Mary Stewart's Arthurian Saga: The Crystal Cave, the Hollow Hills, the Last Enchantment, & the Wicked Day

This first three of the books in Legacy are among my favorite books, consisting of three novels that follow the Arthurian legend through the eyes of Merlin. The first novel, The Crystal Cave was assigned to me in high school, as was Mary Renault's story about Theseus, The Bull from the Sea--what Renault did for Ancient Greece, Mary Stewart did for Dark Age Britain--bring it alive for me.

This has been described as fantasy, and there are touches of that, but much of Merlin's magic is rationalized--this is more historical fiction than fantasy, and as such made a big impression on me and felt all the more magical than any more fantasy-laden versions, because it made me feel, maybe it is real. For me this became the gold standard for show more Arthurian books, so when I read Whyte's or Bradley's versions of Arthur, these are the books I measured them against--and against which other versions seem wanting. The other thing is, compared to so many of the other versions, Stewart is just a fantastic storyteller with a beautiful evocative prose style, wonderful pacing, characterizations and sense of place.

The Crystal Cave takes the reader from Merlin's childhood to the conception of Arthur. The second book, The Hollow Hills deals with the young Arthur up to the time he becomes king, and The Last Enchantment takes Merlin up to his death. I love the relationship between Arthur and Merlin in the last two books and each book is like a map of the stages of man: the first a coming of age tale, the second in a sense the main "career" and "fatherhood" and the last old age--fighting to still make a difference, coming to peace with your own mortality and resolve unfinished business. Beautiful novels, all three of them, especially seen as a whole.

In the fourth and final book, The Wicked Day, we leave Merlin behind though: this book is centered on Mordred. I can't say I've read every take on Arthurian legend. (Who has? They're legion.) But I've read Arthurian novels by a lot of authors: Marion Zimmer Bradley, T.H. White, Thomas Malory, Jack Whyte, Gillian Bradshaw, Parke Godwin, Phyllis Ann Karr. And I've never seen a more sympathetic--or more memorable Mordred. I’d have to rate this a little lower than the first three books--but not by much, and that's a very high bar. show less

I'm currently re-reading all my old favorites, to see if they stand the test of time, and if they would pass muster in today's - um, interesting - cultural climate. I didn't really have much doubt about these in either case. Mary Stewart is a beautiful writer in any climate.
I've put her under historical fiction, because although she's based her series on Geoffrey of Monmouth's tales (and took them and made them her own) she does do her research insofar as it's possible. So little is know about the time historians now call 'the early middle ages' (when I was in school, it was the dark ages, and while I understand the reasoning behind the changes, the word dark still seems appropriate to me in any time before the printed word was common. show more Besides, as she says herself, the book wasn't written for historians, and it's doubtful any would read it. :)
This first book is before Arthur - it is all Merlin, Ambrosius, Uther, Gorlois and Ygraine. Stewart has given Merlin an interesting background, with massive amounts of study in every subject to explain much of his brilliance, without downplaying the magic - or as he would put it, the god-given power - he displayed.
So yes, it stood the test of time in readibility and enjoyment, and I really didn't find anything culturally inappropriate, unless one has a problem with Merlin's views on god(s). However, those views are historically accurate, and I hope I'm long dead before they start a widespread censorship of historical fact. show less

The Kindle book Legacy included the major four books in Mary Stewart's Arthurian series: The Crystal Cave. The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment, and The Wicked Day. The writing was excellent, but I can see why this American version was pulled from the market. It was obviously scanned and then spell-checked, but half-heartedly. It didn't catch some run-on words. It didn't catch "at tacked" for "attacked." My brain twitched each time I read about the "Prankish" (instead of "Frankish") kings. There were also some awkward line breaks and page breaks.

As you can tell from my reviews of the individual books, I loved the stories. I know for sure that Mary Stewart didn't write "Prankish." As it has replaced four thick books and as I love the show more stories, it gets 4.5 stars. The individual books each got five stars. show less

It was a long read (and it took me a long time, on & off), but I enjoyed it very much. Narrated by Merlin, set firmly in post-Roman Britain, full of medicine, math, engineering and myth making. It's left me hungry for more Arthurian stories and more medieval history and literature. Thomas Mallory, Chrétien de Troyes & Pearl Poet, here I come!