Tales of Irish Myths

by Benedict Flynn

It is a mysterious world that this selection of stories from the treasure house of Irish myths and legends describes. Here the line between the fantastical and the real is blurred: mortals and immortals live strange entwined lives; nature and high magic exist side by side. It is Ireland under its old name, Erin, a country of ancient gods with fading powers, who dwell invisible in fairy mound palaces, waiting for a chance to meddle in the affairs of men.
In The Children of Lir, Erin is a land of harsh enchantment and tragedy – even for a sea god, whose innocent children are so cruelly cursed by their foster mother. In the epic tales of Cú Chulainn, it is a proud realm of valiant heroes and near-impossible quests for love. In the stories of Finn Mac Cool Erin is a kingdom of glory where Finn leads his band of warriors, the Fianna, through their perilous adventures in defence of Erin’s shores, to a place in Irish legend forever.

Genres: Mythology, Audiobook, Ireland, Nonfiction, Fairy Tales, Irish Literature, Short Stories

194 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 28, 2000

Reviews

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chapters: 'The Birth Of Cú Chulainn', 'Cú Chulainn Gets His Name', 'Cú Chulainn Takes Up Arms', 'The Wooing Of Emer', 'The Children Of Lir', 'The Birth Of Finn Mac Cool', 'How Finn Won his Father's Place in the Fianna', 'Finn and the Fianna', 'The Curse of the Quicken Trees', 'The Birth of Oisín', 'Niamh of the Golden Hair', 'The Return of Oisín'.

[Staci Corcoran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This made great bedtime stories. :)

[Hannah Hoover · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always loved Irish fairy tales. They’re sassy and hilarious.

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

started really slow, but how can one not get pulled in with the shape shifting and crazy superpowers of Irish myth?

[Zemmiphobe · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7 on this one. English audiobook.

The stories are told in the typical myth fashion. These are short tellings about the deeds of ancient magical heros, not a cohesive fantasy novel (though the organization of the story does give it some cohesive narration). As I am unfamiliar with Irish mythology, I found the stories very interesting, but sometimes the unfamiliar names were a bit hard to follow. The narration was excellent and it's short enough to listen to all the way through during a hike or walk. Recommended to people fond of myths.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of tales, which I enjoyed as an audiobook. It was short and I don't have much to say beyond that. If you know Irish myths (these or others) they all fit pretty typically into the tradition. Audiobook didn't really need the bits of music, but it was fine.

[JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun telling of some folktales

[SF · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute enough for an afternoon read

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick hitters of Irish myths. Feel like there is more I want out of the telling and more stories I want to explore

[untothehills · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted a book to listen to in the spirit of St. Patrick's Day and this was one of the available audio books from my library that was ~Irish related. I loved it! Seems like the stories were ~pre-St Patrick characters, but at least two of the stories mentioned Christian things (a Christian bell in a chapel and Patrick himself), but those also had 900 years go by/fairy time travel. It was short enough that I'll likely try to make this a yearly read for this time of year!

[Backlogger · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a joy to read all these Irish myths, some were fun, some were sad, some were bitter-sweet. I just simply enjoyed going through all these stories.

[Jack Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and interesting developments of Myths over the years.

[Sarah]

I shouldn't have been surprised, but was, with the treatment of women in these classic myths.