This is one of my favorite books, consisting of three novels that follow the Arthurian legend through the eyes of Merlin. The first novel, The Crystal Cave was assigned to me in high school, as was Mary Renault's story about Theseus, The Bull from the Sea--what Renault did for Ancient Greece, Mary Stewart did for Dark Age Britain--bring it alive for me.
This has been described as fantasy, and there are touches of that, but much of Merlin's magic is rationalized--this is more historical fiction than fantasy, and as such made a big impression on me and felt all the more magical than any more fantasy-laden versions, because it made me feel, maybe it is real. For me this became the gold standard for Arthurian books, so when I read Whyte's or Bradley's versions of Arthur, these are the books I measured them against--and against which other versions seem wanting. The other thing is, compared to so many of the other versions, Stewart is just a fantastic storyteller with a beautiful evocative prose style, wonderful pacing, characterizations and sense of place.
The Crystal Cave takes the reader from Merlin's childhood to the conception of Arthur. The second book, The Hollow Hills deals with the young Arthur up to the time he becomes king, and The Last Enchantment takes Merlin up to his death. I love the relationship between Arthur and Merlin in the last two books and each book is like a map of the stages of man: the first a coming of age tale, the second in a sense the main "career" and "fatherhood" and the last old age--fighting to still make a difference, coming to peace with your own mortality and resolve unfinished business.
Beautiful novels, all three of them, especially seen as a whole. There is one other Arthurian book in the series, The Wicked Day about Mordred, and I also recommend it, but I don't think it's quite as magical as the trilogy.
