The Wings of Merlin takes place in the legendary isle of Fincayra, a place that is not in our world or in the Otherworld. Giants, dwarves and treelings roamed this land freely, but all of the happiness was sucked out and destroyed by Rhita Gawr, the wicked god, and his pawn Stangmar. Merlin, a young wizard who was washed on to Fincayra’s shores a few years ago, has been allotted the task of saving his homeland from Rhita Gawr. Merlin is given a two week time period to unite his fellow Fincayrans and get ready for the battle against Rhita Gawr’s servants. On his way to unify Fincayra, Merlin is confronted by a masked figure with swords for hands. The figure makes a statement saying that he will kill every Fincayran child unless Merlin confronts him in battle. What should Merlin do? Should he chase after the masked stranger? Or should he continue his failing path of unifying Fincayra?

The Wings of Merlin is an extraordinary book written by T.A. Barron. The book has an enormous amount of detail written into it. At any moment in the story, every tree, rock or flower is described in the book.

When I read the book, I knew exactly where each character was and I could create a vivid picture of the scenes in my head using T.A. Barron’s words and my imagination. The plot of the story enveloped me in suspense, never giving out enough clues to help me solve the mysteries. The horrific truth about the masked stranger was very well kept. Another part of the book that I enjoyed reading was the reality of the characters’ personalities. Each of the characters had their own train of thoughts and ideas for many different events. For example, the bard Cairpré always added a couplet whenever he spoke. Shim, Merlin’s giant friend, had very bad grammar and always said “certainly, definitely, absolutely.” Merlin’s sister Rhia always talked about the forest and about flying to the furthest stars.

Overall, I would rate this book 5 out of 5 because of its magic, adventure and humor. I would recommend this book to Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Eragon fans of all ages.