This is a series that has grown on me as I have read it. From the start it has been well researched and well written, with a wonderful sense of place in the narrative that sweeps the reader back in time to sixth century Wales. Maybe not quite as it actually was, because who can say how it was? but as good a re-creation of that historical setting as any I have read.

The series follows Gwernin, a young storyteller in the generation after Arthur as he travels across the land, much of the time with Taliesin the bard. In this book the story becomes an adventure filled with dispute and rivalries and many a self contained short tale. It culminates in a thrilling adventure, through which the young storyteller comes of age. Whether that is the end of his tale is not clear, but it wraps things up in a satisfying manner for this book at least.

The research is as good as the story here. We are treated to snippets from early medieval writings, and allusions to others. The Gododdin feature in this story (and I note that the author and I share a book containing that poetry, among others), and there are also allusions to Anglo Saxon literary tradition and just a snippet of Old English. All this adds wonderfully to that sense of place I mentioned.

The author's historical note makes clear on one area where the story departs deliberately from the more commonly accepted view of the 6th Century bardic tradition - but again, as the notes say, the literary tradition is nevertheless not always supported by the archeological evidence. They don't call this the dark ages for nothing! So for the purposes of a good work of fiction, no one would quibble with the digression I think.

So this book was an enjoyable read. It may be hard going for anyone unfamiliar with Welsh names and pronounciation, but that all adds to the flavour of the book. Anyone enjoying historical novels or celtic themes should enjoy this variation on the coming of age theme. ( )

This is a well written book about Britain in the time of kings and bards. It is full of knowledge about the bardic life and the many cattle wars fought between minor kings, as well as slavery and farm life. I truly enjoyed reading this book. The only drawback was the last line of every chapter - it definitely took away from the story and really broke the flow. ( )

This book tells the story of one summer in the life of Gwernin, an apprentice bard, who travels with Taliesin around various kingdoms of 6th century Britain. Gwernin's adventures have something for pretty much any type of reader of historical fiction. For those who like adventure and the thrill of the battle, Gwernin gets involved in troubles between the rival kingdoms. For those who are interested in spirituality, Gwernin's friend Neirin walks the 'dark path' to become a true bard and Gwernin begins his own spiritual journey later in the book. For those who like romance, there is Gwernin's newly maturing relationship with his sweetheart Rhianneth and for those who enjoy poetry there are the songs that the bards sing during their journey.

This is the third in the Storyteller series, and there are often references to events of previous summers, which I assume are taken from the previous two novels. They don't get in the way however and I don't think that reading this will dull my enjoyment of the first two books when I go back to read them (with the exception of having the secure knowledge that certain characters will survive to make it to the next book!). I on't feel I really lost out in starting with the third book.

I found it took a little while to get into the story – partly as I spent most of the first chapter flicking between the main story and the pronunciation guide/glossary in the back to try and get the hang of the Welsh names and words. While it was really useful to have this, it is written in some kind of ‘proper’ phonetics rather than ‘stupid person’ phonetics that I understand, so I was still mystified about a few pronunciations…

After I had my head around that the story started to flow as Gwernin and his companions set out for Ynys Môn where Neirin would walk the ‘dark path’. This part of the story is not ‘realistic’, involving as it does characters taking part in each other’s dreams, but this fits into the rest of the story so well it was very easy to suspend my disbelief. Gwernin believed in what was happening and so did I and I never felt the book was crossing the line from historical fiction into fantasy, merely showing the reader that there wasn’t really such a line for our characters and this sort of ritual was a part of life (at least for bards anyway!).

After this episode Gwernin never really stops, moving from adventure to adventure at a very fast pace. This kept my interest very well - I found I was really looking forward to the chance to read more each day. The only downside was that I couldn’t help but feel sorry for poor Rhianneth worrying at home!

I also really enjoyed the poetry in this book, both in the poems and songs that Gwernin and friends perform for their numerous hosts and in the narration itself. Gwernin’s poetic voice comes through even when talking about the loss of his ‘trews’. It is at its best when he is describing his surroundings and the author uses this to create some beautiful images, for example the sea ‘silver-shining as a salmon in the sunlight’ was one of my favourites.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys either historical fiction or mythology (it fits well into both) and a poetic and yet so easy to read writing style. I’ll definitely be adding the two other books in the series to my wishlist (and any future ones, I hope there will be more as things are not entirely resolved at the end) ( )

The Ash Spear is the third book in the series, which starts with Storyteller and is followed by Flight of the Hawk. As such, the reader is thrown right into the action, with little introduction to the characters or the world. I haven't read either of the two previous books and didn't find this to be too much of a problem. The story stands alone, more or less, although there were plenty of references to past actions and events. Despite that, I really have to find the first two books and read them eventually.

G. R. Grove has set this series in the generation or so just after the time of King Arthur, and located it mostly in the Welsh and northern regions of the British Isles. However, from there the story is quite different from most of the Arthurian period stories I've read, which made for a refreshing change: Gwernin, who is both the main character and the viewpoint character is no warrior or leader, but instead is an apprentice bard with a healthy appreciation for the mystical (not to mention the practical).

Also, there is much more of a pagan presence throughout The Ash Spear than I've seen in some of the other stories of the period. However, it works, and I think, that fact is probably fairly historically accurate too, although I'm no expert on the period. Again, it is a refreshing change.

Oftentimes, the names in the story are a bit of a mouthful, and I don't think that a pronunciation guide/glossary for some of the terms used throughout the story would have gone amiss, but it's quite possible to get the gist of them from the context. Perhaps they were explained more fully in the earlier volumes?

At the same time, I found the language and phrasing used helped to set the stage for the period. Sometimes it's more archaic words, other times it's a phrasing where the words are somewhat out of order to the modern ear. G. R. Grove has also included several long selections of poetry, which makes sense, given that the main character is training to be a bard. There's even a section from Beowulf included later on in the book, although it's more scattered lines than an actual excerpt.

Gwernin (as the entire story is set from his viewpoint as he reminisces) is very descriptive about events and scenery during his reminiscing of the story, which all helps to set the stage. It's the details he remembered and added that really allowed me to be able to almost visualize the events and the scenery.

The one thing I found slightly annoying through the story was the repeated formula of "But that, O my children, is a story for another day." It's used to close off just about every chapter in the book, and I think also in other places as well. It's a minor point overall though.

As I said earlier, I really have to recommend this book, and I'm going to go hunting for the first two in the series.

http://allbookedup-elena.blogspot.com... ( )

This is not a book I would normally have chosen, and at the beginning I worried about the very Welshness of it, the names in particular. I need not have worried. Once I had got used to the names, and seperated Talhaearn from Taliesin the story took over. It is the story of a trainee Bard in 6th century Wales, soon after the Romans had left, and reminded me strongly of Homer. The storyteller moving from court to court telling stories of the heroes in battle, and singing songs. It is the third part of a series but stands well on it's own. I haven't read the earlier ones, and had no problem following it. There is some element of the mystical, which would have put me off, but it is extremely well done. The only slight criticism I would have, and it is minor, is the time scale. The whole story takes place in less than the nine months necessary for a pregnancy, but the feeling is of much longer.
It took me until the end to realise just what is meant by an ash spear! I leave that to the reader! ( )