The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga

[Derfasciti]

I found out that this book, a historical novel on Medieval Ireland, is in my library. If all goes well I'll be picking it up tomorrow. I'm just assuming some of you have read it. What is your opinion on it? Is there some information I should know before reading it?


Thanks for any help guys.

[IrishArmenian]

Sounds interesting. I have never read it.

[Antagonist]

I flicked through one of Rutherfurd's books about Dublin (may not have been the same one) and read a few reviews. From what I read they didn't seem that great. He seems to be an okay writer (not bad, but not that distinguished either) but what irritated me was that it seemed to be only lightly researched, and often embellished with pseudo-historical and fantasy-like elements, though admittedly I didn't read the entire book.

Historical fiction which is both entertainingly well-written and reasonably accurate is always hard to come by, but it seems to be in particularly short supply when it comes to the Celtic world. Most authors seem to depict the "Celtic fringe" either as exaggeratedly backward and primitive compared to the Germanic world or (more commonly) as indulgently romanticized, full of tragic figures with mystical powers and so on. Which is fair enough for fantasy, I suppose, but something better researched would be nice. I'd love to see a Cornwell-style novel set in Scotland or Ireland during the Viking Age, for example. sigh.

Antagonist