Reviews - The Crystal Cave

476 reviews for:

The Crystal Cave

Mary Stewart

3.91 AVERAGE

jkhawes's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark funny inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I'd been told this is one of the best of the modern Arthurian epics, and after book 1 I can imagine why. Delightful book. The author does a great job of introducing new ideas, characters, and stakes to a well known world.

lex98's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

nitsabean's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

vostoak's review against another edition

3.0

A good read! Stewart has a somewhat unique take on the magic present in Arthurian legend, compared to what other media shows and it's certainly very interesting. While parts of the story definitely feel a bit dry and boring, overall the book is a nice balance of what is already existing in history and arthurian legend, and a coherent, easy to read book. Some of the choices do feel a bit odd, such as the relationship between Merlin and Ambrosius but also fair enough, the source material is all so wobbly anyways. Certainly looking forward to the rest of the books in the series.

Edit: a point I wanted to make: very cool to see Arthurian legend before Arthur. the humanisation of merlin, his magician, was very interesting. Waiting to see how this plays out as the series goes on

coco_lolo's review against another edition

4.0

2022: Recently, I grabbed a copy of The Wicked Day but didn't anticipate how much of the first three books I'd probably forgotten, which has spurred me to read them again. I've edited my original review since my thoughts haven't changed too much, but I will say that the crafting of Merlin's character worked better for me this time, especially since he gets called out on some of his actions. Also, the women: I do not understand why there isn't one single woman in this book who's empathetic and more than just a martyr or a witch or described as loose. I don't think Stewart improves on this in the coming books, but maybe there's an exception and I'll be pleasantly surprised. This line by Ygrain, though, had me living:

"I am no trashy Helen for men to fight over, die over, burn down kingdoms for. I don't wait on the walls as a prize for some brawny victor."

2017: With me having watched almost all of BBC's Merlin, I found myself in the mood to start The Crystal Cave. Mary Stewart's first book in the Arthurian Saga was riveting and poetic, and while it wasn't everything I'd hoped it would be, I'm most definitely looking forward to reading the remainder of the series.

This book follows Merlin's youth, from age six to twenty, how he discovers his abilities and learns men's hearts. Merlin was interesting because of the different reactions he pulled from me: while I liked him for his wit and the way he views his visions, he annoyed me by acting high and mighty and disdaining other people (i.e., women). He also seemed too wise, especially in childhood, and maybe that's to be attributed to the god working by way of him, but I never entirely felt this wisdom was earned. An aspect that I'm a bit more torn on is how Merlin's humanity is portrayed, because although he obviously has emotions and experiences love, these feelings are forever kept at a distance from the reader and, even, Merlin himself. Perhaps Stewart did this as a way of further separating him from the world of men, which was smart, but I did wish to feel more from him. Speaking of smart: this woman can write. Her prose is magical and timeless in the sense that it fits the book's time period while remaining entirely readable to a twenty-first-century audience. The descriptions do get long-winded and repetitive, but her word choice and sentence structure knocked me over.

It seemed that the whole countryside, the whole of Wales, the whole of Britain could be held small and shining and safe between my hands, like something set in amber. I stared down at the land globed in crystal, and knew that this was what I had been born for.