Celtika - Robert Holdstock Book Review

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"Celtika"
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Review Summaries

" Tor, Mar 2003, 24.95, 368 pp. ISBN: 0765306921 Merlin stays young as long as he does not use his magic, but every time he applies the “charm”, he ages. Always in a quest for more arcane knowledge, Merlin joins Jason on his crusade to obtain the Golden Fleece. Later the Enchantress Medea kills Jason's two sons and steals their corpses. The grieving former hero sails into the night on the Argo with no reason to live, unable to obtain closure. Centuries later, Merlin learns that a “screaming” ship is locked inside a frozen lake. Concluding that the vessel must be the Argo, he journeys to help his mourning friend Jason, who screams for his lost sons. Using his cherished “charm”, he raises the Argo at the cost of much of his youth. He next informs Jason that his two sons live. A renewed Jason puts together a new crew of Argonauts set to rescue his children. Combining Arthurian legend with Greek mythology, Robert Holdstock displays he may be the leading mythologist of modern times. The story line is more than just an epic adventure as the key players, Merlin and Jason learn that no man, no matter how powerful or heroic, is an island. Magic seems unfeigned and the blending of the two epic lines brilliantly conceived and achieved. The first book of the Merlin Codex is a triumph that fantasy readers will relish, keep, and desire immediate release of book two in this terrific opus. Harriet Klausner "
Harriet Klausner, Resident Robert Holdstock Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%

Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy world/fantasy past
Tech./$$$/Info hunt Yes
Stealing/recovering/destroying - magical artifact
Mental/magical powers focus Yes
magical powers: - good magical powers hunting non/weaker magical(s) (fantasy)
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - mage/magician
Age: - long lived adults
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - none

Setting
Earth setting: - during "Tolkien" (fairytime) times
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How much dialogue? - significantly more dialog than descript

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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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