Author | T. A. Barron |
---|---|
Original title | The Great Tree of Avalon: Child of the Dark Prophecy |
Illustrator | David Elliot |
Cover artist | Larry Rostant and Tony Sahara |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Merlin Saga |
Genre | Fantasy |
Publisher | Philomel Books |
Publication date | October 2004 |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Pages | 434 (hardcover edition) |
ISBN | 0-399-23763-1 |
OCLC | 54806035 |
LC Class | PZ7.B27567 Ch 2004 |
Preceded by | Merlin Book 8: Ultimate Magic |
Followed by | Merlin Book 10: Shadows on the Stars |
Website | The Great Tree of Avalon |
The Great Tree of Avalon is a fantasy novel by T. A. Barron, published by Penguin Young Readers Group. The book is the ninth novel in the 12-book series known as Merlin Saga. It was originally published as The Great Tree of Avalon: Child of the Dark Prophecy, the first novel in The Great Tree of Avalon trilogy, and is set in a world made up of a great tree and its seven roots inhabited by creatures.
Avalon started its life as a magical seed that beat like a heart, planted by Merlin in earlier books from the Merlin Saga. Soon it grew into a huge tree, having members of every existing species living in its 7 root-realms. Élano, the sap of the Great Tree, is a liquid that has the power to create, with powers far greater than that of Merlin himself.
For the first several centuries of Avalon's existence, the creatures lived in harmony, guided by the religion of Avalon, the Society of the Whole, its followers known as Drumadians, named after a wood in The Lost Years of Merlin. The Society was started by Elen and Rhiannon, mother and sister to Merlin respectively, also characters from The Lost Years of Merlin. The Society promotes harmony between all races, and the upkeep of the Great Tree, which sustains them all. However, sometime after Elen died, Rhiannon, called Rhia, resigned as High Priestess and left, never to be seen again.
Peace is shattered by the War of Storms, a war that included almost all of the races in Avalon and lasted for several centuries. The beginning of the war was heralded by the darkening of the stars in the constellation the Wizard's Staff. The war was only resolved by the Treaty of the Swaying Sea, crafted by the mysterious Lady of the Lake and by Merlin. After the war ended, Merlin said that he would probably not return to Avalon, and that Avalon's problems must be solved by Avalonians. As a parting gift he, with the help of his friend Basilgarrad the dragon, flew up to the stars and rekindled the darkened constellation.
All was well until the Lady of the Lake again appeared, this time to say a prophecy:
A year will come when stars go dark, and faith will fail anon; For born shall be a child who spells the end of Avalon; The only hope beneath the stars to save that world so fair, will be the Merlin then alive, the wizard's own true heir; What shall become of Avalon, our dream, our deepest need?What glory or despair shall sprout from Merlin's magic seed?
During the foretold Dark Year, the majority of creatures in Avalon forbade childbirth, killing all children born in spite of the moratorium. Despite this, rumors persist of a child being born in the Flamelon stronghold in the root-realm Rahnawyn or Fireroot.
17 years after the Dark Year, things are going badly. A drought appears in realms Olanabram, Brynchilla, and El Urien; humans become anthropocentric and arrogant; and the stars in the Wizard's Staff are again darkening, one by one. Characters Tamwyn, Elli, Nuic, Henni, Llynia, and later Batty Lad, must journey to the Lady of the Lake to find out what is happening, and how they can stop it.
Eventually, it is revealed that a sorcerer, Kulwych or White Hands, a servant of the evil spirit Rhita Gawr, has dammed the river that sustains the three realms named above with the sole purpose of collecting enough of the water, which has élano, a powerful life-giving substance, to produce a pure and powerful crystal. For this, he needs Merlin's staff, Ohnyalei, which has been for seventeen years in the keeping of Tamwyn's foster-brother, the eagleman Scree, who was also born in the Dark Year.
The Great Tree of Avalon splits into seven roots (realms):