The Digital Renaissance: Review: Irish History & Mythology: Exploring The History, Celtic Myths, Folklore, Sagas, Traditions of Ireland

Thursday, April 11, 2024

Review: Irish History & Mythology: Exploring The History, Celtic Myths, Folklore, Sagas, Traditions of Ireland

Irish History & Mythology: Exploring The History, Celtic Myths, Folklore, Sagas, Traditions of Ireland by History Brought Alive
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Book: ***
Performance: **

A Quick Summary of Irish Myth

This is a very short survey of the history and mythology of the Irish, starting in the mesolithic era (stone age) up through the middle ages to current day. The legend of the four migrations to Ireland ( Muintir Nemid -> Fir Bolg -> Tuatha Dé Danann -> Milesians) which most scholars believe was a convenient fiction invented by Irish Christians (who wrote about such legend … much like the christian skalds of Iceland) to link them to stories in the Old Testament (specially Noah). As such, it really doesn’t belong as “history” but it is still entertaining. I supposed this can be expected since there are no written records prior to the these storytellers of the middle ages. Once we do get such written records, the history provided is on firmer ground, if quite brief. The next two chapters quickly march up to modern times before returning to myths and legends that is presented in the form of a bestiary followed by a compendium of heroes (and some of the stories attached to each figure). For the most part this was interesting and fun … and brief (which pretty much describes most of the book) although it hardly qualifies as quality scholarship. Unfortunately the rather average narration does suffer from from an awkward pacing, but overall was still pretty decent.

The narration was decent for this genre.

The chapters and sections in this work are:
Introduction
Chapter 1: Prehistory Ireland
Chapter 2: Gaelic Ireland
Chapter 3: Ireland During the Middle Ages
Chapter 4: Ireland from the Rule of Henry VIII
Chapter 5: Irish Paganism
Chapter 6: Mythological Creatures
Chapter 7: Mythological Figures
Conclusion

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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My Ratings Explained ...

[ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
[ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
[ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
[ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
[ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.