The second volume in the Merlin Codex trilogy is a lesser work than the first. Merlin has decided to stay in Taurovinda with Urtha, being drawn to both the place and the man for reasons he is not entirely clear about. Jason is using Argo to get to Alba in search of his lost younger son, having survived the serious wound dealt him by the older son. On the ship is Niiv, searching for Merlin and a motley assortment of Argonauts, dead, alive, older, newer, mortal, immortal, Legendary and supernatural. Medea is in Ghostland (a Mythago wood) which is seperated from Urtha's Kingdom by a river that can't be crossed without magical assistance.

An occupying force of dead and unborn heroes from Ghostland is evicted from the hill-fort but a much bigger force returns to lay siege to Urtha's much depleted tribe, re-inforced by some mercenaries. Then Jason and Argo arrive, the siege is broken in a flash and Urtha's daughter is kidnapped and taken back to Ghostland...all the magical/Legendary folk and Urtha under the protection of Argo go on a joint mission to find Urtha's daughter and Jason's son in Ghostland.

The story is not paced well and is anti-climactic in regard to the lifting of the siege. It also suffers some lack of verve whilst Jason is out of the picture; Jason has a very clear objective and the first volume focused well enough on his attempt to acheive it. The second volume focuses much more on Urtha, but he has no clear-cut quest. He wants to regain his kingdom, then later, protect it from the supernatural invaders and later still, regain his daughter but these are all circumstances incidental to the plotting of Medea with regard to Jason and his family and are only resolved by the actions of Jason. Urtha is, in fact, a minor player, not quite a Rosencrantz or Guildenstern elevated to central protagonist in Tom Stoppard fashion, but certainly in that vein. Urtha's only real function seems to be to father children by two mothers whose descendants will go on to cause trouble for each other and the island of Alba generations in to the future.

The writing is typical Holdstock, in that he portrays pre-historic cultures as if he used to live in them and shows characters who accept the supernatural as natural and causally influential and fortunately, this volume doesn't suffer from the huge number of horrid typographical errors seen in the first volume, but overall it is weaker. Can the final volume redeem the series?

An aside: Ghostland is unmistakably a Mythago Wood, but in 272 B.C. it contains spirits of unborn heroes as well as dead ones. None such feature in the Mythago Wood books set in 20th century England - does Holdstock believe that there are "no more Heroes, anymore"? ( )

OK .Well written and vg for those deep into Celtic myth and legend.Inventive and imaginative.Merlin central figure but pre Arthur.Not really for me ( )

http://books.moonsoar.com/archives/2007/04/07/the-iron-grail/ ( )

The second book of the Merlin Codex is just as good as the first (Celtika). Brilliant author, great story and characters. ( )