SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY
Welly and Heather are two teenagers living in a post-nuclear war world. While attending a boarding school, they meet Earl, a young man who was found after losing his memory. The three become friends, eventually leaving the school and learning the truth about Earl and the fight to save the future of humanity.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Earl starts out as a loner who becomes friends with Heather and Welly with some hesitancy. Eventually he regains his memory. From then on he struggles with feelings of inadequancy as well as putting the lives of his friends at risk.
Welly admits he hates his bad eyesight and wishes he could easily lose weight. Compared to Heather he is less adventurous but their friendship stars they both don't fit in at school.
Heather is an adventurous girl who doesn't fit in with the other girls at her school. She is rather plain looking and although she doesn't speak of it, wishes she were pretty. After her father remarried she became estranged from her family.
Morgan Le fey is our a stock villain. Not that every villain needs to be sympathetic, but I wish she had some more depth to her. She thinks Merlin is naive and tries to convince him to join her but her arguments never come off as pursuasive. It was never in doubt that Merlin would reject her offer and her history is rather vague. Perhaps to be expanded upon in the third book.
PACING & INTRODUCTION-SPOILERS
In the beginning we meet Welly and Heather, and not long after Earl. There is an intruder at the school and then we see that Earl has nightmares. Eventually people show up claiming to be relatives of Earl's, so he decides to run away. Welly and Heather go with him.
The pacing isn't fast, but we get to learn about the main characters as well as the world, so I would say it's an adequate opening. Just not fast paced.
There are attacks from muties as well as other creatures. The story is pretty well balanced between action and exposition.
TWO STORIES
This book is actually two books in one. The first story dealing with restoring Merlin's memories as well as finding Avalon and King Arthur; The second book takes place years later where Arthur has claimed his title as king and built a court. Most of the second story has to do with Merlin trying to regain his abilities of prophecy as well as uniting the country under Arthur. Heather's gift is revealed as well.
THE DEATH OF MERLIN
Less than halfway thought the first book, Merlin ends up falling down a well. It's obvious to Heather and Welly that he died. Which is why Morgan leaves. I always feel slightly annoyed when a main character is shown to die when the story isn't even near over. The odds of it being a true death are none existant and I always feel that you shouldn't present something as shocking, when its obviously not. But it served as a cliffhanger ending and allowed Morgan to leave Welly and Heather be.
I thought it was amazing that only sheer luck prevented him from his death, as there were ropes that stopped his fall.
MERLIN'S MEMORIES
After almost falling to his death, Merlin hits his head and all of his memories come back. That kind of surprised me, since we live in a world with magic, I expected something magic related to restore his memories. I almost wish he had used magic by instinct instead, as he had done earlier in the story, actually making himself invisible. Perhaps this burst of magic could have been so strong as to unlock his memories.
I almost expected Merlin's personality to change after a lifetime of memories came back to him. The world he lived in was nothing like the one he resided in now. And he had only been in this one a few years. I felt he should have immediately have become more like a mentor figure, or at least a big brother. Or at least have some traditional, old fashioned ideas on some topics.
But perhaps since his memory is restored well before their relationships are established, the author thought it would muddle things up. I think it would have been interesting to establish a relationship and then realize you never actually knew the person, because the person never knew themselves.
MERLIN'S POWERS
While Merlin regains his memories he doesn't regain his magical abilities all at once. He gradually regains them over the course of the first story. He manages to defend his friends from slavers, as well as from Morgan.
MERLIN'S ANGER AT THE WORLD
Merlin admits a few times that he is furious that the world has been abused and destroyed. Most of the populace was destroyed by war, as well as most animals. Mutant people live as well as mutated animals, consisting of a threat.
I found his anger kind of melodramatic, as if everything just went to seed without him around. He never realizes that the majority of the planet had no say in the wars that were fought and had no power over anything.
His generalization makes him appear naive and considering how old he is supposed to be, rather unbelievable. Not to mention he never asks how the world changed after he was gone for hundreds of years. Did people just become more selfish and entitiled? How do they stop it from happening again?
He never seems to understand that men have always had wars, even when he was around, it's just that the weapons are bigger now and more dangerous.
ABANDONING & TEMPTING-SPOILERS
After the group has stayed at a nice family's farm long enough for Welly to recover from his illness, Merlin eventually gets in a fight and leaves his friends behind. It's obvious that he still feels guilty for dragging them into danger.
Afterwards Morgan shows up and tempts both of them, showing visions of themselves in the future as they desperately wish to be. I never really thought either would abandon Merlin, but I think the scene showed a part of Morgan's powers and how strong she could possibly be. So it did serve a purpose, as well as showing that our main characters could stand up to her, even without help.
MERLIN'S PAST
I think the author assumed everyone knew the details of the King Arthur stories, so perhaps she didn't have to flesh anything out for us. But I wanted to learn more, and it wouldn't have bothered me if some liberties were taken. Merlin vaguely mentions a woman named Nimue and how she was sent by Morgan to gain his friendship and learn magic. Eventually she betrayed him.
Merlin also mentions that Arthur was betrayed by his last wife but the king seems to get over that rather quickly.
HEATHER'S STRUGGLES-SPOILERS
When Heather develops her own magical skills, she is rather anxious about them. She feels alone, and as someone who lacked friends previously, she is familiar with that emotion. She complains she didn't want her abilities and doesnt want others to know. To compound the situation, a young man named Kyle ends up badgering her a few times throughout the story.
Turns out he thinks magic is dangerous (he's not wrong there) and evil (this is often true too). I felt like his presence was merely there to make Heather feel more like a victim and grow more angry. After all, her and Kyle never develop a friendship, more like a casual acquintance as he tries to teach her to sing.
If perhaps he had been made to be a real friend and included in the story, he would have served a better purpose. But as Heather barely knows him, it's not hard to blow him off when he becomes rude.
MERLIN'S STRUGGLES-SPOILERS
Merlin struggles with guilt, from not being able to prophecize adequately and for putting his friends at risk. But the fact is, he worries about the former quite often, while the latter rather comes out of the blue. He always worries for Heather and Welly of course.
Also, the young boy from the first book, where they stayed at a farm, returns. Turns out his whole family was killed by mutants. Merlin feels awful. Later the boy dies in battle while holding a flag. Merlin is heartbroken but expresses this through sarcasm and anger.
I was surprised at his bitterness and wondered how many battles he had witnessed in his past life, and how often did he feel responsible for deaths of soldiers or innocent bystanders. Did he experience this a lot, and was now just sick of it, perhaps growing cynical? I wish I could have learned more about his past.
HEATHER & MERLIN-SPOILERS
Because of her new abilities, Heather confides in Merlin more often as no one else is aware of what she can do. He seems happy to have her near, admitting he feels less alone. I thought this was interesting, because he had never before admitted that being the only sorcerer around had made him lonely in his old life. Unless you remember the vague reference to Nimue where he said that Morgan knew his weakness.
On the positive side, the relationship feels natural and doesn't happen all at once, we merely see that they are spending more time together and are comforted by each others' presence. There are hints at there closeness being romantic so when it comes to fruition near the end it feels deserved.
ARTHUR & MERLIN
Arthur isn't in the book except near the end but he doesn't really appear in the sequel that much either. I suppose the relationship between the two is a mentor and a student, even though they are the same age now. They joke often with each other.
I admit I was disappointed with their relationship. I expected it to be much deeper since they had such a long history but it's never delved into. And neither Welly or Heather feel any jealousy towards Arthur (to be fair he and Merlin just don't come across as close). Nor is there any awe or a feeling of not belonging in his presence from our main characters.
Also when it comes to the character of Arthur himself there just isn't enough time to flesh out any character. It's hinted that there is a romance between him and a Queen he meets but the relationship happened off the pages so it felt forced.
THE NEGLECT OF WELLY
For the most part I feel that both stories dwell on Heather and Merlin while Welly feels to be neglected. He does develop, showing bravery later on and actually fighting in a serious battle. This in contrast to who he is in the beginning, someone who thinks little of himself and lagging behind Heather.
Although I have to be honest, it's most likely that his character and his relationship with Merlin was to be developed in the next story. Apparently in this one, Heather gets kidnapped and its up to him and Merlin to rescue her.
THE AMULET & THE SEDUCTION OF HEATHER-SPOILERS
After a visit home, Heather recieves a gift from her mother who admits she had some magical ability and Heather probably does too. The amulet is supposed to aid Heather's gifts and it seems to. But it was rather naive for her to keep it, since right afterwards she learns her mother lied to her and had Merlin hidden in her dungeon.
I suppose it could be argued that the amulet was already influencing her, and she is too weak to resist it.
MERLIN'S GUILT-SPOILERS
A fake letter is delivered to Merlin from Heather, saying she has left with Welly. Merlin is upset, thinking he dragged Heather into this conflict and that he never should have. I was surprised he believed such an obvious lie as it had been clear for some time that she was willing to risk her life for his and that he was the most important person in her life.
It's a basic trope, some misunderstanding that keeps two people apart for a time until it's realized to be false and they are reunited. I always have mixed feelings, because I never feel like the deception is good enough to be believed. And the character that has to believe it ends up looking quite stupid for the sake of the plot.
CLIMAX
In the first story, they find Avalon despite Morgan's interference and Arthur along with it. As for the second, Merlin searches for Welly and Heather and fights Morgan.
CONCLUSION
The strong point of the story is that all the main characters are distinct and likable. They all struggle, grow and face their fears. Even if Welly is neglected on this front. They all feel real and relatable, even Merlin.
The storyline of a modern version of King Arthur isn't original, but that doesn't stop it from being interesting. The world is explained just enough to understand it and perhaps that's to its credit, as many science fiction and fantasy stories build such a huge world that the characters are neglected entirely.
The weak points are mostly the lack of Merlin's and Arthur's history and relationship. I felt more should have been revealed, perhaps putting a wedge between Merlin and his young friends.
Sometimes Merlin can come across as overly dramatic, which I didn't expect from an old man, even if he is in a teenager's body. I would have liked it if he had been portrayed as more mature, even if it put a gap between him and his friends. And in fact I think it would have made the relationships more interesting.
Merlin had a whole other life and yet he doesn't seem to have any secrets or anything worth sharing in detail.
I give “Tomorrow's Magic” three stars.
