I only read the whole series because I hoped it would redeem itself by having a good ending or the completion would make me happy. Alas, not.I've had trouble describing the issues with this series, but after five books I might be able to manage. Ahem.Merlin is not clever. I see answers waaaay before he does, and he never thinks outside the box for his solutions.The conflicts of the book are made to sound astronomically difficult then are resolved with little to no effort in little to no time.Too...

I can’t help but feel that this book is lacking in complexity. For me, the characters are generally shallow and the conflicts are fairly simple. While I enjoy the classic “good versus evil” story, I would like more depth. The simplicity of the conflict and strong emotional reactions of the characters cause this book to be almost melodramatic, and sometimes the courses of action Merlin takes simply don’t make sense.Despite the flaws, I still enjoyed this story. It has good lessons to teach, and a...

Really great ending to this series - I loved the pace and urgency of this installment, and the conclusion was definitely satisfactory. That being said - going into this volume, I had a general idea what was going to happen at the end, but it was still bittersweet. I wish Merlin could have been a part of both worlds, instead of having to choose (especially knowing what he was giving up with his choice). I read this series as a young teenager (I think 11-15?) and didn't know that TA Barron had con...

A Wizard’s Wings is the fifth book in T. A. Barron’s Merlin series. It was an okay book, and I would recommend it to younger teens or tweens, as older teens and adults would definitely get bored with this book. It was a short read, it took me about 3 hours to read. It is a quicker paced book than the previous books in this series, with an urgent tone to it. The introduction of a new secondary villain was interesting. The beginning was a bit slow, but it quickly got into the action. The ending wa...

In the series, The Lost Years of Merlin, T. A. Barron does a great job filling in the gaps of Merlin's youth and "lost years". What most people know about Merlin is that he was the mentor of King Arthur and a great wizard. The thing that is not revealed is Merlin's youth and his childhood. T. A. Barron describes this very well and it fits nicely into the gap of Merlin's youth.-----------------------------SPOILER ALERT--------------------------My favorite part of this series was when Merlin goes

End book of the series. All the books in the series are very well written for a young audience. While many books in the young adult section have an adult feel, this series maintains a youthful vibe. This is a virtue not a fault. I love the story Barron has woven about Merlin, just the right balance of darkness and light just like the character of Arthur legends. Merlin his a boy first with all the faults that come with youth and has to learn how to be a man. Fantastical creatures, friends and fo...

This one was completely new to me. After the fifth time around, Barron's slights become painfully obvious. Cliffhanger after cliffhanger, moments of crisis solved by a constant stream of deus-ex-machina, Jar-Jar Binks-like characters, a slew of moralizing, and buildup is really only repetition. Midway though, I was prepared to really like this book, because, for once, he had written extended scenes and clever situations, but the way the major crisis in the book was resolved was probably one of t...

I don't even want to talk about that climax and how incredibly dumb it was. So instead I'm going to talk about Domnu. I'd forgotten to mention her in my reviews for the previous, so even though she doesn't show up in this one I figured I'd bring it up here. Domnu's a great character. She's actually one of the most consistently good parts of the series. Positioning her as the amoral point between Dagda's Good and Rhita Gawr's Evil makes a neat little trifecta that just feels right for this world,...

THE WINGS OF MERLIN by T.A. Barron is set in the magical lands of Fincayra with young Merlin as the protagonist. I found this book from reading the rest of the series and this is the last book of the lost years of Merlin series.In Fincayra the longest night is only a few weeks away and on that night terrible things are said to happen. Merlin is part of a prophecy to stop that longest night when his worst enemy Rhita Gawr will appear with an army of undead. Merlin's quest is to gather every creat...

Last book in the series- wrapped things up with a bow while pointing towards the rest of merlins story.After having read my way through this series for the first time after reading the first book many times as a teen I don’t think the series itself is as gripping as the first book. It’s a bit formulaic, but still a good book and worth the read.

The dooming threat was set to be incredibly dangerous and inevitable. The island was being attacked by a god. However in the end it's solved in an incredibly anticlimactic way.I lost count the times that Merlin was saved by deus ex machina. After the 3rd book and the 4th book, I thought that this series is going to end with a high note. It ended in such a cliche and childish way.

Leading up to the final battle, Merlin sure spends a lot of time unconscious but he does finally learn about forgiveness. Considering the results of the final battle, I'm looking forward to where this series goes from here.

I liked the story, but I though there were too many narrative points to keep track of, all occurring within a very short time frame - save the world! and save the children! and discover your destiny! in two weeks! Also I was frustrated by the linear thinking of the main character.

Oh, Avalon!!! T.A. Barron is a genius!

I love these stories of young Merlin.

I'd like to re read this fantastic series

Winds of Merlin*

Ultimately a satisfying conclusion, though the plot stretches the reader's disbelief with the emergence of a pervious character.

Absolutely terrific. Loved that everyone got their wings

My friends and family must think I’m immature. They keep giving me books that would normally be classified as YA (Young Adult). I suppose it’s my fault. They know I enjoyed Harry Potter tremendously and that I read a number of Elizabeth Moon’s science-fiction novels about young people coming of age in difficult circumstances. In fact, they know that I read the first four books in the pentalogy known as “The Lost Years of Merlin” back when I was publisher of Dragon magazine. In fact, I converted

All good things come to an end, and so it is for Merlin's stay in the magical land of Fincayra.And the last volume of T.A. Barron's series about the Arthurian wizard Merlin, "The Wizard's Wings," is a solid conclusion to his first cycle of books (there are two sequel series). It's a fitting if bittersweet ending to this five-book "trilogy," and it sets the stage for other facets of Arthurian legend.Merlin, Hallia and Rhia are having fun when the Dagda appears in a vision, and warns Merlin that t...

http://readfantasybooks.wordpress.com/Wings of Merlin is the final book in this series by T.A Barron. I was pleased by the ending of the book and felt that all my questions were answered; it had a very satisfying ending, which is good after reading through 5 books.The story moves pretty quickly and was quite interesting throughout. I never felt bored during any part of this book. I was always eager to find out the story behind the people loosing their wings, and I can say that I was satisfied! I...

The Wings of Merlin is the fifth and final book in T.A. Barron's "Lost Years of Merlin" series. While I found this last of the series more concentrated with cliches - moments reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and The Chronicles of Narnia- I also found it the most touching of the five parts. The characters finally seemed well-developed and interesting; the relationships were truthful and the fight stirred in the many creatures of Fincayra, when facing it's final hour and possibl...

The fifth and final book of this section of Barron's Merlin series. Overall I found this book to be written like the others - detailed but not extraneous, captivating in parts and a decent story. As usual Merlin still appears to stumble upon the right thing to do, which by the fifth book I guess I expected something a bit more reasoned. He has one reason for a choice, which turns around on him but we find it was a good choice for a different reason. I feel like the only real choice, made by real...

For me this book has a powerful ending. I read this series long ago as a child, and of course I didn't remember the series' nuances, but I did remember the last few chapters had an effect on me. So as I began to reread this, that feeling gradually came back, and it is for that, I believe, all people who love reading, read.The mechanics are rudimentary, as all children oriented books are. However I don't indignantly discriminate literary merit based on the audience, rather on the ideas. This book...

I've enjoyed T.A. Barron's Merlin series because I value his moral stance. In fact, it was while I was listening to the audio version of the first book in this series that I was inspired to try my hand at writing a fantasy book. It has been several years since I read the first four books of this series, so perhaps it is just the lapse in time, but this final installment didn't "sing to me" like the others. However, the story of Slasher struck me as an allegory of how futile it is to entertain ne...

After the rather disappointing "The Mirror of Merlin" Barron gets the story back on track in a truly magical conclusion that does justice to the series and makes this an impressive addition to the world of Merlin literature.The longest night of the year threatens to bring together Fincayra and the Otherworld. At this point Rhita Gawr provides a terrible threat against the land. If this weren't enough, a sword-armed man travles along attacking children.The story is quick-paced, the writing lively...

Like the rest of the series, I really liked this fifth installment. Although I can see how this book was originally intended to be the final volume. Now I'm quite curious to see what adventures lie in store for Merlin on the isle of Britannia.The ending was bittersweet and though it worked and I certainly saw the necessity of the path Barron had to take with his characters. I suppose if things had to work out in that sense for a particular reason, his choices were the best way to go about that.T...

When people watch a good movie or read a good book, some beg and pray for a sequel. Usually, the sequel is disappointing since the story was planned to end there and a continuum is forced out to keep the money rolling in. Thus, a sequel is usually much different, and often worse, than the original. That’s the good thing about series, especially long ones. They keep the reader satisfied for a very long while until the end. The Lost Years of Merlin is no exception. While each book is nearly the sa...

This is the fifth and final book of T.A. Barron’s THE LOST YEARS OF MERLIN cycle, one of the earliest literary explorations of the famous wizard’s childhood. Since then there have been a number of books (and one television show) about what this enigmatic sorcerer was like as a young boy, well before his mentoring of the famed King Arthur, but Barron’s take on the subject matter remains one of the most popular.So popular that it’s warranted a recent re-publication, with new cover art and tweaked