The Merlin Conspiracy

"Diana Wynne Jones also makes use of personified places in The Merlin Conspiracy , but here the geography encompasses all of Britain, which is visited on rotation by the King’s Court – the City of Salisbury is in play, as is down-at-heel Old Sarum , keen to remind anyone who will listen that he is only a poor rotten borough. But because this is Diana Wynne Jones, this idea is only a small fraction of the whole fantasy edifice. First, a personal reason to love this book: Diana Wynne Jones replied to my fan mail when I was a young fantasy reader, and told me that I might enjoy her next book, The Merlin Conspiracy . Reader, I did. And I still have that letter framed on my bookshelf. But I promise that the book is still well worth reading, even if you don’t happen to have a treasured signed letter from the author telling you about it… There are two protagonists, who tell the story in alternating chapters: Nick Mallory in our own Britain, and Roddy in parallel-universe-Britain, where the same recognisable geography is referred to as the Isles of Blest. The Merlin is a political office in Roddy’s Britain, alongside the King. The old Merlin has died, apparently of natural causes, but Roddy suspects foul play; and so she embarks on a perilous quest to uncover the political conspiracy at work, forced into an irritating alliance with Nick from the other-Britain. In a fashion typical of Diana Wynne Jones, we also spend time in liminal paths between the worlds. And we encounter co-existent, independent magic systems – Roddy’s father’s weather-working for the King’s Court has little to do with these liminal paths and the totems that live there, which have little in common again with the ultimate great powers evoked to save the day. The strongest powers in this world are those drawn from British mythology, with an appearance from Gwyn ap Nudd – the ruler of the fair folk and leader of the wild hunt in Welsh folklore – proving decisive. Again, there is the sense that magical reality has left its imprint on our layman’s knowledge in various ways: we know something of Gwyn ap Nudd , and we once had a Merlin, although to Roddy’s great surprise this important political office has faded in our own Britain."