 14, 2012