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Heroes of the Misty Isles #2
The Emerald Sea: The Quest of Brendan the Navigator
Follow Brendan on his quest for Tir na n'Og, the Land of The Ever Young. Brendan has dreamed all his life of sailing to this promised land. Now his dream is coming true. But he and his fellow travelers must face the peril of the high seas, explore strange and dangerous lands, and defend themselves against terrors both physical and spiritual, before they reach their goal.
- GenresChristian Fiction
337 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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December 8, 2015
Until the end, I was quite prepared to give this book five stars. But it didn't tie up all that well - at least in my view. There's a winsome charm about this modern update on an immram, a Celtic voyage-quest story. A light froth of fantasy sometimes spills over it. That's to be expected, given it's based on the story of Brendan the Navigator. But it also pervades the sections with the monk Desmond who is trying to convert the Picts along Hadrian's Wall.
Rid yourself of any notion that the book is told from Brendan's point of view. There are many, many points of view here - including one told from the perspective of the dog, Troll - but Brendan's isn't one of them. There are three main strands of story, constantly interweaving (I wondered if the book wasn't supposed to be a literary version of a Celtic knot at times) between the Borders area of England and Scotland, the green hills of Ireland, and the wide wide Atlantic sea with its dangers, mysterious islands and wild storms.
Different chapters give us the viewpoints of Angelica (a girl betrothed reluctantly to the son of Larkin, a Pictish prince) Boyd, Ibar, Desmond and Crosan (all monks), Willis (a thief), Anne (a Pictish girl), Ronan of Skellig Michael, Eva (Larkin's wife), Tavish (Larkin's rival), Troll (the dog) and Larkin's son. There might be a few I've missed.
So many different viewpoints, so many 'main' characters who occupy only their own thread of the story - never intersecting with so many other 'main' characters: hmm, it's a surprise the story works as well as it does. Although mostly it skates over emotion, occasionally some deeps are plumbed. As when Ibar overcomes his doubts about himself and decides God will protect him, come what may. As when Ronan comes to terms with the fears he's running from. As when Crosan moves into a deeper understanding of himself.
The Pictish kings and queens, ultimately, were so comic that their presence was a distraction. Particularly given that the thread to which they belonged didn't really continue to the end but petered out long before. And that's why I've lopped a star off the rating. Even though I recognise that a finale with a resolution involving so many characters who have been more than 'minor' but less than 'protagonist' would be almost impossible to pull off.
The Brendan thread follows the immram of Brendan the Navigator reasonably closely, providing explanations for some of the more fantastic events in his story - but still retaining an atmosphere of fantasy, rather than history. The white martyrdom (exile), blue martyrdom (drifting on the sea to a destination known only to God) and green martyrdom (serving outside the local area, but not overseas) are well-explained.
Rid yourself of any notion that the book is told from Brendan's point of view. There are many, many points of view here - including one told from the perspective of the dog, Troll - but Brendan's isn't one of them. There are three main strands of story, constantly interweaving (I wondered if the book wasn't supposed to be a literary version of a Celtic knot at times) between the Borders area of England and Scotland, the green hills of Ireland, and the wide wide Atlantic sea with its dangers, mysterious islands and wild storms.
Different chapters give us the viewpoints of Angelica (a girl betrothed reluctantly to the son of Larkin, a Pictish prince) Boyd, Ibar, Desmond and Crosan (all monks), Willis (a thief), Anne (a Pictish girl), Ronan of Skellig Michael, Eva (Larkin's wife), Tavish (Larkin's rival), Troll (the dog) and Larkin's son. There might be a few I've missed.
So many different viewpoints, so many 'main' characters who occupy only their own thread of the story - never intersecting with so many other 'main' characters: hmm, it's a surprise the story works as well as it does. Although mostly it skates over emotion, occasionally some deeps are plumbed. As when Ibar overcomes his doubts about himself and decides God will protect him, come what may. As when Ronan comes to terms with the fears he's running from. As when Crosan moves into a deeper understanding of himself.
The Pictish kings and queens, ultimately, were so comic that their presence was a distraction. Particularly given that the thread to which they belonged didn't really continue to the end but petered out long before. And that's why I've lopped a star off the rating. Even though I recognise that a finale with a resolution involving so many characters who have been more than 'minor' but less than 'protagonist' would be almost impossible to pull off.
The Brendan thread follows the immram of Brendan the Navigator reasonably closely, providing explanations for some of the more fantastic events in his story - but still retaining an atmosphere of fantasy, rather than history. The white martyrdom (exile), blue martyrdom (drifting on the sea to a destination known only to God) and green martyrdom (serving outside the local area, but not overseas) are well-explained.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review