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Apr 15, 2016kss3708 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This was a really fascinating book actually - fictional, yes - but with enough stuff based in folklore and in history that it really makes you wonder. Truly a great story telling of a possibility that’s for sure and it’s certainly one that anyone who believes in magic would thoroughly enjoy. Actually, you don’t even have to believe in magic to enjoy this story - it’s just a fun look at the possibilities of the past that can’t be verified one way or the other but lends an wonderful elastic viewpoint to the lens of the past! I thought the story structure was a little odd at first - starting with a modern day event that abruptly ends with a murder at the end of the first chapter and ‘magically’ starts into the past - 700 years past and no murders in immediate sight- the next, but it all makes sense in the end (as all good books should) as it jumps back to the event at the last chapter. This book-end treatment of the first and last chapters actually is a great set up for the true story and really gets you thinking about magic and the idea of magic and if it did exist or could exist in our modern age. Focusing in on the magical land of Ireland and all the magical creatures it is purported to have you get introduced to the land of the past where they all exist and - of course - to the start of the end (as it were). It’s a formidable cast of characters and there were times when I had to dig deep to remember them (that’s what happens when you bring it on holidays and don’t pick it up as often as you should). My only complaint is that it got a little ‘Lord-of the Ringy’ with the continual battle sequences - but it’s an unfortunate fate of conquering the ‘enemy’ I suppose, so you’ve got to ride them through. And although it ends much as you suspect it will, there is still a wonderful surprise so hang in there!!!!! A great story that makes me want to read up more on the Irish magic - well, magic in general anyways. I was ever so delighted that the author put a wonderful ‘Oh, by the way’ in at the end of it all on all the various characters he covers in the breadth of the woven story to show that they did exist and what their eventual historical end actually was. Very cool.