TL;DR Review: Irish history brought to glorious life with magic, manipulation, battles, and intrigue aplenty.
Synopsis:
They think they’ve killed the last of us…
981 AD. The Viking King of Dublin is dead. His young widow, Gormflaith, has ambitions for her son – and herself – but Ireland is a dangerous place and kings tend not to stay kings for long. Gormflaith also has a secret. She is one of the Fomorians, an immortal race who can do fire-magic. She has kept her powers hidden at all costs, for there are other immortals in this world – like the Tuatha Dé Danann, a race of warriors who are sworn to kill Fomorians.
Fódla is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann with the gift of healing. Her kind dwell hidden in a fortress, forbidden to live amongst the mortals. Fódla agrees to help her kin by going to spy on Brian Boru, a powerful man who aims to be High King of Ireland. She finds a land on the brink of war – a war she is desperate to stop. However, preventing the loss of mortal lives is not easy with Ireland in turmoil and the Fomorians now on the rise…
Full Review:
The Children of Gods and Fighting Men was a stellar read from start to finish.
From the beginning, the war between the Fomorians and the Tuatha de Danann is established clearly, with a great deal of losses and bloodshed on both sides.
And then we meet our protagonists: one, the last queen of the Fomorians, willing to do whatever it takes to defeat her ancient enemies; the other, a Tuatha Dé Danann healer who has a soft spot for humankind despite her people’s long-held enmities.
We’re introduced to a dark, bloody, gritty Ireland, one locked in constant war between petty men and small kingdoms, a country where might is always right. The picture is painted plenty dark, a lovely contrast to the innately colorful nature of the Emerald Isle.
But as we dive into the story, we see that for all the scheming, manipulation, and treachery afoot (largely perpetrated by the terrifying queen Gormflaith), there is a bit of decency and humanity hidden beneath the surface.
Fódla, our Tuatha Dé Danann POV protagonist, has an instinctive mistrust of humankind, but as we learn, her innate goodness (coupled with a touch of naivete) can’t stop her from finding the decency in people or doing the right thing. So it’s no surprise that she ends up falling in with what might be the only “good” Prince in Ireland.
By stark contrast, Gormflaith, our Fomorian POV protagonist (and I’m calling her anti-hero at best, antagonist at worst) sees only manipulation and evil everywhere. It’s all she knows how to do, so naturally she deploys her wiles to devastating effect. But in sowing her evil, she gathers it toward her, until she is surrounded by cruel, cunning, and wicked men.
It’s a fascinating contrast between characters, and yet you can’t help but want to know how both their stories play out. Both are complex and engaging, each with their own burdens and baggage, and each bring their own unique flavor to the world that makes it feel so rich and well-constructed.
This feels a great deal like a Bernard Cornwell novel, but written with a deft feminine hand and exploring the female experience during the harsh years of Viking conquest and rule in Ireland. It taps real-to-life figures from Irish history and brings them into this magic-touched world in a truly spectacular way.
I enjoyed this book thoroughly and can’t wait to get back into the rest of the series to see where this wild, dark, historical, and magical adventure will take me next.
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