The Matter of Britain never truly goes out of style, but with the TV series Merlin there has been an upsurge of interest in this important though often peripheral character. Here is a compendium of twenty-four stories, telling about different times in his life and diverse aspects of his character.

Anybody interested in this fascinating cycle of stories will be impressed particularly with the lengthy introduction to this book. It not only gives a glossary of characters and their various names, but also describes Merlin’s various guises in Arthurian tales down the centuries and the nature of magic in the stories. It is not easy to review a number of short stories and ultimately none stood out as being outstandingly good or not up to standard, which I tend to think is a good thing in a book like this. Rather there is a feeling that great care has been taken in choosing from a very wide range of depictions of Merlin and other magical characters. He is shown as a young boy just setting out, as a young man beguiled by love, an old man living wild in the woods and as a rather dark sorcerer. Here too are Nimue his nemesis, Vivienne and Morgan Le Fay as well as Ogier the Dane and of course Arthur and his knights. There are mystical New Age stories like the one by Jessica Amanda Salmonson, and others trying to depict the Celtic world more factually such as the tale by Peter Tremayne. Michael Swanwick and Charles De Lint bring the story up to date with a modern setting while at the other extreme there are Victorian offerings about Tom Thumb and others that have a fairy tale quality. There is something for every Arthurian fan in here, which shows what a wide and stretchy story the Arthurian Cycle has always been and continues to be, guaranteeing its huge popularity.