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I've read it. It's been since middle school though, so it's been a while. I remember liking them quite a bit. They're for young adults, though, so I don't know if I'd like them as much as I used to, but you never know. Posts: 107 | Registered: Nov 2005
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I also read them in middle school, and I liked them a lot. Except for the fourth book, The Mirror of Merlin; it may just be me, but I thought the book dragged its feet and the series would have worked just as well without it. The last one, Wings of Merlin, more than redeemed that one, though.
It has been a while since I read them. I might have to check them out the next time I'm at Barnes and Noble.
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I love T.A. Barron. I definitely don't think you have to be a youth to enjoy his stuff. I read him for the first time six years ago, and I was 24. Oh, no! Now you know how old I am! Well, don't spread it around, kay.
Barron has a new series out now called the Tree of Avalon. I have the first one but still haven't read it. Now I may go back to the book shelf and pick it back up.
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just sent the age thing to everyone I know. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I read the first Avalon book, but cant find the rest.
another thing: what about Terry Brooks? read his Sword of Shannara series, loved it, and read the rest of the books by Him. and I loved Brian Jacques. (His Redwall series, not the Flying Dutchman thing.)
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I read his Merlin books. He's a pretty good writer. He's good enough that when I accidentally started reading the third book first (The Fires of Merlin) I didn't feel altogether confused. The books well-written enough that if you accidentally start in the wrong place, it doesn't throw you off and make you think, "Oh no, that ruins all of the earlier books!"
And the Redwall books are good, for a beginner reader (I would definitely not recommend that someone reads all of them; it gets to the point where you can predict what will happen, how it will happen, and the reader will begin to think, "I just don't care anymore.").
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The Sword of Shannara is the only one of Brook's books that I care about anymore. The sequels were okay, but after getting through the Wishsong?, I could tell how all the rest of his stories would end up. It got boring after a while.
I've still yet to read Redwall, but I'll get around to it soon enough.
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I read, I think, the first three books of the "Shannara" series, then made a conscious decision not to read or buy any more. I liked, in particular, the ending of (I think) the second one, but they seemed *too* derivative of Tolkien. Certainly none of those three moved me the way Tolkien moved me. I've heard some relatively good things about some of the other books that have come since, but haven't felt inclined to renew my acquaintance.
I lost track of "Redwall" somewhere around the eighth or ninth book...though they seemed fine. A cross between Tolkien and Kenneth Grahame. ("Wind in the Willows.") Several of them seemed to tell the same story with a different cast of characters, though. And I think some of the side comments about certain animals having certain traits, or being good or bad, reminded me too much of racial prejudice.
If I ever encountered T. A. Barron or "The Lost Years of Merlin," it made no impression on me. Sorry.
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I used to be obsessed with the Redwall books...think I read about 10 of them a couple of times. So much fun to run around with mice and fight rats
I also read Terry Brooks...Sword of Shannara was the first large fantasy novel i read (in 5th grade) and I found them powerful. Granted, that was a long time ago.
The Merlin series I found rather impressive. He did such a great job making it interesting with all sorts of stuff. I liked how he was able to take such a cliche and overdone legend and make something original with it.
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