There have been books about the Old Ones, Merlin and the Cauldron-Born encroaching on the ‘real’ world before (Susan Cooper’s ‘The Dark is Rising’ series and Lloyd Alexander’s ‘Prydain Chronicles’, for example) but this new fantasy by Garth Nix is an action-packed adventure set in an alternate 1983.

Eighteen-year-old Susan Arkshaw has just finished school and decides to move to London a few months before her art course starts in order to land a job and find her father, who has been absent her whole life. Her only clue is a man named Frank Thringley, who sent her birthday and Christmas cards, but when she turns up to visit, he disintegrates before her very eyes after being stabbed with a silver pin by a young man with a gloved left hand – Merlin.

As more nightmarish events happen to her and Merlin saves her more than once, it becomes obvious that Susan is the daughter of an Old One and someone else is out to stop her coming into her power. Merlin, his right-handed sister Vivien and their mystical bookseller relations help Susan on her quest, protecting and guarding her until the evil is vanquished.
Unlike the usual interpretations of Merlin, this one is a cross-dresser who wields knives, pistols and guns as well as swords and spells. Other elements of the story are more traditionally based on British folklore but the plot is fast-paced, action-packed and unusual.

Recommended!

Reviewed by Lynne Babbage
Age Guide 14+