From the opening paragraph of Merlin's Harp, I was lost. Crompton's writing is beautiful to the point that it may be too overcomplicated for many readers, teens or otherwise. To be honest, I had to pull out a dictionary after only the second sentence to figure out what in the world a "coracle" is. (It is a small boat, by the way.) As the novel continued, Crompton's writing style did grow on me a little bit. However, I am sure that while it suits the plot well (seeing that this a novel about the Arthurian legend), as a reader, I just wish that everything had flowed together better.Merlin's Harp has a very interesting premise. However, for me, the premise is overshadowed by the complicated writing. This writing made everything in the novel feel so disjointed and unorganized. It was honestly a novel that I could only read so many pages of before I just had to put it down. In addition, it took me much longer to read than it should have since I had to continuously seek help from a dictionary. In Crompton's defense, I realize that she was using authentic wording and descriptions. But for the average reader, this may be more of a hindrance than a blessing.Sadly, I am not sure if there is much more to this novel other than a pretty cover. While I did finish this novel... barely, I am not sure that I got that much out of it, which is a pity. This novel holds so much promise. But when I cannot even get past how hard it was for me to read, everything else seems overshadowed. I believe that if the novel was toned down quite a bit, then I might have enjoyed it more, but as it stands, I just cannot get past the writing. Unfortunately, this novel is a book that I would recommend that you skip unless you are a die hard Arthurian legend fan.
