The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones

And Nick is cool about helping her – in theory… but it's a bit worrying that she seems to mistake him for a magic-user. Roddy needs help, and certain powers indicate that Nick is to be the one to help her. Yet something is wrong – the rituals have been upset and nothing is going the way it should. In Roddy's world, the current Merlin expires and a new one takes his place. Now, Nick's been on other worlds before (although never alone) but he's a confident type. But it soon transpires that Nick's not quite the ordinary 15 year old he seems, as he slips sideways into something he thinks is a dream – but in fact is another world entirely. Nick Mallory's world is much more familiar – at least, it starts off being our own.

Presiding over all, the most important person is the Merlin, who is entrusted with the magical health of the Isles of Blest. Not unlike Britain in King Arthur's Day, Roddy is daughter of two Court Wizards and therefore part of the King's Progress, travelling round the Islands of Blest and ready to take part in whatever ritual or ceremony is required, as it occurs. The story is narrated by two very different teenagers, who each inhabit two extraordinarily different worlds.Īrianrhod Hyde's world (or Roddy, as she prefers to be called) is very much the world of magic, pageantry and ritual. The companion novel to the novel Deep Secret.

A bestselling fantasy adventure from Diana Wynne Jones.

The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones