The Lost Years of Merlin

The Lost Years of Merlin, Book One

By: T.A. Barron

Narrated by: Michael Cumptsy

Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Spat out by the sea, the boy lay on the rocks, as still as death. Even if he survived the day, he had no home. No memory. And no name.

So begins the tale of the strange young boy, who having washed up on the shores of ancient Wales, is determined to find his real home and his true name. One day he will become the greatest wizard of all time, but he knows nothing of this now.

At the knee of the mysterious Branwen, who claims to be his mother, the boy learns lore of the Celts, Druids, and people even more ancient. Yet the secret of his identity seems always to escape him. To discover the truth, and the secret of his own powers, he runs away, voyaging to the mist-shrouded side of Fincayra, an enchanted land between earth and sky that is being destroyed by blight. It is there he discovers that the fate of this land and his quest are strangely entwined.

Combining all the passion, power and spiritual depth that are T.A. Barron's hallmarks, this book adds a thrilling new dimension to the legend of Merlin.

Don't miss the rest of the Lost Years of Merlin saga.

©1996 Thomas Archibald Barron (P)2000 Random House, Inc., Listening Library, an Imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group

Critic reviews

"A novel rich with magic." (The New York Times Book Review)
"An extraordinary journey of mind, body, and spirit." (Madeline L'Engle)
"Listen and be wondrously transported to the mist-covered land of the ancients!" (AudioFile)

Details and imagination

The detail of the story was vivid and it allowed my imagination to soar along with it.

Amazing book.

I loved this book. I could listen to it again and I just finished it. on to the secen songs.

Shim's voice was too much. Glad he's bigly now.

I grew up reading this series at least 8 different times. I figured it was time to get the audiobook. While I love the be the series and will be buying all of them, I don't particularly care for the narration.

Great listen, takes me back.

Don’t listen to the negative reviews, they clearly don’t listen to audiobooks often. The performance is good, there’s a clear distinction between the narrator and Merlin’s voice if you don’t demand it conform to your preconceived notions of it. Story takes me back to when my mom surprised me with these books from the library she worked at. Loved them as a pre-teen and it was a fun little walk down memory lane to hear it again all these years later.

Love the book, but the narration was dry as leaves

I love love love this series, but the narration made it hard to continue on.

Wonderful listen

This is one of my favorite books, and the Audible version makes it come to life more then just reading the physical book. This is a great story of Merlin’s lost years during his youth. Highly recommend.

Good Start to a Great Series

T.A. Baron writes like the classics of previous generations like Tolkien. So the series starts off rather slow, but once Merlin starts his journey there are lots of adventures in store.

The first book in the Lost Years of Merlin series has lots of action and adventure once you get to about the halfway point in the book, but even then a lot of the book is still just building the world and setting the stage for the rest of the series.

I love Shim! He is such a fun character, and of course there is the ever present Trouble is a lot of fun too.

Also a lot of people complain about the narration, but I rather liked it.

one of my favorites

the narrator can sound cheesy at points, but he does diversified the voice is between each character. I specially don't like when he voices Rhia...
the story however is fantastic, its great to listen to, and very enjoyable. This was something I loved when I was younger in middle school, and still love today as in adult.

love the new Twist on an old Tale

good luck keeps you interested all the way through enjoy reading it the narrator maybe could have done a little better job on the voices but still an enjoyable book

one of my favorite stories ever!

The story is very good and truly one of my favorites. The reader is very good at clear pronunciations and keeping a good start speed, plus he adds voices to each character that are splendid.