The Merlin Prophecy (Avalon High: Coronation, Volume 1) (Comic)

by Meg Cabot (Author), Jinky Coronado (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This manga adaptation of Cabot's 2005 novel tells the story of a perfectly ordinary high school girl—who happens to be dating the reincarnation of King Arthur. Ellie Harrison moves to a new town and a new school, and soon finds herself drawn to Will Wagner, the football star. Her history professor Mr. Morton—or is that Merlin?—believes that Will is the reincarnation of England's legendary king and Ellie is the newborn Lady of the Lake. He enlists her help to persuade Will to accept his duty and conquer evil. The rest of the Arthurian cast is here as well—Lance, Will's best friend; Jennifer, Will's ex-girlfriend; Morgan, the high school's queen bee and Marco, Will's half-brother—and they play out the classic story with a high school twist. The vivid manga style brings the novel to life, with all the characters svelte and beautifully drawn. Unfortunately, a third of the volume is spent recapping the story so far, making this feel like a later book in a series, rather than the first. The story turns are predictable to anyone familiar with Arthurian myth, and the characters one-dimensional, but this adaptation should appeal to fans of the original work. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal
Grade 6 Up—The Merlin Prophecy brings to illustrated life the first bit of Cabot's Avalon High (HarperCollins, 2006). When King Arthur fell, the Order of the Bear rose to track each generation's incarnation of him. Now Merlin, otherwise known as Mr. Morton, has found a modern Arthur in Will, the captain of the football team at Avalon High. And it's up to new girl Ellie, otherwise known as the Lady of the Lake, to make sure that he survives an attack by his half-brother Marco, otherwise known as Mordred. Throw in Lance, his girlfriend Jennifer, and mean Morgan, and the round table is nearly complete. Coronado uses more of a traditional black-and-white comic-book format than a true Japanese-style manga (think Archie, not Oh My Goddess!). Though covering just a small bit of the novel, this book is a must for libraries with the usual wealth of Cabot fans.—Sarah Krygier, Solano County Library, Fairfield, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Comic: 128 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (July 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061177075
• ISBN-13: 978-0061177071
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #217,431 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #43 in	Books > Children's Books > Obsessions > King Arthur
  #51 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Mythology > Children's Books > Arthurian
  #51 in	Books > Children's Books > Literature > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > Arthurian

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Continue the series in novel format , October 7, 2007

By	Amy E. Gideon "ames81g" (Lewisville, Texas USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wish she would continue this series in actual novel format. The illustrations didn't go with the original descriptions in the book and the story was kind of weak. It could be so much better. There was such potential with Avalon High and it's being wasted in the graphic novel format.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bookwyrm Chrysalis Review, August 11, 2007

By	Cassandra Richoux "http://yafantasy.com" (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The manga sequel to Avalon High has finally hit the shelves. Ellie's adventures continue (but not until after explaining everything that happened in Avalon High for a third of the book) as she meets our dear Morgana Le Fay, reincarnated as Morgan, Will's (Arthur's) bad half-brother Marco's (Mordred's) girlfriend. Really, what seems to be about all that happens is she sets up the intro of Morgan and at the very end (not really a spoiler because we all knew it had to happen), Marco breaks out of the institute where he was getting "help" after he tried to kill Will in the last book.

I was really disappointed in the size of the book. It sits at just barely 110 pages, yet still cost me $8 to buy. And it really didn't give a lot of new story or plot. I did feel that we got to know Jen and Lance better, and the visuals can be pretty nice. But I think Will's character design is lacking (he does not look like a king, or even a high school class president), and his haircut is horrid. Now, I like shaggy hair on guys, but Will just looks like nobody's bothered to give him a trim in the last few years.

The art style is also this hybrid of American comics and Japanese manga style that I don't really like. As I read it, I'm very aware that this is not a Japanese manga, yet is trying to look like one. TokyoPop is trying to sell this as a manga, implying that it is Japanese in style, yet it doesn't really follow any of the standards. There are no silly places (like when the characters go chibi or you see humorous background images, elements that even "serious" manga tend to have), the lines are very dark, the panel set up is traditional American comic, and it just doesn't have a manga to feel to it. Granted it's hard to get American manga that turns out well, and many manga fans won't count anything that wasn't Japanese first. I think one American manga that worked was TokyoPop's Van Von Hunter, which follows the same conventions and tropes of a manga. I think maybe it's the faces in the case of Avalon High. The artist is trying to follow traditional American comic style faces, with defined eyes and noses, but then again, maybe it's not that. All I know is that as I read it, I was very aware that it was not a manga and that disappointed me. I had much higher hopes for TokyoPop's new crossovers with HarperCollins.

Overall, I kind of wish Meg Cabot had just written another book. It's nice to visually see the characters, and it does give more room for development for the minor characters, but it was just too short and didn't translate that well. I think an illustrated novel might actually be the best way to go for the Avalon High books. Let us get some visual pictures of the characters, but still let Meg write the text. Meg is good at engaging the reader in the story, though, unfortunately, her characters often fall flat and are stereotypical, and I think the manga version brings out these negative qualities even more.

Still, I am buying the next one. Even at $8 a pop, I'll get it and read it. But, I'll have to see after that if I want to buy it any more or not. I was excited about these books, and I still am, because I'm interested in modern interpretations of the Arthurian Legends, and the mixing in of high school drama is really intriguing to me.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Avalon High: Coronation #1: The Merlin Prophecy, July 16, 2007

By	Chelsie "Chel" (Necedah, WI) - See all my reviews

This wasn't too entirely horrible... I just didn't like the fact that it was so short and didn't really add much to the story. It would be way more worth it if there was more to it...

Still, it was interesting and easy and quick to read, I just wouldn't recommend buying it unless you really like manga. Or really like Meg Cabot. I really like Meg Cabot, but I would suggest you spend your money on her other full novels instead of the short manga. They're good to read, though. Interesting.