Merlin's Book of Magick and Enchantments
Nevill Drury
Smithmark
Fiction, Fantasy/Magic
Themes: Legendary Stories, Occult, Wizards
**
Description
Merlin is one of history's most famous wizards. In this book, written during his endless imprisonment by Nimue, he tells of his magickal secrets, in hopes of educating future generations.
Review
I don't know why Drury felt this book needed to be written. A good Merlin point-of-view story might have been interesting, but Merlin only relates his tale during the first part of the book. Much is glossed over in this book's haste to get to Merlin's lessons in magick, which draw on real-world practices for inspiration. These lessons, like the story, are told in annoyingly archaic English, given to flowery language that doesn't really "teach" anything. I have read much better books on magick than this. If this is the only wisdom Merlin possessed, he must've been a lucky hack, which might explain how he was so easily betrayed and entrapped. Given the fact that Merlin's autobiography was pathetically slim, the failure of the magickal lessons mean the failure of this book as a concept.