Author Allen M Werner

The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart, the follow up to The Crystal Cave, is just as good as the first book.

And I, Merlin, son of Ambrosius, whom men feared as prophet and visionary, had been on that night’s work no more than the gods’ instrument.

This is a tale about Merlin. The author has made the character very real, very human, and yet, possessing the Sight, and a few other otherworldly skills as well a keen sense of languages, geometry, science, herbs and nature. He is a deep character that understands human nature to a point that he himself will not cross for he believes he is destined to be a tool of the gods, or the God, he is not quite sure which or what but is faithful to the attributes they have placed upon him and his heart. He doesn’t want a normal life. He believes it is his duty, his fate, to instruct and assist in any form the gods deem, the King, be it Ambrosius, Uther or Arthur – but ultimately Arthur, for he is the promised one to come that will establish peace and prosperity.

The old goddess of the crossways, the Nameless One, who sits staring from her hollowed log like the owl who is her creature; and in front of her, decaying with the greenish glow that folk call enchanter’s light, an offering of fish, laid in an oyster’s shell.

The verses flow like poetry and immerse the reader not only into the lore of the dark ages but the sights, sounds and smells of the places the character visits. The dialogue between characters is powerful and believable.

Uther Pendragon is now King, and he wants nothing to do with the bastard seed he placed in Ygraine, but wants the child protected in case he cannot sire another son.
Merlin devises the method by which the infant is to be taken from the mother and raised by a noble family in obscurity as a foster son.
Merlin knows he will be watched, so with the aid of a few trusted souls, he places Arthur in a far-off province of the country with Sir Ector and his wife, to be raised alongside their son, Cei.
Merlin purposefully moves on, traveling east to lands he had only heard about, wanting to expand his horizons and avoid exposing the whereabouts of Arthur. And all the time he is gone, he is watched and monitored by some seeking clues, for good and for harm, even Uther’s men.
And while Merlin is away, his legend grows because pretenders do things in his name, acting as though they were him and moving on. Reports come from everywhere that Merlin is here, and then he is there. Mysteriously, he moves about, seeming to be everywhere and nowhere.
And when the child, Arthur, reaches his teens, Merlin returns to Britain. Uther is ill and dying, beset on all sides by enemies with within and Saxons without.
From this point we see the seduction of Arthur by his half-sister who fears losing her place, the revelation of the sacred sword, Caliburn, or Excalibur, from Caer Bannog, the death of Uther, and the crowning of the young King in the Perilous Chapel.

Flames from the nine lamps, flaring and then dying; flames licking up the stone of the altar; flames running along the blade of the sword until it glowed white hot. I stretched my hands over it, palms flat. The fire licked my robe, blazing white from sleeve to finger, but where it touched, it did not even singe. It was the ice-cold fire, the fire called out by a word out of the dark, with the searing heat, where the sword lay. The sword lay in its flames as a jewel lies embedded in white wool. Whoso taketh the sword… The runes danced along the metal: the emeralds burned. The chapel was a dark globe with a center of fire. The blaze from the altar threw my shadow upwards, gigantic, into the vaulted roof. I heard my own voice, ringing hollow from the vault like a voice in a dream. “Take up the sword, he who dares.”

I believe The Hollow Hills, like The Crystal Cave before it, are fascinating pieces of fantasy fiction and would recommend that every reader who loves this genre give these books are read.
I look forward to reading the other books in this 5-book series that doesn’t have a designated title.

Allen M Werner is the author of the epic fantasy series
THE CRYSTAL CRUX