Books like Red Branch

Cuchulain, another sad, brave figure (Irish history and folklore are full of them). The legend of Cuchulain has come down through time, history and folklore as tale of courage and tragedy.Son of prophecy he will defend in single handed battle....and die young. Cuchulain victim of his own vow, killer of his own son and (at times) a berserk(er) warrior.If you're interested look up the cattle raid of Cooley. Again, folklore and history get badly entwined here along with the mythology. But it's a great and touching story. As I think I've mentioned before, I like heroes. The ones who are actually "heroic", clay feet not withstanding. This book does a fine job of taking many figures from folklore (Maeve of Connaugt, Deirdre, Skye...Cuchullain himself) the stories themselves, placing them into a sort of magically influenced historical fiction and making the entire thing work. The story may not be the neatest construction ever put together but it is a story with a kind of working logical progression. It's readable, absorbing and good. If you care to think about it (it seems to me) you'll see more than a passing resemblance to some of America's western folklore here. There is a lot of the culture shown here that made it's way to our side of the Atlantic back when the nation was coming into being. There are in many ways more than a few passing resemblances to the "hero who arrives from nowhere and rides away (or dies) after he does what is needed". Look deeper and you'll see a resemblance to a lot of heroic folklore. This one is very close to a 5 star. We can't give 4.5 so...4.