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Book Review: | |
This is a tale of Erinn, the Tuatha Dé Danaan, and the Tuatha Dé Éireann. When I first saw the book, my first impression was; "Who cares about some bloody d#mn old hunting tale.". But, the story is much better than the cover. There are some things that rankle -- The Druids of yore are replaced by the mysterious and somewhat cantankerous Magicians, the Gods are reshuffled and have kept out of the conflict until the Hunter succeeds, and Erinn is ruled by the Mothers, Priestesses of the Goddess. The Hunter must track and kill the White Elk that mysteriously appears every tenth year -- and it's not what you might think -- there are twists,and twists to this story and the Elk is more than She appears to be. Because at the same time...
Erinn is under attack by an evil magician who has enlisted the Scáileanna (Dark Elves) as allies. The Dark Elves are cruel and debased and have managed to kill the foremost Bard in the land. Their "master" is the False Hunter. The False Hunter wants to trap and kill the Elk to stop the Hunt and the Cycle of Good and Evil - in Evil's favor. To kill the Hunter would just mean he failed in the Hunt. The Dark would win, but the hunt would continue in the next cycle of ten years.
There have been attacks by the Dark where they didn't dare attack before, and they are protected form the light of day by a great spell. Meanwhile, the Hunter has hopelessly lost the Elk's trail as well as the special weapon he needed to kill it, and finds he has picked up a band of Dark Elves who are after him, and a Pooka companion he helped along the way. An Dagdha decreed that sidhe who are helped by humans must repay the debt, or die trying -- yes the Pooka repays the debt at last. The Hunter sneaks into certain strongholds of the Dark for various reasons, like looking to rebuild his spear, and learn more about who's behind the nvasions. The forces of Evil are set back and Secrets are revealed. The Hunter is quite a character - bard, adventurer, and above all --Hero. The book is a great read and its well worth the time to find it. But it will take some small effort to understand the Gaelic -- by the end of the book, you'll understand at least some Gaelic !! **** Four Pentacles.