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Cyfres Amdani: Llwybr Gwaed, Y
Llyfr o gyfres Amdani, i ddysgwyr Lefel Sylaen. Nofel wreiddiol gan Bethan Gwanas. Mae Dafydd yn cerdded yn ei gwsg, ac un bore, mae'n deffro yn waed i gyd. Mae'n dilyn olion traed gwaedlyd allan o'r t a thrwy'r pentref ac yn darganfod Mrs Roberts a'i zimmerframe ar ochr y ffordd wedi'i tharo gan gar. Pwy sydd wedi ei tharo A fydd yr heddlu yn arestio'r person cywir A book for Welsh learners, Foundation Level, being an original novel by Bethan Gwanas. Dafydd sleepwalks, and awakes one morning covered in blood. He follows bloody footprints out of the house and through the village to find Mrs Roberts at the roadside after a hit-and-run case. Who has hit her and will the police arrest the culprit
- GenresFiction
64 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2018
5 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Bethan Gwanas
72 books48 followersWrites lively, entertaining Welsh language books for adults, Welsh learners, YA and children. One book in English so far: 'Ramboy' for 9+.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 14, 2022
Got off to a shaky start but finished really well.
Seemed to open with some useless man who honestly didn't seem to be a particularly nice bloke.
I'm still not sure whether we were supposed to root for the main character or not... I'm going to go with not but honestly the tone of the book kind of implied to me that you should be...
Tbh if someone kept pissing on my stuff in the middle of the night whilst sleepwalking and showed little continued interest in stopping, I'd probably move out too.
Anyway, he wakes up covered in blood and very thinks he may have attacked someone. I think more could have been done to labour that point. Bit more tension. Maybe have the police suspect him or not believe about the sleepwalking or something.
Then the actual plot got started and the whole thing became a lot more interesting and enjoyable APART from the strange and very unpleasant ranting about his ex-wife and her new partner which were inserted in at semi-random moments. This did become more relevant as time went on but I take quite a liberal view with these things and sorry but if your wife wants to leave you for a plumber she can and you have to suck it up. Especially if you piss on her stuff. All the ranting just made me hate the main dude (until it became relevant)
My other minor gripes were as follows:
1) Allowing your dog to poo in someone's front yard and not clearing it up is illegal & just not very nice
2) Spying on your ex-wife when she's talking to the police is not very nice
3) Most cats are lovely. I don't like dogs. Why are representations of cats so consistently of them scratching people's faces??? I've been scratched by far more dogs than cats.
4) Teaching is a pretty middle class profession, stop pretending you're poor.
5) I assume this is nothing to do with the author but the design on the cover, which I liked, in no way matched the illustrations inside (to the point that it was funny and I was making people who speak no Welsh guess the genre based on the illustrations).
Otherwise, this was a very good book and I stayed up late to finish it and write my review because I wanted to know what happened. Definitely the best Amdani book I've read thus far.
However,
*Spoilers*
I was VERY pleased that the main character got a bit of comeuppance at the end because I was disappointed when it seemed he was "proven right".
Seemed to open with some useless man who honestly didn't seem to be a particularly nice bloke.
I'm still not sure whether we were supposed to root for the main character or not... I'm going to go with not but honestly the tone of the book kind of implied to me that you should be...
Tbh if someone kept pissing on my stuff in the middle of the night whilst sleepwalking and showed little continued interest in stopping, I'd probably move out too.
Anyway, he wakes up covered in blood and very thinks he may have attacked someone. I think more could have been done to labour that point. Bit more tension. Maybe have the police suspect him or not believe about the sleepwalking or something.
Then the actual plot got started and the whole thing became a lot more interesting and enjoyable APART from the strange and very unpleasant ranting about his ex-wife and her new partner which were inserted in at semi-random moments. This did become more relevant as time went on but I take quite a liberal view with these things and sorry but if your wife wants to leave you for a plumber she can and you have to suck it up. Especially if you piss on her stuff. All the ranting just made me hate the main dude (until it became relevant)
My other minor gripes were as follows:
1) Allowing your dog to poo in someone's front yard and not clearing it up is illegal & just not very nice
2) Spying on your ex-wife when she's talking to the police is not very nice
3) Most cats are lovely. I don't like dogs. Why are representations of cats so consistently of them scratching people's faces??? I've been scratched by far more dogs than cats.
4) Teaching is a pretty middle class profession, stop pretending you're poor.
5) I assume this is nothing to do with the author but the design on the cover, which I liked, in no way matched the illustrations inside (to the point that it was funny and I was making people who speak no Welsh guess the genre based on the illustrations).
Otherwise, this was a very good book and I stayed up late to finish it and write my review because I wanted to know what happened. Definitely the best Amdani book I've read thus far.
However,
*Spoilers*
I was VERY pleased that the main character got a bit of comeuppance at the end because I was disappointed when it seemed he was "proven right".
July 25, 2023
(Of Bethan Gwanas's other books, I've read the Blodwen Jones series: Bywyd Blodwen Jones, Blodwen Jones A'r Aderyn Prin, Tri Chynnig I Blodwen Jones)
This is the book of choice for two Sylfaen groups I'm part of - an intensive course, and a reading group. While the groups are reading and taking it in quite slowly, I found the plotline interesting enough to demolish my copy in one evening.
Overall a very pleasant surprise from this book - it looked a bit gritty for my liking given the cover choice, but like other whodunnits in the Amdani series for Mynediad and Sylfaen, it's self-aware enough to be funny (especially when Dafydd corrects the policewoman's Cymraeg). Huw Aaron's illustrations lend themselves very well to the wry humour - it's a shame he doesn't have a credit on the main cover of the book as he's done a lot of Cymraeg humorous illustrations for both kids and adults that are worth checking out. If you have a look at his official site some of his more detailed work in colour (mostly for childrens' books) is a real feast for the eyes.
Recommended at Uned 15, there's loads to chew on. The sentences are much more natural and complex: less "mae" this and "roedd" that (nothing wrong with a good simple sentence, mind you!), plus mutations to look out for. It's written in the third person in a North Walian dialect, but as you spend a lot of time with the main character, there's plenty of examples of first-person too.
Like Alys says in her review I'm not sure if we're meant to root for Dafydd exactly, which does lend itself to the mystery, but you do spend most of the book suspecting the same person. While the main twist was excellent and not one I saw coming, and the novel is well-paced given its size, I think I'd have liked The ending is cleanly tied-up in most places and a bit messy in others. While it was nice to see , given he'd been a bitter divorcee for much of the story, he's still technically . Ah, I'm a sod for a bittersweet ending, it's true.
All in all, a good read, great for groups and I'll keep this alongside my Blodwen collection. If you liked Coed y Brenin: A novel for Welsh learners, or Stryd y Bont, and you're looking for a step up you'll like this.
This is the book of choice for two Sylfaen groups I'm part of - an intensive course, and a reading group. While the groups are reading and taking it in quite slowly, I found the plotline interesting enough to demolish my copy in one evening.
Overall a very pleasant surprise from this book - it looked a bit gritty for my liking given the cover choice, but like other whodunnits in the Amdani series for Mynediad and Sylfaen, it's self-aware enough to be funny (especially when Dafydd corrects the policewoman's Cymraeg). Huw Aaron's illustrations lend themselves very well to the wry humour - it's a shame he doesn't have a credit on the main cover of the book as he's done a lot of Cymraeg humorous illustrations for both kids and adults that are worth checking out. If you have a look at his official site some of his more detailed work in colour (mostly for childrens' books) is a real feast for the eyes.
Recommended at Uned 15, there's loads to chew on. The sentences are much more natural and complex: less "mae" this and "roedd" that (nothing wrong with a good simple sentence, mind you!), plus mutations to look out for. It's written in the third person in a North Walian dialect, but as you spend a lot of time with the main character, there's plenty of examples of first-person too.
Like Alys says in her review I'm not sure if we're meant to root for Dafydd exactly, which does lend itself to the mystery, but you do spend most of the book suspecting the same person. While the main twist was excellent and not one I saw coming, and the novel is well-paced given its size, I think I'd have liked The ending is cleanly tied-up in most places and a bit messy in others. While it was nice to see , given he'd been a bitter divorcee for much of the story, he's still technically . Ah, I'm a sod for a bittersweet ending, it's true.
All in all, a good read, great for groups and I'll keep this alongside my Blodwen collection. If you liked Coed y Brenin: A novel for Welsh learners, or Stryd y Bont, and you're looking for a step up you'll like this.
July 20, 2022
Mwynheais i'r llyfr yma. Roedd yn ddoniol a diddorol. Mae Cyfres Amdani yn dda iawn i bobl sy'n dysgu Cymraeg.
November 22, 2023
Forgot to read this one during my Sylfaen year, it's quite a quick read at Canolradd. Gog, but not super-Gog, it uses the "gan" construction instead of "gyda" and "dach" instead of "dych", but no preceding "mi" or heavily gog words. Only had to look up one word, which was satisfying, but 3 stars instead of 4 because it was a bunch of people making bad decisions and the story wasn't well balanced. Felt like the author had ideas but not enough room to establish them.
January 23, 2020
Mi hoffais i y twist. Llyfr eitha doniol.
March 4, 2025
Ah I love books like these. Especially as I’m reading this as a second language learner, it makes learning a lot more fun and can help mark my progress in reading comprehension and understanding.
It was a fun story and one that was compelling to read. My mum also enjoyed getting the updates to the plot as I continued reading, which was nice. I got to read to her in Welsh and translate it to English.
It took me a few days to get through as I’m still at the brain exploding stage of learning Welsh. But I was always excited to read a couple new chapters a day plus being exposed to a new range of vocab. Really enjoyed this one.
It was a fun story and one that was compelling to read. My mum also enjoyed getting the updates to the plot as I continued reading, which was nice. I got to read to her in Welsh and translate it to English.
It took me a few days to get through as I’m still at the brain exploding stage of learning Welsh. But I was always excited to read a couple new chapters a day plus being exposed to a new range of vocab. Really enjoyed this one.
September 17, 2022
Mwynheais i y llyfr hwn yn fawr! Doniol, adloniadol, ar gyflymder da, ac yn berffaith ar gyfer y lefel dysgwr hwn. Diolch, Bethan Gwanas!
I really enjoyed this book! Funny, entertaining, well-paced, and perfect for this learner level.
Looking forward to reading more Bethan Gwanas!
I really enjoyed this book! Funny, entertaining, well-paced, and perfect for this learner level.
Looking forward to reading more Bethan Gwanas!
August 19, 2019
Llyfr da i dysgwyr yw e, doniol a diddorol. Mae llawer o geiriau newydd a neis i ddysgy mewn stori gyffrous.
October 24, 2021
Dw i'n caru y llyfra 'na. Gwych. Perfaith am dygwyr Cymraeg.
December 14, 2025
Engaging mystery story. Da Iawn.
May 11, 2020
(English below) Adloniant ysgafn ar gyfer dysgwyr. Llyfr doniol yn lleoedd.
Light entertainment for learners. This was funny in places.
Light entertainment for learners. This was funny in places.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews