Born in Ireland, raised and educated in Toronto, Canada along with my seven sisters and two brothers, now living back in Ireland again. I have a beautiful daughter, Findabhair, doing her M.A. in Marine Biology and a beautiful cat, Emma, who would love to eat the fish Finn (great name for a marine biologist, eh?) wants to protect. My favourite author of all time is CS Lewis. I've read everything he ever wrote including non-fiction and adult fiction, but the Chronicles of Narnia are the best of all.
I myself picked this up from my school's woefully mediocre library on a turning shelf. The book was well worn at that time already and smelled of better days. Lovely.
I read this in one sitting while neglecting my homework. I was hooked. Like Kay, I took my own journey to the Isles and can say that when I returned, found that I had left my heart behind me.
This book was a magical find for me. I was in London for 10 days this past month, and I visited a little used book shop in a gorgeous park. It was there I picked this book-- kind of at random-- because I thought it sounded interesting and I needed a new book for the plane home. It wasn't until I was in the airport that I noticed it had been signed by the author. Super cool! And she's active on twitter. Even better!
I wish I had read this book when I was younger, because it's something that most definitely would have made my childhood list. Still, I think it came to me at just the right time, when I'm needing to believe in creative magic the most. I won't go into spoilery details, but I loved that this book was written in the "older style" YA that I grew up with. It took my imagination back to that of a child or preteen, when I lived fondly in my own head.
Published in 1986, this book actually predates Outlander, but definitely bears some similarity with the idea of a young woman going back in time in a Celtic land. Though this book is undoubtedly unique and stands on its own, it is like a fun mix of Outlander and the Legend of Zelda with a dash of Tolkien delivered in a YA way. There were so many poetic and beautiful lines of description that lent to the magic. The only reason I dock half a star is because the ending felt a bit rushed, especially in light of some HUGE bombs that were dropped in terms of character and story. I would have liked more time to ruminate and understand those bombs earlier on.
This book does something that a lot of modern books fail to do. It has two strong female leads who do their thing boldly and bravely without making a big stink about it. Most contemporary female-led books tend to be on-the-nose with their feminism. They end up just *telling* us in a loud voice how strong a female character is, rather than *showing* it by letting the character be themselves. They also tend to follow the recent trope of the strong female who can kick butt, yet isn't emotionally as multidimensional. The girls in this story do not have those issues. They are powerful and determined, but also aren't afraid to be vulnerable or embrace traditional romance when it stands before them-- very handsomely I might add haha. I especially loved the lead character, Kay, and could really relate to her. She is the type of protagonist I enjoy writing myself.
As a screenwriter and (apprentice level) director I could totally see this as a film or miniseries. I was casting it and location scouting in my head as I read haha. Like most wonderful books I read, I would love to see it come to life on the screen.
All in all, The Singing Stone is a rich, Celtic tale full of ancient history, folklore, and whimsical teen fantasy. ♥
I read this book over & over again when I was young! I absolutely loved it. A great adventure & quite mysterious. It was fun to be taken on a journey to far away times & places.
"Only when the four treasures are united will their true power shine forth. Then will my hall and memory be rekindled and then each of you will find what you seek" - Fintan Tuan; The Singing Stone, O. R. Melling
I picked this book up at my work's "free box" so it was a little worse-for-wear but I get a really nostalgic feeling when I see tattered books; flashbacks to my childhood grabbing book after shabby book from the school library makes me fond of such the threadbare look! The name 'K. Matthews' was written in blue pen on the first page at the top which gave the book an extra bit of history that made me feel just so giddy.
The cover is simple, with a nice illustration set in the middle of our heroes, and it gave me the sense that this was a book more tilted towards children than young adults but that certainly doesn't deter me from reading any book. Sometimes you need a break from the 'adult' books.
Setting
I could not even pronounce half the words of the places the girls went to but still I could admire the land. Melling does a great job of describing the setting in short, concise sentences instead of using flowery poetry which surely would have stretched the book. You could see how much research went into getting the place, the history and the legends accurate, though Melling states, in a short excerpt at the end of the book, that at the point of her book, historians weren't quite sure where to place the Danaan legends in Celtic history.
Conclusion
Like I mentioned, this book plucked enough nostalgic strings for me to really find myself enjoying it, but my age allowed me to see it for what it was, and I'm glad it didn't try to be more than that. It was a fun book that I would recommended being read out to an elementary or even middle school class, as it's not too violent, the language is clean, and the subject is fine.
Kay Warrick is lead to Ireland to find out about her past. Her quest draws her into the doomed world of an ancient Celtic race. She and her friend Aherne must search for treasures of power before they can both discover their past. Celtic legend is hard to follow at times, story is quite exciting and fast paced
THIS BOOK WAS (IMO) AWKWARDLY LAID OUT. THE CHARACTERS, SETTING AND CONFLICT WERE SPOT ON, BUT THE STORY HAD NO FLOW TO IT. IT WAS AWKWARD TO READ, AND AT TIMES CONFUSING. WOULD HAVE BEEN AN EXCELLENT BOOK IF THE FLOW WAS SMOOTHER.
Knjiga je sicer zanimiva, ker se dogaja na Irskem, sicer pa je res čudno napisana. Liki spreminjajo čustva in celo prepričanja iz minute v minuto, glagoli in pridevniki so izbrani kar tako povprek. Škoda, ker bistvo knjige ni tako slabo.
This was a favorite of mine as an adolescent. It was nice to revisit and start the year off with it.
It combines fantasy, time travel, and Irish mythology, with two females as the lead characters. It is a quick and adventurous journey for young readers.
I’ve been having a hard time focusing on reading lately. Pandemic weirdness, I guess. So figured I’d go back to childhood loves to see if I could end the drought. Did the trick.
My grandmother bought me this book when I was nine. I remembered loving it, but nothing else. On this re-read, this felt relevant to our times - there is a thread about coming to terms with one’s people’s shitty history and poor treatment and subjugation of others.
A blast from the past! I loved this so much as a young teen, and have enjoyed it again as an adult.
One star knocked off because I had an instinctive dislike of the part of the story where (if I’m being very reductive) some tall ‘fair’ people become the gods of some brown people they had previously mistreated and enslaved. That said, the book was written a while ago and I’m possibly being sensitive to something that wasn’t meant in the way it comes across (?).
I loved this rich and detailed mythological treasure. The Singing Stone was a heartwarming adventure with female friendship at the center of the story. I'm so happy I found out about this author.