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Book Review - Merlin's Bones
May. 1st, 2002 09:36 pmWhen I was a kid, there were two legends that I obsessed over: King Arthur and Batman. Batman I can remember picking up--Tim Burton did it to me--but where I got into Arthurian mythology is losts somewhere in the mists of time. All I know is that since I was old enough to read I wanted to be Merlin. I watched every Arthurian movie I could lay my hands on, read every Arthurian book; I gorged myself on tales of chivalry and magic. But I didn't like other medeival stories-- because they didn't have Merlin. I literally played wizards in AD&D until I was sixteen to try and be that venerable mage.
So of course when I saw a copy of a book called Merlin's Bones for cheap last year, I picked it up. There was a reason why I waited, however (apart from the six hundred other books I have yet to read in my apartment alone). I haven't read one of the revisionist Arthur books since Lawhead's Taliesin cycle, and that was years and years ago. It wasn't that Lawhead did a particularly bad job... but so many of the Arthur rewrites are just so... mediocre. There's a big difference between novels and mythology that a lot of authors (Bradley notably included) just can't bridge. At all.
That said, when I finally picked this one up and started reading it, I was well satisfied. Fred Saberhagen has written a lot of books, of varying quality. But he strikes me as a man who knows his limits. Merlin's Bones is a sketch-- or rather a riff on the Arthurian mythos. FS takes the story and plays with it, improvising a lot as he goes. It's not supposed to be a reinterpretation of mythology, it's just supposed to be cool and interesting. And it is that.
Yes, there's science fiction thrown into it, and it doesn't fit perfectly. Yes, the ending reminded me of Vision of Escaflowne in that it was too much, too fast. Yes, there are a lot of important questions left unanswered about character motivations. Yes, you can predict a lot of the plot if you pay attention. And yes, if you're going to be picky about the details of the story, you'll have a conniption. But to all of these concerns I say this: at least I was never bored reading it.
Rating: *** (out of four)
Recommendation: This one falls on both ends-- it's for the totally insane Arthur completist, or for someone who really could care less about Arthurian mythology. It's a good, engaging book, but if you're looking for a standard of literary excellence go find something else.
So of course when I saw a copy of a book called Merlin's Bones for cheap last year, I picked it up. There was a reason why I waited, however (apart from the six hundred other books I have yet to read in my apartment alone). I haven't read one of the revisionist Arthur books since Lawhead's Taliesin cycle, and that was years and years ago. It wasn't that Lawhead did a particularly bad job... but so many of the Arthur rewrites are just so... mediocre. There's a big difference between novels and mythology that a lot of authors (Bradley notably included) just can't bridge. At all.
That said, when I finally picked this one up and started reading it, I was well satisfied. Fred Saberhagen has written a lot of books, of varying quality. But he strikes me as a man who knows his limits. Merlin's Bones is a sketch-- or rather a riff on the Arthurian mythos. FS takes the story and plays with it, improvising a lot as he goes. It's not supposed to be a reinterpretation of mythology, it's just supposed to be cool and interesting. And it is that.
Yes, there's science fiction thrown into it, and it doesn't fit perfectly. Yes, the ending reminded me of Vision of Escaflowne in that it was too much, too fast. Yes, there are a lot of important questions left unanswered about character motivations. Yes, you can predict a lot of the plot if you pay attention. And yes, if you're going to be picky about the details of the story, you'll have a conniption. But to all of these concerns I say this: at least I was never bored reading it.
Rating: *** (out of four)
Recommendation: This one falls on both ends-- it's for the totally insane Arthur completist, or for someone who really could care less about Arthurian mythology. It's a good, engaging book, but if you're looking for a standard of literary excellence go find something else.