Robyn Schneider Puts a Fresh Twist on Ancient Myth in “The Other Merlin”

What do King Arthur, Disney’s Mulan and She’s The Man all have in common?

All three have a hand in inspiring The Other Merlin (Viking), Robyn Schneider’s bold new YA fantasy. In this fresh vision of the Arthurian Legend, Camelot hangs in a precarious balance. As warring kingdoms close in on all sides and King Uther’s grip on power grows shaky, Prince Arthur will have to fight to keep Camelot in Pendragon hands. There’s one problem, however. The role of court sorcerer has been open ever since the mysterious disappearance of the wizard Merlin. Magic is waning in the veins of Camelot’s citizens and it’s a desperate race to see who can fill the position before it’s too late.

Enter Emry Merlin, stage left. Despite being the daughter of the great wizard Merlin, Emry is used to being overlooked. Being a girl, she’d never be allowed to practice magic as a court-appointed witch. Instead, she has to settle for work as a stagehand, performing parlor tricks for the theater’s special effects while her brother Emmett gets to learn the real magic.

But when one of Emmett’s spells backfires and leaves him incapacitated, that’s the moment when King Uther calls to demand for his new court wizard. To save Emmett from the consequences of ignoring King Uther’s summons, Emry disguises herself as her brother and takes his position at the royal court.

What happens next is a thrilling, hilarious and heart-stirring adventure sure to keep readers on the edge of their seats. Robyn Schneider’s voice is sharp with witty, memorable characters that carry the story forward. It’s no surprise that the writing shines; while this is Schneider’s first professional foray into fantasy, she’s far from being a publishing novice. Her other books include The Beginning of Everything, Extraordinary Means, You Don’t Live Here and Invisible Ghosts.

We spoke with Robyn Schneider to hear more about the writing process and inspiration behind her new release. Find out about all the magic that went into creating The Other Merlin, which is available in bookstores now.  

Q & A WITH AUTHOR ROBYN SCHNEIDER

Q: What inspired this retelling of the Arthurian legend?

I’ve always loved girl-disguised-as-a-boy stories like Mulan, She’s The Man and so many K-Dramas, but there’s usually this moment that ruins them for me: when the male love interest thinks he’s falling for a guy, and panics at the thought. After that happens, I stop rooting for them to wind up together. I always wished I could find a story with this trope that avoided gay panic, and eventually, I decided to write it myself. 

Plus, I’ve never been able to get over my theory that the legend of King Arthur comes into the story too late. You’ve got this straight white boy who’s destined to become king, and who ushers in this golden age of tolerance and understanding. Something had to happen to make a leader like that fight for the underdogs and care about those who are less privileged. So I wanted to write that story — the one where King Arthur isn’t some hero on a battlefield swinging a sword that makes him win every fight. The one where he’s a smart, lonely outsider who sees his friends being mistreated and resolves to do everything he can to fight for them. And that story-behind-the-legend became the focus of this book series.

Q: You’ve delved into magical stories before with Invisible Ghosts, but this is your first foray into YA fantasy. What inspired this new path?

I actually never meant to become a contemporary YA writer! I’d always dreamed of writing a YA fantasy series about a girl wizard. The first two novels I attempted back when I was a teenager were fantasy, and my TBR pile is usually an even split between contemporary and fantasy. Since The Beginning of Everything was so popular, my team encouraged me to stick with writing contemporary novels, but I always knew that my heart was off questing with magical swords and wizards and it was only a matter of time before my stories went there, too. 

 Q: When writing about something like the legend of King Arthur, how do you balance aspects of the myth with your own original writing?

I decided to make a mess of the myth on purpose! Arthurian legend is one of those things where the story that’s in our heads is so different from what’s actually on the page. And there really isn’t a consensus on the “true” legend. I found myself thinking about how Lin Manuel-Miranda dusted off the story of the founding fathers in Hamilton and made it his own, and I wanted to try something like that. Something voice-y and relatable and a little bonkers, but utterly heartfelt and fun. I always felt like this was an original story of mine, because any elements of the original that I didn’t want to work with, I cheerfully tossed out, spoofed or adjusted to my taste. I’m like that commenter on a baking blog who changed the entire recipe and couldn’t help but share it! 

Q: One of the biggest changes to the original myth is having not one wizard Merlin, but two. (Or technically three, if you’re counting their dad!) How did you come up with Emry and Emmett Merlin?

I’ve been a King Arthur fan ever since I was a kid, but I never saw myself in stories of jousts and chivalry and magic swords. I started to wonder why the handsome prince was always some overconfident jock, and why the small-town girl couldn’t be more powerful than the boys and why straight was always the default. With Emry and Emmett, I wanted to write twins who couldn’t be more different and who understand each other perfectly, but whom the world misinterprets, and what they do with that. 

Q: Your interpretation of Prince Arthur is remarkably unique. What inspired the scholarly botanist angle to his character?

Arthur popped into my head pretty fully formed (so did Emry, Emmett, and Lancelot). I wanted to write an offbeat, intellectual hero who didn’t consider himself particularly heroic, and whose talents were easily written off by the macho men in power. I wanted Arthur’s journey to lead him to realize that Excalibur isn’t what makes him great and isn’t what will save his kingdom. He’ll have to do that himself. With lots of trips to the library. And the herb garden. And, of course, some help from his friends. 

Q: Did you have a scene in The Other Merlin that was your favorite to write?

I love the scene in the boat to Avalon, where Emry and Arthur are totally alone together for the first time, and there’s so much tension. I’m also very partial to the scene in the royal bathing chamber, which left me blushing and laughing aloud. 

Q: Were there other books or pieces of media that served as inspiration for this retelling?

So many! If you look closely enough, you’ll find bits of inspiration pulled from A Knight’s Tale, Shakespeare In Love, She’s The Man, the Shades of Magic trilogy, BBC’s Merlin, Tamora Pierce’s Alanna series, and so many Patricia C. Wrede novels!

 Q: What are you hoping that readers will take away from The Other Merlin?

I hope my readers know they’d be welcome to join Arthur, Emry, Lanceand the gang in Camelot. I remember reading the Harry Potter books when I was growing up, and even though there weren’t any queer Jewish girls at Hogwarts, those stories captured my imagination in a way that left a lifelong impression. I don’t know that I could come back to them in the same way now. So I hope I’ve written a story that captures a little bit of that magic but makes sure readers know that this magic is for everyone.

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Photo by Emily Sandifer photography

About Robyn Schneider:

Robyn Schneider is the bestselling author of The Beginning of Everything, Extraordinary Means, Invisible Ghosts and You Don’t Live Here, all published by Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. Her books have earned numerous starred reviews, appear on many state reading lists, and are published in over a dozen countries. Her newest book, The Other Merlin, was published in September 2021 from Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Robyn is a graduate of Columbia University, where she studied creative writing, and the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, where she earned a Masters of Bioethics. She lives in Los Angeles, California, and also on the internet.