The Hollow Hills

I had been reading The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart, the second book in her acclaimed Arthurian saga so I decided I would take it along on my trip to my son's 2-day college orientation.  It was a good choice as it certainly gave me something to do during the down times in the evening.  I had hoped to have more down time between lectures to read on it but there wasn't too much time.  Instead I skipped a couple of whole sessions on such intriguing subjects as how to handle the stress of your child leaving for college.  I think my wife and I have that under control...thus a bit more reading time.

The only bad thing about bringing this book along on the trip was that it's a great looking trade paperback and I had hoped to keep it looking nice for my bookshelf.  I almost made it...except for a leaky water bottle on the very last session.  Not too bad though, only a small section at the bottom of the last 20 pages or so now has that water/wrinkle look.

The book itself was mostly very good.  A few sections dragged a bit.  I've read quite a few versions of the Arthurian legend including those by TH White, Bernard Cornwell, and Stephen R. Lawhead.  Still on my shelf is Jack Whyte's huge 8 volume set which probably won't get read for at least 5 more years.  I like Ms Stewart's take on it though, fairly straight-forward story with lots of political intrigue.  Merlin is her narrator which is as it should be in my opinion.  Who else really knows everything that is going on here?  Looking forward to number three in the series, later this year.