Tales That Stand The Test Of Time: Mary Stewart’s “The Hollow Hills”

A few weeks back I was talking Gorgeous Words & Barbara Hambly’s The Ladies of Mandrigyn. Hambly is regarded by some as an underrated Fantasy writer, but for me she is an author whose books stand the test of time.

I’ve read a few other books lately that fall into that category, like Mary Stewart’s The Hollow Hills (1973.) I’ve talked about Mary Stewart’s writing before, chiefly in the context of her romantic-suspense thrillers such as Madam, Will You Talk?

But I feel that her Arthurian Fantasy trilogy, The Crystal Cave (1970), The Hollow Hills, and The Last Enchantment (1979), are one of the early defining works in the swathe of Arthurian-based works for adult readers that dominated 1970s and 1980s Fantasy literature—with the theme continuing to maintain traction through into the 1990s.

Some of the books’ defining characteristics include the Roman-British setting (in the early years of the Saxon invasions), the use of Celtic mythology, and realism in preference to the chivalric, romanticised Victorian and medieval traditions of Arthur.

The books also stand out because of the strength of the historically informed setting and also the characterisation, most particularly that of the central protagonist, Merlin.

And yes, I do think you can see the influence of Mary Stewart’s Merlin, particularly the boy and youth as portrayed in The Crystal Cave, in the recent Merlin television series, as well as in the much earlier 1981 film, Excalibur.

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My earlier posts on Mary Stewart’s writing are here:

Gorgeous Words: Mary Stewart & “Madam, Will You Talk?”