Subject: Re: Arthurian recommendations?

From: [email-masked] (Don Coolidge)
Date: 29 Feb 88 19:41:34 GMT

There's also an entry from Andre Norton, called _Merlin's Mirror_.
Merlin's the main character, and he's an alien, of course (well, a sort 
of semi-alien, product of a union between his mother and some kind of 
Remotely Piloted Vehicle From Outer Space. So are Arthur and Nimue.)...and 
hidden hi-tech gadgetry fills his cave, teaches him, and sustains him through 
coldsleep at various times.

Now, that sounds pretty boring. The book isn't, though - I found it
really enjoyable. Post-Roman Britain was very well presented, and the
civilized flourishes one normally associates with Arthuriana were totally
absent - even kings' castles were little better than drafty huts. Most
characters were unlikable, and all were severely flawed. Yes, there was
idealism (in some, and some of the time), but it never really triumphed -
in part because both sides were idealistic.

One of the two alien factions (Nimue's) opposed uniting Britain under an 
enlightened monarchy - the thought was that a stable social system would
lead to advanced technical progress before comparable social/psychological
evolution occurred, with nuclear Armageddon the likely result. The other
side (Merlin and company) wished for that technical progress to ameliorate
the general misery and squalor that was everyone's lot, regardless of the
potential for future disaster (the "...we'll deal with that one when it
happens..." school of thought). By the end of the book, the line between
the Good Guys and Bad Guys had blurred considerably.

I guess this was never one of Andre Norton's most popular books, but it's
definitely worth a read.

Don Coolidge
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