From Publishers Weekly
Almost as weighty is the late Evangeline Walton's The Maginogion Tetralogy, which brings together Prince of Annwn, The Children of Llyr, The Song of Rhiannon and The Island of the Mighty. Based on the medieval Welsh epic The Mabinogion, this series ranks with the best of 20th-century works of fantasy.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
The author of the classic Mabinogian, the great compendium of medieval Welsh mythology, is unknown to us, but generations have thrilled to the magical tales set at a time when men and gods mingled, and the gods had more than met their match, tales of the wizard-prince Gwydion, of Prince Pwyll and Lord Death, and of the beautiful Rhiannon and the steadfast Branwen. In the masterful hands of Evangeline Walton the twelve "branches" of the ancient text were reworked into four compelling narratives:
The Prince of Annwn,
The Children of Llyr,
The Song of Rhiannon, and
The Island of the Mighty, resulting in one of the great epic fantasy works of literature. In
The Prince of Annwn, the seeds of future tragedy are planted. Young Prince Pwyll meets Arawn, the God of Death, and survives the encounter with a heavy charge: to take on Arawn's guise and kill for him the one man even Death could not fell.
The Children of Llyr chronicles the great family of Bran the Blessed, and their epic struggle for the throne. In
The Song of Rhiannon, the struggle continues with Manawyddan and his son Pryderi, the rightful heir to the throne, battling the force of an ancient curse. In
The Island of the Mighty, the throne of the kingdom of Gwynedd is in peril when Gwydion, the headstrong heir, dares to provoke the legendary wrath of Lord Pryderi.
Evangeline Walton's Mabinogian Tetralogy is a powerful work of the imagination, to rank with Tolkien's
Lord of the Rings and T. H. White's
The Once and Future King. The gods and goddesses, wizards and sorceresses, the mortal men and women of ancient days come brilliantly to life. Evangeline Walton's triumph is to have constructed a vital and living world on the foundations of myth.
