When was the first time you heard about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table? I was a kid and Disney had just started playing The Sword in the Stone – not the most accurate to the original story line. Then I heard about the quest for the Holy Grail as a teenager. And now as an adult I’ve seen a few renditions of Merlin and Arthur appearing in modern times, being made into a Showtime series and even receiving visitors from the future into their court.
You would think that this story has been done or overplayed. And perhaps Daniel Diehl would agree with you in regards to Merlin’s relationship with King Arthur. But in his latest series he’s focusing on another one of Merlin’s relationships from the time of Arthur – the one between him and Morgan LeFey, the daughter of Uther, who never saw the throne thanks to the appearance of her half-brother.
Morgan is best known for poisoning her father so she could return home after being ostracized from the kingdom upon the appearance of Arthur and take over as ruler of the kingdom. But Arthur took the crown and became king instead once again casting Morgan out into the darkness to find a home away from the kingdom. Here is where Diehl takes a little of a left turn from other authors and historians.
Morgan leaves the kingdom and seeks refuge with the Lord of the Dragons, hideous beasts that travel to Earth through a porthole and incinerate towns to absorb the energy generated from the fires. Once there she vows to allow the dragons full rein of the earth as long as they allow her to rule.
Merlin, upon hearing of this plot, plugs the porthole so no dragons can leave or return to their home.
1500 years later a young archaeology student digs up a glass orb from a “shit hole” in the back of an ancient castle in Western Europe. While it’s the find of a lifetime for him and his aging professor, what the glass orb holds will be Jason’s undoing – Merlin.
Merlin releases himself from the orb and has now taken it upon himself to invade Jason’s life, and put in perilous danger as he continues his feud with the still-young and able Morgan LeFey.
Can Merlin turn the up-tight, nerdy archaeology student into his next Arthur? Will Merlin ever discover the way in which to defeat Morgan? Will Morgan ever release her dragon friends from their homeland and destroy the modern world as we know it?
Don’t look for all these to be answered in this book. This is only book one. I think Diehl did a great job at giving some hope and closure at the end of this story without foretelling too much of what’s about to unfold in the subsequent books to come. I’m looking forward to continuing the series so I can find out the answer to these questions.
What is your favorite story about Merlin, the wizard of the dark ages?
