Fed up with the difficulties he’s had disposing of one brat–the young wizard Harry Potter–Voldemort crosses time itself to form a dark alliance with Nimue, High Priestess of the Old Religion, combining forces to also help her with her own personal annoyance, the warlock Merlin. Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione find themselves stepping out of Hogwarts and into the past, meeting the man who is a legend in their time . . . only Merlin isn’t quite what they were expecting. He’s young and clumsy and a servant, while they were expecting someone old and imposing. Oh, and the king he’s supposed to advise and help isn’t even king yet and he has no idea that Merlin even has magic! Still, Harry and his friends come to see the greatness of the man of legend buried beneath the youthful exterior, and they and Merlin soon become fast friends. Which is good, because they’re going to have to work together if they are to survive the dark machinations of Nimue and Voldemort.

Emachinescat is a wonderful author, and I love everything I’ve read of hers. Having said that, I think The Most Deadly Alliance is one of my favorites. The premise and all the interlocking pieces of time travel and legend are just fascinating. But even more than that, the little choices of the timing within each story, the characters to involve, the details that are drawn in–it’s all expertly executed. I loved how well thought out the character interactions were. The people involved behaved in character, even when it made them clash or seem abrasive. And the people who should have hit it off with each other did so. There were even instances where character interactions caused changing points of view. (Arthur’s interactions with Hermione and his changing views because of that, notably, although Harry’s relationship with Morgana is also a great case in point. Actually, the development between Harry and Morgana may have been one of my favorite parts of the story, which kind of surprised me.) All of that was just crafted in a very credible and in-character way that I truly enjoyed greatly. Additionally, the larger-scale story was interesting–the tension and mystery, the complications of time travel, the flaws in Voldemort and Nimue’s alliance, all of it worked well and was fun to read. The writing style itself was also quite excellent, being fluid and natural and easy to read. Highly recommended. ( )