Review by Ian Keogh

Is it a good idea to use fancy title script on the cover of a book aimed at younger readers, most of whom are likely to consider the main character is named Elenola?

It’s Elenora of course, and as the volume title tells us, she’s Merlin’s daughter. This Merlin isn’t advisor to King Arthur, although people with names referencing Arthurian legend put in an appearance. He’s nevertheless a respected figure in the magical world, a druid whose studies primarily concentrate on mushrooms, but while well-intentioned and smart, Elenora’s just not interested.

So much of Séverine Gauthier’s background to Elenora’s world seems derivative. There’s a prominent druid supplying potions in Asterix. Count de Champingac creates mushroom-based wonders in Spirou and Fantasio, while the sample art seems to show an idea filched straight from Harry Potter. It may be Gauthier and J. K. Rowling both referred to the same ancient folklore about the mandrake plant screaming when uprooted, but other similarities diminish that theory.

An error early in Daughter of Merlin sets Elenora’s path for the remainder, but it’s an episodic, meandering path, introducing new characters with seemingly little purpose for a few pages before they just fade away.

What keeps this from being completely forgettable is the great cartooning of Thomas Labourot. He creates a delightful fantasy world in which younger readers can immerse themselves, appealing characters who move and live, and a very likeable Elenora. That the series is ongoing in France, with a further four volumes to date, is surely down to his efforts rather than the pedestrian fantasy. No further volumes have appeared in English.