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The Tales of Aeron #3
The Silver Branch
In this novel of Patricia Kennealy’s galaxy-spinning mythos of the Keltic race, she draws us back to an earlier age, just prior to the setting of The Copper Crown and The Throne of Scone—a time of transition when the people of the Keltic worlds have not yet reestablished contact with their distant brethren of Earth.
In this era, the enemies of the Keltic worlds are already beginning to dream of destroying this mighty space empire hidden behind its seemingly impenetrable magic-fueled Curtain Wall. And chief among these foes of Keltia is Bres, lord of Fomor, who, betrayed by his own queen, has sworn an eternal vow of vengeance. Yet it will be many long years before Bres can hope to carry out his threats, years of uneasy peace during which Aeron Aoibhell, heir to the throne of Keltia, will grow to adulthood and to the fulfillment of her prophesied powers of sorcery—powers which will change the destinies of friends and foes alike when war finally explodes across the starways.
The Silver Branch is Aeron’s tale—from the events long before her birth, which would shape the worlds and the burden she would inherit…to her first discovery of the magic that could move the very sun from its path…to the dangerous rites of passage that would make her sorcerer, warrior, avenger, and ultimately queen. It is a recounting of forbidden passion and of honor betrayed, of jealousies that will plant the seeds of future treachery, of love and loyalty tested to the very limits of the great Abyss.
In this era, the enemies of the Keltic worlds are already beginning to dream of destroying this mighty space empire hidden behind its seemingly impenetrable magic-fueled Curtain Wall. And chief among these foes of Keltia is Bres, lord of Fomor, who, betrayed by his own queen, has sworn an eternal vow of vengeance. Yet it will be many long years before Bres can hope to carry out his threats, years of uneasy peace during which Aeron Aoibhell, heir to the throne of Keltia, will grow to adulthood and to the fulfillment of her prophesied powers of sorcery—powers which will change the destinies of friends and foes alike when war finally explodes across the starways.
The Silver Branch is Aeron’s tale—from the events long before her birth, which would shape the worlds and the burden she would inherit…to her first discovery of the magic that could move the very sun from its path…to the dangerous rites of passage that would make her sorcerer, warrior, avenger, and ultimately queen. It is a recounting of forbidden passion and of honor betrayed, of jealousies that will plant the seeds of future treachery, of love and loyalty tested to the very limits of the great Abyss.
Hardcover
First published December 19, 1988
2 people are currently reading
749 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Kennealy-Morrison
12 books135 followersPatricia Kennealy-Morrison was an American author and journalist. Her published works include rock criticism, a memoir, and two series of science fiction/fantasy and murder mystery novels. Most of her books are part of her series, The Keltiad
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
January 10, 2020
I have been interested in these books since I first heard about them several years ago. I finally bought The Silver Branch and decided to give them a try. I finished the book in record time and immediately went hunting for the rest of Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's books.
This story is amazing. It's not just the plot, although that gets my highest praise for being so intricate and well-written. But, the world that has been created around the plot is so stunning and beautiful that I can't describe it. You just have to go there for yourself.
This story is amazing. It's not just the plot, although that gets my highest praise for being so intricate and well-written. But, the world that has been created around the plot is so stunning and beautiful that I can't describe it. You just have to go there for yourself.
August 21, 2010
Part of one of my favorite trilogies of all time.
May 26, 2017
It took me the better part of the year to finish this, nibbling on it since January, four pages here, ten pages there, until I finally finished the story. Interestingly, the novel started with an offense against a rival by the father of the heroine and ended with the heroine becoming queen of an intergalactic kingdom made up of the descendants of Celtic emigrants who left earth to escape religious and cultural persecution.
Of greater impact is the novel I am nibbling on now, The Copper Crown, in which the Kelts encounter the first earth spacefarers since they left the planet in the fifth century. But this novel was written after The Copper Crown to fill in the backstory explaining how Aeron Aoilbhell became queen of the Kelts.
It was a good read. It would have been a better read had I paced myself a little more quickly. Little bits and pieces at a time as I have been forced to read lately have been horrible for my staying engaged in the narrative. But despite that, the depth of the story, the relationships between Aeron and her friends as she grew up to become a Fianna warrior, ban-droia, and finally queen of the Kelts, brought together a pretty organic story that would lead to the next novel in the series.
I am not going to review in terms of narrative here. I will say that the novel is quite thick in linguistic construction. Celtic words and morphings are sprinkled throughout. To help those of us who are not savvy with the Celtic language, the author provides a glossary of commonly used words to help us understand them. This is essential to any Kennealy-Morrison novel, as she makes extensive use of these words to provide a sense of strangeness and fantasy. Kennealy also provides appendices to explain the backdrop, as the tales take place in a well established universe full of peoples called Kelts, Fomors, and Coranians. And it is essential to know who these peoples are to understand how they relate to one another.
Of greater impact is the novel I am nibbling on now, The Copper Crown, in which the Kelts encounter the first earth spacefarers since they left the planet in the fifth century. But this novel was written after The Copper Crown to fill in the backstory explaining how Aeron Aoilbhell became queen of the Kelts.
It was a good read. It would have been a better read had I paced myself a little more quickly. Little bits and pieces at a time as I have been forced to read lately have been horrible for my staying engaged in the narrative. But despite that, the depth of the story, the relationships between Aeron and her friends as she grew up to become a Fianna warrior, ban-droia, and finally queen of the Kelts, brought together a pretty organic story that would lead to the next novel in the series.
I am not going to review in terms of narrative here. I will say that the novel is quite thick in linguistic construction. Celtic words and morphings are sprinkled throughout. To help those of us who are not savvy with the Celtic language, the author provides a glossary of commonly used words to help us understand them. This is essential to any Kennealy-Morrison novel, as she makes extensive use of these words to provide a sense of strangeness and fantasy. Kennealy also provides appendices to explain the backdrop, as the tales take place in a well established universe full of peoples called Kelts, Fomors, and Coranians. And it is essential to know who these peoples are to understand how they relate to one another.
December 2, 2008
For fans of the earlier books in the Keltaid series, this prequel offers some awesome insight into how Queen Aeron developed into the person she is. Readers who delight in Kennealy-Morrison's exquisite detail of this fantasy world will love this tale, which takes readers on a tour of Aeron's training as a Fian and Ban-droi.
October 31, 2018
We managed to find space in our fairly small house for some extra bookcases recently. It was lovely to get some of my favourite books out of storage and have them accessible on shelves. I'm hoping to fit in some rereads of old favourites now I can just pull them off the bookcase.
This is one of those. I reread the first two in the last few years and this has been one of the ones I've been wanting to get to read again. I'm also cross stitching the cover as a very, very long term embroidery project and since I'm working on it now, it seemed the right time to get back to this book.
I've given it 10/10 because I love the series and the characters in that "these could have been written for me" kind of way. That said, it's a prologue to the first two books and therefore it skims through the years for a degree of "telling" mixed in with its "showing". I don't think it's the best place to begin the series, but I loved rereading it.
This is one of those. I reread the first two in the last few years and this has been one of the ones I've been wanting to get to read again. I'm also cross stitching the cover as a very, very long term embroidery project and since I'm working on it now, it seemed the right time to get back to this book.
I've given it 10/10 because I love the series and the characters in that "these could have been written for me" kind of way. That said, it's a prologue to the first two books and therefore it skims through the years for a degree of "telling" mixed in with its "showing". I don't think it's the best place to begin the series, but I loved rereading it.
August 26, 2008
The Silver Branch wasn't what I expected, in that I expected it to be historical Celtic fantasy and it turned out to be futuristic Anne McCaffery-esque interplanetary struggles. Unfortunately, the similarity didn't end there, and it also possessed some very McCaffery-esque failures in writing style. Nowhere near enough descriptions of places and scenery, and a 'rushed' attitude to Aeron's early life to get up to the bits that Kennealy more wanted to write about. Things that with a bit of time could have been fascinating instead are hurried over and become unsatisfyingly vague, and the plot had a tendency to drift into overly romanticised mills-and-boon predictability. In another's hands, or even if Kennealy had shown more discipline in writing, this concept could have become something really great, instead of just a mediocre, forgettable effort.
December 29, 2012
The Arthurian Legend in Space - sounds ridiculous, makes me cry every time!!
I just love this series, and I can see it isn't to everyone's tastes, but these books are ones I re-read and recommend.
Just wish my copy of the latest one didn't look so much like a romance novel!
I just love this series, and I can see it isn't to everyone's tastes, but these books are ones I re-read and recommend.
Just wish my copy of the latest one didn't look so much like a romance novel!
March 6, 2013
Very interesting cross of sci-fi technology with Celtic mythology. Having both magic and advanced technology combined together definitely made it worth reading. Would recommend reading this before the copper crown, even though it was in fact written later.
February 25, 2008
A well written mix of fantasy and science fiction with compelling characters. I would like to live in this world
July 14, 2008
it is a great book for Keltic fans.
February 26, 2009
O ;ove this trilogy. The characters are larger than life and still experience some of the negatives as wel as the positives. There is technology, magic, logic, and intuition all thrown in together.
July 31, 2011
I probably read this series once every 18 months or so. Likely my favorite book series. It has the additional benefit of portraying my religion in a way that is accurate while accessible.
November 5, 2012
Really good fantasy. I enjoyed the first 2 books more, but this book was still good.
September 20, 2012
Such nice stories!
January 30, 2014
One of my favorite books of all time. I love Aeron and she is my favorite heroin. She is just so bad ass.
July 21, 2021
I remembered reading this many years ago when it was book 1 of The Keltiad. No idea why it's known as book 3 of The Tales of Aeron.
I also recall that I enjoyed the mix of science fiction and fantasy but forgot how intensely it annoyed me with the time line jumps and the many, many characters to keep track of.
This re-read was especially hard in that regard due to my hands and eyes no longer up to coping with paperbacks of over 500 pages.
Over all though I still enjoyed the lovely mix of genres and will continue on to reading the next one.
I also recall that I enjoyed the mix of science fiction and fantasy but forgot how intensely it annoyed me with the time line jumps and the many, many characters to keep track of.
This re-read was especially hard in that regard due to my hands and eyes no longer up to coping with paperbacks of over 500 pages.
Over all though I still enjoyed the lovely mix of genres and will continue on to reading the next one.
August 18, 2021
This is really a prequel to the first two books, but I found it satisfying to read last, with the knowledge of what it's leading up to. The Silver Branch starts by giving backstory into Aeron's father and his star-crossed love with the wife of his enemy, which sets in motion the events of Aeron's life, then follows Aeron from her birth until she becomes Queen. Not tightly plotted, but a pleasure to see the characters developing over time.
May 23, 2023
Rating in part because of nostalgia factor. This was a passionate favorite of mine when I was a teenager, and I just recently dug it out to reread it after 20-25+ years. Amazing how much of the language was still just rattling around in my head verbatim.
October 16, 2024
Rereading this series a bit out of order because I cannot find my copy of Throne of Scone for the life of me. Guess that is what happens when you have moved a million times in the 25 years since you bought the books....
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October 25, 2025Writing was ok. It was good to learn the details of all that we heard about in the other 2 books. I think it would have been better to have read/or written this one first.
January 7, 2016
This book series was recommended to me by a coworker, and I really wished I hadn't started with the prequel. As a prequel it jumps from character to character through a pretty long stretch of time to explain key events that set the stage for Aeron in the following books. The problem with the character/event hopping is that I never get really attached anyone or have any motivation to care about these events or people. I think if I had read the other books I would have had a better understanding of why these events and characters were so significant.
November 23, 2016
This was pitched to me as Celts in Space, so I was expecting something ridiculously cheesy and maybe more amusing than enjoyable. But I actually found myself liking this much more than I thought I would. It wasn't particularly fast paced or action packed. If anything it was a little slow at times, and felt more fantasy than sci-fi. But I appreciated the world building and the characters. I don't think it's for everyone, but if I come by the other books I'll probably be picking them up.
October 20, 2015
One of my all time favorites (along with its sequels). The characters stick with you. It is full of interactions and little touches that catch your attention. I have re read this several times and on a rainy day with nothing new to read will go back again.
June 10, 2018
Re-read 4/3/13; re-read again 1/21/16
November 22, 2019
Still can't get my head around the chronology of these books, but whatever.
Still a great read even after all this time
Still a great read even after all this time
November 14, 2015
It was fascinating in its detail and the idea of a world in the future far from Earth.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews