I first read this one not that long after it was first published, I had wanted to do a reread for Anbolyn’s Mary Stewart Week and the obvious thing would have been to start with the first one in the series, The Crystal Cave, which I remembered I loved first time around. Well that one is packed away in a box in the attic – somewhere. For some reason The Hollow Hills was not packed away, so I read that one. Unfortunately I didn’t get it finished in time for the Mary Stewart Week.

It wasn’t long before I had an honest to goodness Homer ‘D’oh’ moment because I realised that I had completely forgotten that Merlin had used the disguise of a travelling eye doctor when he wanted to move around incognito. I have a horrible feeling that I read book 5 of the Merlin books not realising that one of the characters was Merlin, trust that crafty Merlin to hide in plain sight! Anyway I’ll have to go back and read all of the books in order, with my brain in gear for next time.

Back to The Hollow Hills and this one is about Arthur from his birth until the age of 14. From birth Arthur is given to Merlin to look after, it’s important that nobody knows of their whereabouts. Although by this time King Uther and Ygraine are married the fact that Ygraine was pregnant before they married means that there would be doubt in people’s minds that the child was in fact not that of King Uther but is the child of Ygraine’s first husband. A definite legitimate heir to the throne in the eyes of the people is what Uther wants and he thinks that there will be no problem with him and Ygraine having more sons in the future. But we all know that Arthur is destined to be King, as does Merlin.

I really enjoyed this book again, the Merlin books have quite a lot of the same elements as Stewart’s more contemporary books, magic, suspense a bit of romance and lovely description of the surroundings. It’s also good that Merlin is just a youngster himself, being only about 20 at the beginning of the book, most people seem to write him as an ancient man with flowing white beard.

For years her Merlin books were known as The Merlin Trilogy and it was only a few years ago that I discovered that she had written two more books to add to the first three. I don’t think 4 and 5 were quite as good but I’m going to reread them all eventually whenever I can get a hold of my copy of The Last Enchantment – yes that one is in one of the many boxes of books in the attic too.

When I first read the Merlin books as a teenager it set me off on an Arthurian binge, there are loads of Arthur books out there, mind you an awful lot of them are just not worth reading at all, unless you just want a good laugh!

1. The Crystal Cave (1970)
2. The Hollow Hills (1973)
3. The Last Enchantment (1979)
4. The Wicked Day (1983)
5. The Prince and the Pilgrim (1995)