Like all the best children's fiction, this can be enjoyed by adults too. Forget the Disney film, the original yarn is far superior. This is a hardback version with a different cover. Merlin is living backwards and has a neat turn on educating a once and future king...

From Amazon:
In the days before King Arthur there was a father (Sir Ector) with two boys: Kay, and the Wart. Kay was older, and bossier, and hated getting things wrong--so when he lost his hawk in the forest, it was the Wart who stayed out all night, searching for it.
The Wart didn't find the hawk, but he did find a very strange old man, who turned out to be Merlyn the Magician. And when Merlyn came to Sir Ector's castle as the boys' tutor, schoolwork suddenly became much more fun. After all. who wouldn't enjoy being turned into a fish, or a badger, or even a snake?

And although the Wart was an adopted brother and not Sir Ector's real son, who knew what he might become after having a magician as a tutor for six years?

Synopsis
The extraordinary story of a boy called the Wart - ignored by everyone except his tutor, Merlin - who goes on to become King Arthur.

Another one on my wishlist that I spotted at the BC Unconvention on the bookswap table. :) Thanks! Always wanted to know just how much Disney screwed it up...

5th May 2007
D'you know, that was SO GOOD. I nearly cried at the end. :') It's been a loooooong time since I've read a book that sucked me in, made me forget what I was supposed to be doing and generally dragged me away from life. I would recommend this to anyone who likes legends, which has got to be most of the population of the world, reeeeelly.

I think I might make Shven-bob read this, it's funny and made me laugh out loud lots of times as well and I think he'd appreciate that.

So it's reserved for him when he gets back from Bridgend, land of latex and make believe!

Hmmm........ I like my fantasy a little less modern personally. Not a bad book for a giggle, but not much in the way of plot development - reads more like a collection of short stories about the same characters. And putting King Arthur and Robin Hood in the same story just bugs me

I got posted the book from a friend, with a forwarding address to someone else who had mentioend they wanted to read it too. After that, I don't know where it will be released.

I remember reading this book, a few years ago. Somehow the vivid memories from the book have kept returning ever since.

The main appeal comes from the life-like descriptions, which have a similar feeling to Gormenghast (Mervyn Peake) but are much more concise! It also has a natural history element similar to Watership Down (Richard Adams).

Largely, the book does not focus on the plot of the legend. This is wise on the part of the author, who instead manages to weave his original story into a well-known tale, making it come back to life. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a flavour of legends, as a backdrop for their imaginations.

Good luck catching it!


CAUGHT IN CARLTON LEICESTERSHIRE ENGLAND

Thanks for the book! I've been reading these reviews of the book and can't decide whether I'm going to like it book or not!

Donated to PDSA shop.