Merlin's Shadow by Robert
Treskillard
From goodreads.com:
Betrayal.
After destroying the sinister Druid Stone and freeing his people from its
dark control, Merlin finds himself a royal advisor without a king. Along with
his friend Garth and Natalenya, his betrothed, Merlin treks north with the
orphaned Arthur in hopes of keeping the young ruler safe from soldiers misled by
their turncoat captain. Relentlessly pursued by his old nemesis Vortigern,
Merlin and his band make for the fortress of Dintaga.
But dangers multiply when Merlin realizes that Vortigern is not his only
enemy. Even his own sister appears bent on Merlin’s destruction. As the threat
on all their lives increases, Merlin discovers their only hope is sailing to the
lands of eternal darkness and once again cleansing the world from an ancient and
powerful evil.
Leona's Review :
This is the second book of the Merlin series by Robert
Treskillard. The first is Merlin's Blade and best read first but Merlin's Shadow
can be read as a stand alone book. On pages 9, 10 and 11 there is "The Story So
Far" so the reader will have an idea of Merlin's Blade, the first book of
Merlin's Spiral Series.
Merlin is trying to protect the young Arthur and plans to flee
north to Dintaga, the fortress of King Gorlas, from Vortigern. The group is
Merlin, Natalenya, Merlin's betrothed, Garth, an orphan who lived at the abbey,
Caygek, a fili ( The order of sages and poets within the wider order of the
druidow. Filidow is the plural, and they are led by the arch fili.), and
Colvarth, chief bard of Britain.
There is more violence I think in this book that the
first book of the series, Merlin's Blade. Merlin goes through lots of torture
over and over.
The group is captured by the Picts where they become
slaves, a thrall or thrail in Pickish. The Picts, or Prithager or Picti, are
the people who live in the wild lands of the north. I found this on the Net:
http://skyelander.orgfree.com/celts11.html.
Merlin seems to have lost some of his faith in God in this
book and he questions his faith. "A spark of hope-and of faith-filled Merlin's
heart. Faith in the God who had led him during each painful step of his life:
his childhood, his blindness, his battle with the Stone (book 1)- even during
the journey of suffering over the last half of a year. Faith in the One, who had
until now, protected them all." (page 403). This is where Merlin is trying to
understand his questioning.
He has regained his eyesight in this book but still has his
scars. Merlin feels he is ugly and that Natalenya no longer should love him and
she feels she is ugly and that is why Merlin is no longer close to
her.
The Stone is still an important part of the book but not as
much in Merlin's Blade.
Merlin's sister, Ganieda, now hates and curses
Merlin after the death of her mother, Monda, and their father, Owain. She seems
to become closer to her grandfather, Morganthu, but does not always trust him.
He is her mother's father. Tellyk, a wolf who befriends Ganieda, is also present
in this book as well as the first. In Merlin's
Shadow, there is The Voice which is "a shadowy figure that appears to Ganieda
and instructs her".
I was watching a show about Merlin on the History Channel last
week and the term "light and dark" was used instead of what I was using, which
was "good and evil". This defines what is happening in the books and to the
characters.
As in Merlin's Blade there is a glossary of names and places
and so appreciated by this reader. (page 424) It helps to know the characters of
the books and I liked the three maps in front of the book. There is also a
pronunciation guide. (page 423).
The letter "V" is used in place of the letter "U" in the
titles of the chapters as well a cross for the "T".
There are three parts in this book
Part One: Fool's Choice (page 19)
FAST AS A FOX, THE HIDER HIDING;
WILD AS THE WOLF, THE HUNTER HUNTING;
HARD AS THE HORSE, THE BURDEN BEARING;
HIGH AS THE HAWK, THE SEARCHER SPYING;
PRISON BY SEA, FEAR THE RED SUNRISE
Part Two: FOOL'S LOSS ( page 147)
SHARP AS TALONS, THE CAPTOR'S CUTTING;
BLACK AND BLACKER, THE FANG DEATH SPREADING;
GLOP AS GLUTTON, THE EATER EATING;
DROWSE AS DREAMER, THE SLEEPER SLEEPING;
FORTRESS ON HILL, WARE THE WICKED GUISE.
Part Three: FOOL'S FAITH (page
293)
DARK AS THE DIRGE, THE SHARKS SWIMMING;
SWIFTH AS THE SWAN, THE CIRCLE SHINING;
LOUD AS THE LASH, THE PAGENS PRAYING;
GALL AS THE GRAVE, THE SLAYER SLAYING;
FOR ANCIENT YOUTH, AND INNOCENT'S
DEMISE.
Merlin's Shadow is dedicated to: For Robin Psalm
33:20:22
I received a complimentary copy of Merlin's Shadow to read and
review. The opinions are my own. I will give this a 5 star rating and look
forward to reading Merlin's Nightmare by Robert Treskillard.
I highly recommend to readers who like Merlin, Arthur and
history.
You man find the author at www.epictales.org, www.goodreads.com/author/6437336.Robert_Treskillard and www.KingArthur.org.uk
My review of Merlin's Blade is at http://mnleona.blogspot.com/2014/02/merlins-blade-by-robert-treskillard.html
Leona
Olson
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