The Red Branch Tales

Ulster #6

by Randy Lee Eickhoff

Randy Lee Eickhoff continues his translation of the Ulster Cycle, often referred to as the Red Branch Cycle, the large corpus of work that is primarily responsible for establishing the cultural identity of today's Ireland.

In this collection of Ireland's famous myths, Eickhoff once again proves his mastery of translation and his ability to give these classic tales new life. Here he presents more than twenty stories that reveal ancient Irish culture as it's seldom been seen before.
All of the characters of Irish myth receive new life and are presented in vibrant and unique ways. In addition, by providing introductions to the tales, Eickhoff gives insight into the legends that formed the identity of a people.

In the pre-Christian era, when warriors fought from chariots, Druids provided the mystical answers to the universe, and men and women believed strongly in magic, these stories begin. Prepare to enter Randy Lee Eickhoff's Ireland.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mythology

400 pages, Hardcover

First published March 5, 2003

Reviews

[Pye Josephus Joestar · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was at times very hard to read for me. at times some of the tales were exciting and so full of life with it's characters and story, but most of the book left me literally nodding off and falling asleep. I kid you not there was a point while reading this book where I was so bored with what was going on I actually fell asleep for what felt like a second and twitch back awake not knowing where I was like a heroin junkie waking from a drug induced coma. The stories that I enjoyed the most were the short and sweet ones that got right to the point but the longer ones just seemed dragged out and had no purpose at all. Especially the one chapter that described Connobar's keep in detail, and trust me I'm a stickler for detail in my stories, but here it was literally explaining in bullet point form where the bards stood and where his hospitallers sat and blah blah yadda yadda. Honestly I would recommend to just skip this book entirely unless you need to finish the Ulster Cycler or finish Randy's Translations for some reason.

[TC · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps the saddest thing in literature is when a great work is re-written as pap. Modern colloquialisms and trite interaction between characters may produce a more accessible version, accessible to folks who cannot appreciate the story without the lowbrow treatment.