I wondered how similar this trilogy would be to T.A. Barron's Merlin series. I thought there would be at least a few common threads, but really they are very different. They started with similar ideas - a series about Merlin as a boy - and arrived at very different end products. Both series are well worth reading if you are interested in stories of Merlin. Yolen has kept her Merlin series very simple and very poignant. Her Merlin is much more likeable, and I wished for a fourth book when I finished the third. The trilogy is: Passager, Hobby, and Merlin.