When Merlin is just eight years old, his parents abandon him, leaving him to starve to death in the woods. He survives. More than that, he thrives: Over the course of the next four strange years, he discovers and tames his terrifying powers; pretends to be a traveling player, passing among peasants and princes; and fatefully befriends a future king. In the three novels of the Young Merlin Trilogy -- Passager, Hobby, and Merlin -- master storyteller...