Discover the gods, goddesses, heroes, and monsters from Celtic mythology with this beautiful book that captures the ancient stories and tales that captivated the Celts.
Prepare to be entertained as you learn about the many myths and legends of the Celtic people. From the storytelling duo behind the Candlelit Tales, this collection weaves together the stories of those heroes, deities, and monsters that make up the mythology.
Drawing together the mythology and tales of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, this book is a comprehensive collection of the fascinating gods, goddesses, heroes, and monsters that make up the compendium of Celtic myths and legends. Celtic Mythology offers an accessible exploration of the rich tapestry of stories and characters that define Celtic culture and have fascinated people for centuries.
This is a solid introduction to Celtic Mythology. I loved the illustrations. I also appreciated the pronunciation guides and glossary. The further reading section is nice as well. What is with the lack of citations, though? There is no real bibliography either. They do list the main sources for the stories, but the entire introduction and who are the Celts sections warranted citations and a bibliography. If it isn't accepted as a well-known fact, it needs a citation.
This a guide to the characters in this mythology, which provides a few pages on the key details of each one, and an lush illustration by Anna Stead. It also gives pronunciations and alternate names, and some examples of the use or influence of these characters in more recent media. Celtic mythology hasn't been as historically popular as Greek or even Norse, partially because there aren't as many written sources, but also because people thought they weren't as sophisticated. The book mentions that there was somewhat of a revival in the early twentieth century, and links it with the fight for Irish independence. The authors also make clear that the name "Mabinogion" is grammatically incorrect, as it's actually a double plural, sort of like "cherubims" (not their example). I had heard of many of these figures, but not all.
It was interesting to read the mythology. I think it's a hard topic to read about because it is so foreign to me. I also had issues following the stories because many of the versions were referenced and it was hard to keep things straight. I think I would have preferred to read a story and then read end notes or something indicating some of the variations instead of just narrative text explaining the story.