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Bard #1
Bard
Bard follows Felimid Mac Fal, "Bard of Erin, descendant of Druids and the Tuatha de Danann - ancient faery race of Ireland, armed only with his harp and the fierce magical power of his poetry..." as he gets tangled up in things with vikings, a unicorn, the evil British royalty and simple tribes of Celtic folk.
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
13 people are currently reading
418 people want to read
About the author
Keith John Taylor
22 books30 followersKeith John Taylor is an Australian science fiction and fantasy writer.
Born in Tasmania, Taylor now resides in Melbourne, Australia. Getting his start in Ted White's Fantastic magazine, Taylor went on to collaborate with Andrew J. Offutt on two novels based upon the Robert E. Howard hero, Cormac Mac Art. His series of novels centering around the Irish bard, Felimid mac Fal, was published throughout the 1980s. Much of Taylor's fictional output in the 1990s was in the Arthurian fantasy sub-genre. Many stories featuring his character, Kamose the Magician, were published in Weird Tales in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Born in Tasmania, Taylor now resides in Melbourne, Australia. Getting his start in Ted White's Fantastic magazine, Taylor went on to collaborate with Andrew J. Offutt on two novels based upon the Robert E. Howard hero, Cormac Mac Art. His series of novels centering around the Irish bard, Felimid mac Fal, was published throughout the 1980s. Much of Taylor's fictional output in the 1990s was in the Arthurian fantasy sub-genre. Many stories featuring his character, Kamose the Magician, were published in Weird Tales in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 16, 2020
Bard by Keith Taylor, a fantasy novel from the 1980's, has finally been released in e-book form, so I decided it was time to re-read the book. For reference, here was my original review based on my memories of the book:
"This was one of the first books that inspired me to write. The bard of Taylor's novel, Felimid Mac Fal, is a richly stylized hero with a wonderful blend of roguishness and nobility. Felimid's stories are told to us much as one might expect to hear it from a travelling storyteller - full of twists and turns and little adventures off to the side as the hero gradually makes his way to his final challenge. Bard is classic heroic fantasy delivered with equal parts sincerity and whimsy."
Of course, when I first read Bard I was 15 years old. My tastes have changed over the years and so have the styles and literary conventions of the genre. I wondered whether I'd enjoy the novel as much now as I had when I was a teenager. Of course, that's a near impossible bar to meet, which means my review is more analytical than experiential, but here goes . . .
The prose and writing style hold up excellently. Keith Taylor had a flair and fluidity with words, which makes for an easy read. There's also a sense of authenticity about the historical context in which the book is set. Take out the magic and it could easily be historical adventure. The way that magic is woven into the story – especially in terms of Felimid's bardic nature – has a really interesting tilt towards the mythical. Most books that delve into mythology lose me right away as it suddenly feels like the story is being loaded up material that's very distant to the lives of its human characters, but Bard does this with a lighter touch that makes it easier for me to read.
Being from the 1980's, Bard does feel out of step with current fantasy novels. The story is primarily told from Felimid's point of view, but there's clearly an omniscient narrator in there who sometimes tells us things Felimid doesn't know. This isn't in fashion anymore, though there are still plenty of writers who do this and it may well come back. More difficult for modern readers might be the depiction of female characters, which tends to sexualize them (if only because Felimid is so often sleeping with them). They're all given their own strengths and some degree of agency, but some readers might be put off a bit. I'd note, however, that the sequels to the series portray women with greater agency and prominence to the story.
One last note, is that Bard is very much an episodic book. Each part is its own adventure, though they're all linked together by Felimid's attempt to get away from a particularly nasty brute who keeps hunting him down. For me, this works great, as it feels fresh and light – especially if you're tired of overstuffed "epic" fantasy tales that take thousands of pages to get to any kind of ending.
If you've never read Bard by Keith Taylor (and you like bards in all their self-important glory), then pick up a copy now that it's available again. It'll feel like you're slipping into a classic fantasy world full of magic, swordplay, and song.
"This was one of the first books that inspired me to write. The bard of Taylor's novel, Felimid Mac Fal, is a richly stylized hero with a wonderful blend of roguishness and nobility. Felimid's stories are told to us much as one might expect to hear it from a travelling storyteller - full of twists and turns and little adventures off to the side as the hero gradually makes his way to his final challenge. Bard is classic heroic fantasy delivered with equal parts sincerity and whimsy."
Of course, when I first read Bard I was 15 years old. My tastes have changed over the years and so have the styles and literary conventions of the genre. I wondered whether I'd enjoy the novel as much now as I had when I was a teenager. Of course, that's a near impossible bar to meet, which means my review is more analytical than experiential, but here goes . . .
The prose and writing style hold up excellently. Keith Taylor had a flair and fluidity with words, which makes for an easy read. There's also a sense of authenticity about the historical context in which the book is set. Take out the magic and it could easily be historical adventure. The way that magic is woven into the story – especially in terms of Felimid's bardic nature – has a really interesting tilt towards the mythical. Most books that delve into mythology lose me right away as it suddenly feels like the story is being loaded up material that's very distant to the lives of its human characters, but Bard does this with a lighter touch that makes it easier for me to read.
Being from the 1980's, Bard does feel out of step with current fantasy novels. The story is primarily told from Felimid's point of view, but there's clearly an omniscient narrator in there who sometimes tells us things Felimid doesn't know. This isn't in fashion anymore, though there are still plenty of writers who do this and it may well come back. More difficult for modern readers might be the depiction of female characters, which tends to sexualize them (if only because Felimid is so often sleeping with them). They're all given their own strengths and some degree of agency, but some readers might be put off a bit. I'd note, however, that the sequels to the series portray women with greater agency and prominence to the story.
One last note, is that Bard is very much an episodic book. Each part is its own adventure, though they're all linked together by Felimid's attempt to get away from a particularly nasty brute who keeps hunting him down. For me, this works great, as it feels fresh and light – especially if you're tired of overstuffed "epic" fantasy tales that take thousands of pages to get to any kind of ending.
If you've never read Bard by Keith Taylor (and you like bards in all their self-important glory), then pick up a copy now that it's available again. It'll feel like you're slipping into a classic fantasy world full of magic, swordplay, and song.
August 20, 2025
Excellent overall. Taylor creates quite an adventure for Felimid a bard of Old Ireland. This book of adventures takes place in a fractured Britain after the Romans left. Felimid is quite a character- bard, fighter, lover, and uses ancient forms of magic. Truly a great S&S read from a knowledgeable author.
May 6, 2014
Excellent antidote to for the doorstopper blues. This is how Celtic-tinged S&S should be written. There are moments of pure poetry in here as well as bloody action. Felimid mac Fal's a hero worthy of standing beside all the other greats from 1970s S&S.
February 16, 2016
I first read this back in junior high or high school, and I was curious to see if it would stand up all these years later. I wasn't disappointed.
Taylor's Bard is set in the early centuries after the Romans abandoned England and it sank into the dark ages. Enter a traveling Bard of Erin adventuring his way across Britain facing Jutes, warlocks, and werewolves. Told through a series of five novellas, Taylor creates a rich world with the ring of truth to it.
For all its world-building and entertaining characters, what's really enjoyable here is the return to a simpler time in fantasy fiction. I was taken back to a time before massive multi-volume series with a cast of thousands filled with anti-heroes, and scarred characters struggling to rise above the nightmares of their past, or abandoned children forced to sell themselves on the streets of some river town or turned into assassins before they hit puberty. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that. I've read many of those novels and enjoyed them.
That being said, there's still a place for fantasy that simply entertains and tells a good, fun, sexy story, and Bard is one of those.
Taylor's Bard is set in the early centuries after the Romans abandoned England and it sank into the dark ages. Enter a traveling Bard of Erin adventuring his way across Britain facing Jutes, warlocks, and werewolves. Told through a series of five novellas, Taylor creates a rich world with the ring of truth to it.
For all its world-building and entertaining characters, what's really enjoyable here is the return to a simpler time in fantasy fiction. I was taken back to a time before massive multi-volume series with a cast of thousands filled with anti-heroes, and scarred characters struggling to rise above the nightmares of their past, or abandoned children forced to sell themselves on the streets of some river town or turned into assassins before they hit puberty. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that. I've read many of those novels and enjoyed them.
That being said, there's still a place for fantasy that simply entertains and tells a good, fun, sexy story, and Bard is one of those.
November 12, 2025
A bard is one lesser degree of Druid, magically singing armies to victory ... or defeat, though each usage takes its toll. "The enchanted harp could produce three strains; one for laughter, one for sorrow, and a third for sleep." "Sometimes it cried high and sometimes it wept low, and at last it ceased, but it never faltered." In addition to such talents, Felimid is also pretty handy with a sword and doesn't seem to displease the ladies with it either. Interestingly, his greatest strength is in his wrists and fingers, as he says. To himself though, he is a bard, a poet, and a wanderer, but no warrior. His trouble generally comes from reckless impulses and an ungovernable tongue, and in a landscape of different cultures that see a crow as an omen, Felimid knows the crow in an earthly way as an acquaintance. "He [isn't] interested in the wealth of kings... The wealth of a bard was in the harp on his back, and the magic of his song, and in the honor that his own people held him in."
I did not expect much of what I experienced with Bard. It was well told and entertaining. I look forward to reading the next installment. I shall also go back and read his later short stories that I didn't connect with. Reading them out of order probably had me lost to the atmosphere.
Cover Art: In the Forest by Don Maitz
I did not expect much of what I experienced with Bard. It was well told and entertaining. I look forward to reading the next installment. I shall also go back and read his later short stories that I didn't connect with. Reading them out of order probably had me lost to the atmosphere.
Cover Art: In the Forest by Don Maitz
February 17, 2015
This is an extremely difficult book to review, because at first I didn't like nor dislike it. It was strange for me, having grown up in the late 80s and 90s when female fantasy writers were finally coming into their own and writing YA fantasy with the bard as the main character. As you can imagine, bards written for 13-year-old girls and bards written for a mostly-male audience in the late 70s and early 80s are quite different.
Keith Taylor's Felimid mac Fal reminds me in a lot of ways of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Their morals are unapologetically different from our own. Felimid protests to not like violence, but he's an excellent swordsman and he'll fight for his life--and for perceived slights to his honor.
The author weaves the story around the known cultures of the time (Britons, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, etc.) on an island where the people live amongst the crumbling remains of the old Roman empire. I'm not familiar with the cultures or the time itself, so I can't speak to the authenticity of it, but it certainly reads like an authentic travelog in many places. Well, if you disregard the magic.
On a final note, these stories are really gory! I don't think I've read such gory battle scenes in a long time, if ever. The author has quite the gift for making me squirm, which in our over-sensitized age is pretty impressive. Disembowlings, legs hacked off, dogs ripped in two... These are not books for the faint of heart.
Keith Taylor's Felimid mac Fal reminds me in a lot of ways of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Their morals are unapologetically different from our own. Felimid protests to not like violence, but he's an excellent swordsman and he'll fight for his life--and for perceived slights to his honor.
The author weaves the story around the known cultures of the time (Britons, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, etc.) on an island where the people live amongst the crumbling remains of the old Roman empire. I'm not familiar with the cultures or the time itself, so I can't speak to the authenticity of it, but it certainly reads like an authentic travelog in many places. Well, if you disregard the magic.
On a final note, these stories are really gory! I don't think I've read such gory battle scenes in a long time, if ever. The author has quite the gift for making me squirm, which in our over-sensitized age is pretty impressive. Disembowlings, legs hacked off, dogs ripped in two... These are not books for the faint of heart.
December 30, 2017
As fun a fantasy novel as you will ever find.
Awesome mix of magic and interesting cast of allies and vilains!
Almost a little dying earth as you see weapons perhaps based on electricity which is not understood and giant machines of death!
Highly reccomended and underrated series!!
I read as a kid but only later discovered glen cooks balkc comapny, the lure of basilisk by watt-evans and ae van vogt, jack vance, and I was reading this about same time as Michael moorcocks awesome elric corum hawkmoon...and robert e howards conan
Awesome mix of magic and interesting cast of allies and vilains!
Almost a little dying earth as you see weapons perhaps based on electricity which is not understood and giant machines of death!
Highly reccomended and underrated series!!
I read as a kid but only later discovered glen cooks balkc comapny, the lure of basilisk by watt-evans and ae van vogt, jack vance, and I was reading this about same time as Michael moorcocks awesome elric corum hawkmoon...and robert e howards conan
June 20, 2019
A favorite from ages ago. Some of the most researched fantasy settings I've ever read from the religions to the locations, gods and peoples of the time frame the novel takes place the detail is shockingly well researched and incredibly well written. You're transported back to a time and immersed in a story that evolves across ancient Great Britain. Rome has fallen but not completely, invaders surge across the land and throughout it all, one Irishman, Felimid Mac Fal a bard descendant of the elder folk walks paths of wonder.
March 16, 2023
What a pleasant surprise. This book came out in the very early 80s. I remember my friend, Damien, reading it when we were in the 6th grade. I've seen the book on and off over the decades since then, but--in order to read a bit o'the Irish before St. Patrick's Day this year--I finally grabbed it on Kindle. What a gem! Fun, mystical, good fight scenes, set in the early days of post-Roman Britain; I enjoyed it very much, and I think I'll read the rest. Many good ideas for my RPG games that I (still) play with my friends...many of whom I have been playing with since the mid-80s. Fun book!
January 26, 2024
This is fantasy in the same vein as Poul Anderson's Broken Sword- historical in setting with a bent of mythology and a healthy helping visceral combat. Keith Taylor's easy prose and colorful characters made reading Bard a breeze. In many of the sequences, I even got a bit of Joe Abercrombie. Wouldnt be surprised if there was some influence there. Highly recommended if you like a blend of history and fantasy.
September 6, 2019
Oddly excellent. This book had no central plot, and I think it's actually refreshing at times to read a book of that sort - where a character simply wanders from one place to another, experiencing the different places. Surprisingly good character development.
October 23, 2020
WOW!!!
It took a few pages to catch on to the flow and then I lost a whole nights sleep savoring every word. I have no words to aptly describe the absolute joy I felt while reading this .
It took a few pages to catch on to the flow and then I lost a whole nights sleep savoring every word. I have no words to aptly describe the absolute joy I felt while reading this .
February 16, 2017
Read this the first time many years ago and decided to reread it. I still dig it.
November 17, 2023
Very fun historical sword and sorcery tales. Although this is really a collection of short stories, Taylor weaves them together in a great way so that it feels like one continuous story. My only real complaint is that the main character has a magic harp but he hardly ever uses it. He uses it twice early on for fairly minor things that he could have accomplished otherwise and once toward the end to get out of a major scrape.
March 8, 2024
The first couple stories are amazing and I was getting excited, but then the plots started to wander. Taylor repeatedly introduces fantastic and interesting female characters who express the unique pitfalls women have to negotiate in society and he keeps dropping them so we can concentrate on Bard who is mostly uninteresting.
March 2, 2025
I revisited this book hoping it would hold up, and it was a bit disappointing. The episodes didn't advance much of an overall narrative. I think I'd like to go back to it again, or try one the sequel to see if i gets some momentum, but I'm putting it down for now
April 12, 2023
A good read for lovers of classic fantasy.
May 16, 2024
I believe I was introduced to Keith Taylor's work courtesy of DMR's excellent Renegade Sword series. Then, I caught a few more of his stories in the pages of Skelos. These stories were so good that I sought out the Bard series and I'm very pleased that I did! Bard was just plain fun to read with a real sense of adventure. Taylor's character Felimid Mac Fal can stand with the best that fantasy has to offer. If you're a fan of old school sword and sorcery or the newer brand (like Abercrombie), you will greatly enjoy these books.
August 1, 2025
Felimid Mac Fal is just the goat apparently. bros got a magic harp he can control people's emotions with, he wields a sword forged by dead god that curses anyone else who tries to use it, and swoons every single female character in the entire book without so much as lifting a finger.
It was an interesting read tho since Bard is written in an episodic style, so each part of the book was independent of one another except the loose overarching plot thread of being chased by his no 1 opp, the notorious, the dreadful, Tosti Fenrir's-get.
It was an interesting read tho since Bard is written in an episodic style, so each part of the book was independent of one another except the loose overarching plot thread of being chased by his no 1 opp, the notorious, the dreadful, Tosti Fenrir's-get.
October 9, 2019
'Bard' is the first of five 'should've been classics'. Each book is richly detailed, drawing heavily on Celtic, Viking, Germanic and even some Russian traditions and folklore. I read these many years ago and went back for a recent re-read and was blown away by the details and the obvious research Keith Taylor had done to flesh out the story. The hero Felimid mac Fal is a Han Solo/Indiana Jones type with a Harp and a sword - both used to deadly effect. Be forewarned if you are younger... This is not a modern fantasy. Things are not politically correct, diverse, etc. Some of it is nasty, some of it is brutal and all of it rings true for how things most likely were back in those days, which were, I'm guessing, somewhere between 400 to 1100 AD). But it is all integral to the story (and in a lesser sense, history). But don't be put off, this isn't some misogynistic history lesson, it is historical fantasy at it's finest.
If you can find all five (best of luck with #5...), put aside a week or so and prepare to see a story not done as well since. The closest I've come across to entertaining me and provoking lingering and lasting thought were Robin Hobb's 1st 6 Fitz/Fool books.
If you can find all five (best of luck with #5...), put aside a week or so and prepare to see a story not done as well since. The closest I've come across to entertaining me and provoking lingering and lasting thought were Robin Hobb's 1st 6 Fitz/Fool books.
March 11, 2010
The writing is decent, but whomever edited this edition missed quite a few typographical errors. The novel itself is decent enough for a fantasy novel, but is no more original than most of the fantasy novels out there. To me, it felt a lot like a cross between some sort of fireside story one would make up on the spot and The Mists of Avalon. What I'm getting at here is that while it was a fun/entertaining story, it wasn't very original. Doubt I'd be reading this one again, nor recommending it to someone.
April 13, 2009
I found this at a local used bookstore. Its still cool and nice reference for the d&d crowd.
Read
June 7, 2009One of the earlier fantasy novels I read. Which is about all I remember now.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews