The Wings of Merlin: Book 5 of The Lost Years of Merlin (Unabridged) The Wings of Merlin: Book 5 of The Lost Years of Merlin (Unabridged)

The Wings of Merlin: Book 5 of The Lost Years of Merlin (Unabridged‪)‬

    • 4.0 • 4 Ratings
    • $14.99

    • $14.99

Publisher Description

Winter's longest night is rapidly approaching as Merlin faces the most difficult challenge of his life: to unite all the people of Fincayra against an invasion by the evil Rhita Gawr. But how can one man, in two weeks' time, gather them all—the dwarves, the canyon eagles, the walking trees, the living stones, and more—when none of them will listen? And now comes the mysterious Swordarms, who is hunting down Fincayra's children. Only if Merlin can unite the battling forces within himself, can he save the children, unify the Fincayrans, and regain the long lost wings that will enable him, and his people, to choose their true destiny.

GENRE
Kids & Young Adults
NARRATOR
KI
Kevin Isola
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
11:30
hr min
RELEASED
2011
March 8
PUBLISHER
Listening Library
SIZE
358.7
MB

Customer Reviews

Mastemo ,

A bittersweet end

I read the first three books of this series when they first came out, but never had a chance to finish the series until now. I decided to binge all five books of this arc to know what finally happened in the land of Fincayra.

Book five was a great read. I just felt like the ending portion with the battle was kind of… lame? Anticlimactic? Weak? Without going too much into spoilers, the plot of this book revolves around Rhita Gawr and his army invading Fincayra on the longest night of the year (winter solstice). But instead of some great epic battle between Emrys Merlin and Rhita Gawr, you get a big battle all around them and Rhita Gawr just talks and talks and talks and yells. And then falls into a hole. I’d expected a battle at the very least on the level of what is seen numerous times earlier in the book with Slayer and Merlin.

For a foe that was built up from the very first pages of book one, to the final moments of book five, he was only there to make an appearance and give some monologue to help push the plot along.

Learning what happened in Fincayra’s past, why the humans lost their wings, and seeing all the familiar faces come back into play was great.

One other thing bothered me throughout this series. Given that the story is told from Merlin’s perspective, I never felt Merlin was in any real danger even though a chapter may end implying this might be the end for him. We know Merlin is going to live, and we know there are plenty of chapters after. So we had a safety net that didn’t allow for a suspension of disbelief. The only time I read with bated breath was in the first book when he lost his sight.

Too often was Merlin not saved by his own skills and spells but rather by shear dumb luck. A trope that seemed to be the writer’s crutch constantly used. This becomes painfully obvious in the final battle with the sole event (not saying what) taking away everything from it. I am speaking of the events and arrival that lead to the turn of the battle. If you’ve read the book, you know. Stupidity on the enemies part and extremely dumb luck on Merlin’s.

The ending aside, the rest of the book was a great adventure. Probably my favorite (after book 1).

I’m hesitant to start book 6 knowing it follows a different character. I know Merlin makes appearances but I read this series because I wanted to follow Merlin. Not follow the denizens of Fincayra, Avalon and beyond. But who am I kidding. I’m so hungry for Merlin, I’ll take even the cameos he makes in the adventures following someone else in the world he helped shape (through dumb luck).

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