Apex Review Of My Friend Merlin (Joanne Lecuyer)

Aug. 13, 2015 - PRLog -- In Joanne Lécuyer’s My Friend Merlin, Prince Arthur and Merlin meet for the first time as children and become friends. Using details from Arthurian legends, Lécuyer changes various aspects so the pair are the same age, and so it is more kid-friendly for the chapter book audience. Arthur’s father, King Uther, disapproves of magic, thus ruling it illegal. Merlin and his family are druids and are forced to hide their magic. In the book, Merlin sets up a means to meet Arthur in order to take him to a crystal that would allow Arthur to see the future and help the kingdom. He also uses the opportunity to show Arthur that magic can be good if used properly. The book follows the pair as they use magic to save the kingdom from magically-altered beetles who are destroying farmers’ crops.

Overall, Lécuyer’s world building is forced and contains a great deal of information that has seemingly nothing to do with the story. She describes the various types of dragons at the beginning of one chapter, only to focus on one type of dragon. The narrative is abruptly interrupted with this information dumping and takes the reader away from the story. The story itself is slow-paced and difficult to get through, in part because the world building is so dense, and in part because the dialogue is somewhat stilted and Merlin and Arthur have little characterization. Additionally, much of the details included make us believe other things will happen at some point in the book, but then lead to nothing. Merlin’s sister tells Merlin that the fairies will not accept a treaty, but it is never revisited. The book takes a while to reach any action, and then the action is over in a paragraph or two, having taken place off stage.

Lécuyer includes vocabulary terms highlighted in bold with a glossary in the back, but her choice of vocabulary seems random, as other terms are used within the book that would likely elude the targeted audience, but are not defined. The use of the glossary at all is insulting to the audience. Lécuyer could have easily included context clues to assist with the identification of new vocabulary, or she could have toned down the vocabulary to better suit her readers. Merlin insists multiple times throughout the book that magic can be good if used properly, giving the book a heavily didactic feel at times that feels forced.

Aimed at kids around the ages of 6-9, My Friend Merlin will likely only attract those already heavily interested in high fantasy and the Arthurian legends rather than those new to the genre.

Caity Gladstone

Apex Reviews