Nearly Headless Ned Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Died at age 97. Her Arthurian series made a huge impact on me. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/15/romance-suspense-novelist-mary-stewart-dies?commentpage=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince of the North Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 I, too, read her Arthurian series when I was young. Very saddened to hear of her passing. May she rest in peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angalin Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Sad news. She told wonderful tales: I had a pattern of reading The Ivy Tree then going on to Brat Farrar, and her Arthurian stories were magical in many ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Well fuck, between this and HR Giger, this has been a shit week for sff hasn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowDogJen Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 That was a good long life! I read The Ivy Tree and Airs Above the Ground as a child, then really enjoyed her Merlin series as a teen. She will be missed! Did she write a fictional account of the life of Paul? I seem to remember reading something like that of hers, too. Gee, I guess she was more an influence on me than I'd thought! eta - Nope, she didn't. Taylor Caldwell. Heh. I think that was in one of Mom's Reader's Digest condensed book volumes! Anyhow...I didn't realize Stewart had completed the final two books in the Merlin series in '83 and '95. I still have the first three. I wonder how well they hold up? I remember being very enthralled by The Crystal Cave. She was a really pretty woman, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howdyphillip Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 I also read her Merlin series as a kid, and it has stuck with me for a lifetime. Another lamp has dimmed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 The Merlin trilogy was so marvellous, it is to this day still my favourite Arthurian story.I've read quite a few but this one is the best. It's one of the best 10 series I have ever read, across all genres.I read the 4th book as well, about Mordred, it's titled The Wicked Day. That too was pretty good. I kept hoping it would show a glimpse of Merlin as it is set after the trilogy, and she was so aware that readers were looking for that as there were several teases, but I don't recall that he is shown. Or was he?Here you can see an overview of all her work:http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/mary-stewart/What's amazing is that she's from 1916. My grandfather was 77 years old when he died in 1994. He too was born 1916.It's just amazing to see that she lived that far beyond my grandfather. I wondered last year if she was still alive and she was 96 then. Amazing. She was publishing novels 20 years before I was even born. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maarsen Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 Mary Stewart wrote the first adult fantasy I read. I still remember The Crystal Cave with great fondness, and I have never looked back. Another of the great ones gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lummel Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 Obituary What a fantastically long life! I think I may have read some of her Merlin books, but I only really remember a couple of her children's books including Ludo and the Star Horse mentioned in the obituary. She was one of those figures who mentally I assumed existed in an earlier epoch and I was surprised to learn that she had died, thinking that she had long since crossed the bar and reached our final destination. How sad for her that she didn't have the children that she wanted, hopefully the legions of readers were some consolation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Tyrion I Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 Sad news indeed. RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortstark Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 RIP ...I too think her Arthurian trilogy is superb, shading Cornwells as the best i have read.. Reread the first 3 books recently and they have certainly aged well, i have not read anything else by her, this will be remedied soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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