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Cromm
Colin McMahon, a young artist and the namesake of an ancient Irish hero, must face the newly awakened god of an Irish cult that his namesake defeated
387 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1990
About the author
Kenneth C. Flint
27 books86 followersKenneth C. Flint, who has also written under the pseudonym Casey Flynn, is an American fantasy novelist. A resident of Omaha, Nebraska, Flint has now published 18 books, in both print and eBook format. A majority of his works are either based on Irish myths and legends, or else are original stories involving concepts, and sometimes characters, from Irish mythology. His best known works center around three of the most important characters of Irish legend: Lugh, Cúchulainn, and Finn MacCumhal. He has also published short fiction, including a pair of Star Wars stories, a historical fiction novel, On Earth's Remotest Bounds: Year One: Blood and Water, the first of a planned series, and a historical book about Fort Atkinson, Nebraska. Flints books, including both his previous novels and new works, are now being published as eBooks available for all eReader formats like Kindle and Nook.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 16, 2025
The premise is sort of enticing as a writer, right? It's 1990 and in Ireland you got Christian sects killing each other in the streets. What if Ireland's well documented Pagan gods rose again in the wake of this disarray?
That's a cool thought! But then you get sort of into the mess of figuring out what that looks like as a fantasy novel, and it seems to me you gotta come down hard on someone's religion to have it make a degree of sense. And well, Cromm kind of plays both sides. Pagan gods are real and full of magic and power, seemingly undermining the core tenets of Christianity, but also Christianity is real and its powers (and corresponding magic artifacts) can crush the powers of the evil Cromm and his minions. St. Patrick is there and he's the real deal, but so are the druids of Danu. It ultimately makes for a somewhat unsatisfying execution of an interesting premise.
Thankfully Cromm doesn't go too hard into "Jesus is the answer" territory. The story ultimately plays out as a journey of discovery for our main character, Colin. And yeah, Colin's a lot. He's the kind of overly smarmy male protagonist that's suppose to be charmingly plucky but frequently gets obnoxious, particularly in his interaction with Megan, (co-hero/love interest/Irish native). However, I do think it pulls it all together in the exciting Crommclusion, where it's not really any religion that drives Colin to become the hero, but his own self actualization. And in turn you get why someone like Megan would maybe come around on the annoying American. It's still boilerplate kind of stuff, but it's handled well enough.
Speaking of well enough, Flint's writing is pretty solid. Pace was consistently good, and his temporal jumps were pretty good. I especially liked how he was able to disorient the reader with the jumps, taking a few seconds for it to click whether you're in the past or present. Really conveyed Colin's own confusion pretty well. Much of the action left me genuinely excited.
PUN INCOMING. Is Cromm essential fantasy? Maybe not, but I liked it. Picked it up used on a whim because it was called Cromm, and it delivered the goods. All in all, a perfectly Crommulent fantasy novel.
That's a cool thought! But then you get sort of into the mess of figuring out what that looks like as a fantasy novel, and it seems to me you gotta come down hard on someone's religion to have it make a degree of sense. And well, Cromm kind of plays both sides. Pagan gods are real and full of magic and power, seemingly undermining the core tenets of Christianity, but also Christianity is real and its powers (and corresponding magic artifacts) can crush the powers of the evil Cromm and his minions. St. Patrick is there and he's the real deal, but so are the druids of Danu. It ultimately makes for a somewhat unsatisfying execution of an interesting premise.
Thankfully Cromm doesn't go too hard into "Jesus is the answer" territory. The story ultimately plays out as a journey of discovery for our main character, Colin. And yeah, Colin's a lot. He's the kind of overly smarmy male protagonist that's suppose to be charmingly plucky but frequently gets obnoxious, particularly in his interaction with Megan, (co-hero/love interest/Irish native). However, I do think it pulls it all together in the exciting Crommclusion, where it's not really any religion that drives Colin to become the hero, but his own self actualization. And in turn you get why someone like Megan would maybe come around on the annoying American. It's still boilerplate kind of stuff, but it's handled well enough.
Speaking of well enough, Flint's writing is pretty solid. Pace was consistently good, and his temporal jumps were pretty good. I especially liked how he was able to disorient the reader with the jumps, taking a few seconds for it to click whether you're in the past or present. Really conveyed Colin's own confusion pretty well. Much of the action left me genuinely excited.
PUN INCOMING. Is Cromm essential fantasy? Maybe not, but I liked it. Picked it up used on a whim because it was called Cromm, and it delivered the goods. All in all, a perfectly Crommulent fantasy novel.
July 23, 2024
I had a lot of trouble finishing this. I went into it thinking it was going to be a stupid he-man ripoff with low expectations and somehow it was worse. The best parts of the book were the flashbacks to Colin's past self which were stupid but in a good, inoffensive way. Present Colin though is the reason this was almost a DNF.
I think he was meant to be the lovable oaf trope but he read more like a jock whose best years were in high school. He constantly has the abrasive attitude which made him off-putting instead. When he finally got to Ireland and met Megan it just got worse. He assults her multiple times in the book and this is never addressed in any way. At one point she is coerced into pretending to be his girlfriend for absolutely no reason but at least this was shown to be uncomfortable.
Unfortunately Megan herself felt incredible generic. It felt like the writer kept giving her attributes as of this would make her worth being an active part of the story.
One other thing to note is that this felt more like Christian fantasy than dark fantasy. There is a big part of the story involving christianity coming to Ireland and this being a good thing when it basically destroyed an entire culture.
I think he was meant to be the lovable oaf trope but he read more like a jock whose best years were in high school. He constantly has the abrasive attitude which made him off-putting instead. When he finally got to Ireland and met Megan it just got worse. He assults her multiple times in the book and this is never addressed in any way. At one point she is coerced into pretending to be his girlfriend for absolutely no reason but at least this was shown to be uncomfortable.
Unfortunately Megan herself felt incredible generic. It felt like the writer kept giving her attributes as of this would make her worth being an active part of the story.
One other thing to note is that this felt more like Christian fantasy than dark fantasy. There is a big part of the story involving christianity coming to Ireland and this being a good thing when it basically destroyed an entire culture.
January 23, 2018
7/10
Modern life mixes with the 4th century Ireland in this time-traveling tale of Colin McMahon, graphic artist, warrior, and reluctant hero who battles the evil god Cromm and his minions with the help of a nurse, a saint, and a mysterious man of the Others.
Modern life mixes with the 4th century Ireland in this time-traveling tale of Colin McMahon, graphic artist, warrior, and reluctant hero who battles the evil god Cromm and his minions with the help of a nurse, a saint, and a mysterious man of the Others.
May 10, 2015
I do not remember anything about this book. I remember that I read it, as well as a friend of mine, because it was called Cromm and we liked the Conan books (his god was Crom.) Of course this book has nothing to do with Conan. I think that I liked the book.....
July 27, 2008
wow! i personally tought it a great read. so... ya. ok. it was good. read it.
July 28, 2009
It was a little cheesy, and it's not going to give you any philosophical insight, but it was a really fun read. It even got me interested in Celtic mythology! Great for young adults.
May 24, 2016
Published 1990. Don't believe I've ever read a Kenneth C. Flint book before. That said this was quite entertaining.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews