The Crystal Cave

            If the name Merlin were spoken, many would immediately connect the name to the legendary magician that served King Arthur. Many variations of this legendary magician have been passed down through the ages, but only one makes the reader connect with Merlin as a man and not just a magician. In the book The Crystal Cave Mary Stewart makes the reader see that Merlin is not just a magician, he is first and foremost a man. Throughout the book the author sucks the reader in to the life of this man, and using imagery and characterization makes him feel that he is actually there watching the life of Merlin unravel. From the very first page of The Crystal Cave the reader is transported into the book with the use of imagery; Mary Stewart almost forces him to connect with the characters and the surroundings of this book. " With the coming of the dusk the rain stopped, but a mist had risen, creeping knee-high through the trees so that they stood like ghosts, and the grazing horse floated like a swan."(The Crystal Cave pg. 2) Mary Stewart describes this scene so well that the reader can actually see the mist rising up the trees and into the forest. When describing the fight scenes where Ambrosius, Merlin's father, is trying to gain the title of High King, she uses enough detail to get the point across, without making the scene gory and bloody as so many things are in today's world. "Everywhere men were fighting in small groups, or even singly and hand to hand. The noise, the clash and shouting, even the smell of sweat and blood mingled (Crystal Cave pg.373.) The reader can almost smell the sweat and blood mingling on the battlefield, like being there without the danger. In this novel Stewart also mixes together imagery and characterization when she is showing the reader what Merlin sees in the crystal cave when he first learns he has the "sight". This is the beginning of the author's trial to get the reader inside the brain of Merlin as he begins to use his power.