T. A. Barron

A young boy who has no identity nor memory of his past washes ashore on the coast of Wales and finds his true name after a series of fantastic adventures.

The Lost Years of Merlin

Kirsten Simkiss

Honestly, if you changed the names in this story, it would be nearly impossible to figure out that the main character is meant to be Merlin. I get it's meant to be his childhood, but most of the details of the story don't match up to the original stories of Arthurian legend, at least to my memory. That being said, it's not a bad book. The characters are a little thin, but they're believable enough to enjoy the book. The world is interesting, as are those that live within it. But all in all, I just didn't find this book to be that compelling of a read. I often set it aside not wanting to continue, but pushed through anyway.

I fully believe that this book deserves 2.5 stars, but for the purposes of Goodreads I'm giving it 2.

The book is a little bit preachy at the start, which may turn off less religious readers. The characters were children, so it's to be expected that they wouldn't behave as though they were adults. However, they also make very uninformed and unintelligent decisions. The main character, Emrys, does not seem like someone who would ever grow up to be the fabled magician Merlin to be frank. Shim, while probably meant to be endearing, sounded like Gurgi from the Black Cauldron - it was kind of irritating then and it's kind of irritating now.

All in all, I'm not going to recommend this to others. There are better Arthurian retellings, I'm sure.

Binyamin Green

I remember loving this book in middle school. I still love it. It's a very original work, since it goes into detail about Merlin's early life. Many works about him focus just on his involvement with King Arthur.

The first title in this bestselling series, now available in paperback, follows the adventures and training of young Merlin who is destined to become the greatest wizard of all time. Illustrations. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

The Lost Years of Merlin

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