Shannon McDermott

Last year CSFF toured Merlin’s Blade and Merlin’s Shadow, the first and second books of Robert Treskillard’s Merlin Spiral; now we finish the trilogy with Merlin’s Nightmare.

But not the story. That will continue with the Pendragon Spiral.

I’ll be reviewing Merlin’s Nightmare tomorrow. Actually, I was going to review it today, but that was back when I was going to do this post yesterday. Life happens, but as long as it doesn’t happen tomorrow, I will review the book.

For today, here is what struck me as the two most distinguishing characteristics of this trilogy:

One, all the history. The fantastical elements are quite prominent, but I am impressed by how the whole of the story is anchored in history.

Two, Merlin’s age. I always had a vague image of Merlin as an old man, probably with a long beard. In the Merlin Spiral, he’s a young man, and that actually struck me more in this last book than in the earlier two. He was a teenager in Merlin’s Blade and Merlin’s Shadow, but that was before Arthur’s time, and I knew he was young once. But in the final book, Merlin is thirty-four, possibly thirty-five, as he takes his place as King Arthur’s counselor – a new image for me.

As I said, I’m planning an actual review tomorrow. For now, here are the links:

Merlin’s Nightmare on Amazon;

Robert Treskillard’s website;

and the tourists, as we have been called:

Beckie Burnham
Jeff Chapman
Vicky DealSharingAunt
April Erwin
Carol Gehringer
Victor Gentile
Rebekah Gyger
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Emileigh Latham
Jennette Mbewe
Shannon McDermott
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirriam Neal
Joan Nienhuis
Nissa
Writer Rani
Nathan Reimer
Audrey Sauble
Chawna Schroeder
Jojo Sutis
Robert Treskillard
Phyllis Wheeler
Elizabeth Williams