Celtika

I really wanted to like this book better I had read it once before and found it a resounding meh , but I gave it another shot because it s Holdstock, and the Mythago series is amazing, and he s dead, and there are only so many books of his I haven t read.Celtika had a good premise Merlin was actually than just the guy in the Round Table legends, he joined Jason and the Argonauts, etc It even starts out great, resurrecting Jason and Argo herself out of a Finnish lake You get Mielikki, the Finnis [...]

Celtika held so much promise It is an ambitious, startlingly original work Unfortunately, it is partly undone by a convoluted plot and certain confusing creative choices Holdstock has built an intriguing world that mixes Arthurian and Greek legend with shamanism, the characters found or likely to be found in those stories, and a plot that concerns the invasion of Greece by Brennus and the search for Jason s sons, hidden in time yes, not in space, but in time by his devious wife Medea.Certain sce [...]

This is a strange amalgamation, very ambitious, very imaginative, but not particularly successful.Basically, a Pre Camelot Merlin teams up with the Jason of Greek legend to find Jason s children because it turns out his ex Medea didn t kill them after all It would very helpful for the reader to have a good grasp of Greek and Celtic mythology before reading this, because there are a lot of creatures, spirits, and happenings that aren t going to make a lot of sense otherwise and Holdstock doesn t [...]

A brilliant novel, resonant with mythic power.

Well this book was weird A book about Merlin opens with Jason, of Golden Fleece fame, attempting suicide through grief for his two dead sons, killed by their mother, Medea Huh Flash forward 700 years and it turns out that Merlin was one of the Argonauts and that he s discovered that Medea did not kill Jason s sons afterall in fact they are alive in the present, hundreds of years after they should be dead even if they had lived to old age.Jason isn t dead, either he s half dead in the bottom of a [...]

Holdstock may well be my favorite fantasy writer This book is the first in the Merlin Codex trilogy Merlin journeys to Hyperborea to find his Argonaut comrade Jason kept alive in his mourning by the guardian spirit of the ship Argo They are joined by a motley band of Celts and others on a journey to Greekland in the time of Celtic incursions into the Mediterranean world sometime after the death of Alexander.Jason wants to find his sons, murdered by their mother Medea Merlin, in his wanderings on [...]

Okay, so I stumbled upon Robert Holdstock when I found a copy of Mythago Wood and Lavondyss Thoroughly enjoyed the books, and have been working on collecting the series and going through them, start to finish This series is along those same lines, and has a fair amount of verbiage and overlap from those other books An interesting twist on the Merlin Legend, bouncing back before Arthur and the tales of the Round Table It intertwines Greek and Celtic myths loosely, but in an interesting fashion, a [...]

Centuries before he meets Arthur, Merlin wanders the Earth, eternally young, a traveler on the path of magic and learning I loved this odd, magical, slightly off kilter book The character of Merlin, the intertwining of Jason and Medea into his history, the deeper fuzzier history and independence from the King Arthur legends with only a bare hint of foreshadowing, was fascinating and engrossing I was haunted by it for months after reading it and didn t want it to end.I m glad I had read Mythago W [...]

Well worth a read, another look at Merlin as a man rather than the myth I found it unputdownable

Gave up on this halfway through It s not a bad book, but I ve lost my taste for fantasy and it doesn t have the magic of the Mythago Wood series.

DNF I just cant get into it as much as I like Celtic legend and wanted to read the whole trilogy.

I suppose that you are thinking that a series entitled The Merlin Codex might be about the Merlin of the Arthurian legend If so, and you are expecting Camelot to make an appearance in this book, you are in for a surprise Yes, the main protagonist is Merlin, but he isn t the character you might have expected Instead, although very old he is also quite young In appearance at least And instead of serving or advising Kind Arthur he travels with Jason of the Greek myths The book is set hundreds of ye [...]

The universe of this book is a mix of history and mythology, though it takes a lot of liberties with the details of both The main character is Merlin, though so far it matters less that he will someday be King Arthur s enchanter than that he once traveled with Jason and the Argonauts under the name Antiokus That character isn t in the Argonautika, and I m assuming Holdstock made him up Seven hundred years later, he decides to revive Jason and Argo for a new quest Merlin is a virtually immortal s [...]

This book was a beautiful example of worldbuilding, creating a consistent system of magic, and an interesting exploration of immortality However, I never really felt connected with Merlin or the other characters I never really got within their head or heart or skin People did things and the plot moved along, but it was hard to truly be invested in what was happening But the language was beautiful and it had some interesting insights on immortals or very long lived people If someone s been around [...]

I m really not sure what to make of this A combination of interesting ideas and muddled execution Or possibly just muddled reading, possibly not helped by the fact my copy seemed to have loads of weird typos in it I think I was far intrigued by the idea of the world than the characters, and to me it felt like some of the plot was sacrificed to be mysterious I don t know.Not something I probably would have read if it had been left to me, but someone bought me it for xmas and I felt like I ought [...]

It has been some years since I read Holdstock The first book of this trilogy evokes his major themes of myth, symbol and ritual though now mixing history and fantasy, Greek and keltoi, rather than the magical realist setting of his earlier sequence Whilst the characters remain complex and ambivalent to their fates, the tapestry of time, foretelling and prediction shifts the book from free will to Fate And this is where the tensions fails for how does one maintain an interest in a quest that is c [...]

The characters were not original The main elements of the storyline were not original The mythology and fable of mystical characters and powers so overwhelmed the storyline that I didn t find this worth reading The mystic elements were obfuscatory to the plot, and were very weak in their presentation.The character names could have been much simpler There could have been direct action in the plot instead of the nauseating narration from and about the dreamland, the dead, the ageless Merlin, Jaso [...]

Celtika was a free book that my mother found at a garage sale, was Celtika amazing No not really, but it did keep my interest as I m a glutton for Merlin and King Arthur related books The story involves the lost years of Merlin before the King Arthur days and when he is still young for his age Merlin was on the Argo and the quest for the Golden Fleece, who thunk it The writing could of used a good editor since there were numerous errors The book did do its job though, I will read the sequel.

You can t go wrong with Robert Holdstock, especially when he puts together an all star cast of characters for a grand adventure like this Unlike the Mythago Wood stories which are generally dripping with mood and mystery, this is much of a sword swingin , ale swillin , vengeance takin head on collision of the mythologies of Britain and ancient Greece, and it s one of the most enjoyable takes on Arthurian legend I ve ever read.

A fairly decent Holdstock book He s finally settled himself firmly into the distant and mysterious past There s beautiful writing and a lot of interesting ideas embedded into it Wastelands, early civilizations, Jason and the Argonauts, Uther probably Pendragon , Merlin, a wood filled with dead and unborn heroes, war, honor, battle, betrayal, passion, etc etc His writing made me want to write when I was younger, but Lavondyss of all his books is still my favorite.

Wow I don t have enough great things to say about this book It captures the period with savage grace And no matter what the characters do always embracing the times and their truly barbarian nature you can t help but love them Breaks new ground in stories about Merlin.I d recommend it to anyone Especially those who love fantasy and Arthurian novels although this is takes place way before arthurian history.

Holdstock weaves Arthurian legend with Greek mythology to create a wholly unique story However, there was something missing that made what could have been great into a book that was simply okay I don t know what that is but it means that I don t want to continue with the rest of the books in this series.

in the centuries before Arthur, Merlin is both immortal and young he journeys across this world and others becoming a friend to Jason of Golden Fleece fame and Jason s wife Medea.when a chance meeting leads to Merlin finding and raising Jason s spirit, he begins a great quest which causes him to travel to Britainfinitely part of a series, good ideas but confusing on it s own.

An enjoyable story about Merlin before Arthur This book concerns Jason of Argo fame looking for his two sons who he thought were killed by Medea, his wife It also has a few characters that will either show up again or be of significance as the story goes further.

I really enjoyed this book A great fantasy story about Merlin I liked the idea of adding Jason and the argonaugts along with it very good read Once it gets moving you really cant put it down I m dying to read the next installment.

A fantastic book that makes me look forward to the next one A fresh and new story about Merlin Link to review in Norvegian

Enjoyable take on the Merlin legend, with a story stretching from Ancient Greece and the Argon auto to the wilds of Celtic Britain centuries later and a main character with formidable powers and Al to human frailties

Definitely kept my interest Liked the entangling of Celtic and Greek myth Solid characters, image based settingswould have a higher rating but I m in a too critical mood and thought the sidebar Merlin finding himself storyline was overly pretentious.

Holdstock once again delivers an intriguing fantasy series This time featuring Merlin and Jason of the Argonauts fame His style is reminiscent of his previous work on the Mythago series meaning it is quite good

How long must you pay for your deeds And what will be the ultimate price Odysseus, the Argo and his crew are called back after seeral hundred hears to address a wrong they put in motion all those years previously