Mary Tannen

When Fiona and Bran McCool befriend a strange boy named Deimne in the woods behind their family mansion, little do they expect that they will soon be transported back in time with Deimne to ancient Ireland (Deimne hails from that time/place, so for him, he is returning home, for Fiona and Bran though, ancient Ireland is a strange, magical, uncanny place). Once in Ireland, the two children become Deimne's companions on his journey to Temhair, to manhood, to claim his birthright. Because show more Deimne is Finn, son of Cumhall and fair, shining Muirne, and he is destined to become not only the leader of the Fianna, but also one of the greatest warriors and heroes of ancient Ireland.

Mary Tannen's tale of Finn's adventures on his journey to manhood is exciting, readable, albeit a bit gory at times (but after all, battle and fighting scenes often are thus). Finn's boyhood adventures are not only experienced by two modern American children (Fiona and Bran), Deimne's (Finn's) companions from far away in time and space, they are also "orally recorded" by the two. Fiona, a talented poet, creates epic verses of Finn's exploits, from his encounter with Conn and his gang of boys, his victory over a giant churl, his consumption of a legendary salmon of knowledge, the decapitation of Aillen, to Finn finally claiming the leadership of the Fianna. And while Fiona creates the poems, it is Brad with his amazing memory, who remembers her verses and recites them. Thus Finn might be the hero, but Fionna acts as the hero's poet and Bran as his bard, his teller of tales.

I should probably mention that there are some what I would call mildly vexing leaps of logic in The Wizard Children of Finn. How did Lia, Bovmall and Deimne know to go to Uncle Rupert's house (the McCool mansion), and how and why did they specifically know to seek out the McCools? I believe that the name McCool is somehow important in Irish history and mythology, but the book is kind of annoying at times as it it leaves a lot of unanswered questions (however, since there is a sequel, The Lost Legend of Finn, that might, in fact, be deliberate). These leaps of logic however, are quite minor as they don't really affect the general flow and readability of the novel; they certainly did not significantly lessen my reading pleasure (in fact, after having read a library copy of The Wizard Children of Finn, I purchased a copy for myself, because this is a book I definitely want to reread on occasion). Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys children's fantasy stories, but especially those individuals who are interested in Irish folklore and mythology. show less

Sequel adventure in ancient Ireland by 2 modern adolescents who use a magic spell to return in search of their uncle. Ending up in a later time (800 AD) than their previous adventure, they nevertheless track him down at a monastery after getting help from a druid/witch and making friends with a slightly older boy. This is much more rustic than the monasteries we may be familiar with from reading about the middle ages and is threatened by invaders. They have a shapeshift experience (a la T H show more White) as ravens which allows the story to cover more history. show less

The sequel to The Wizard Children of Finn, The Lost Legend of Finn has Fiona and Bran McCool again traveling back in time to ancient Ireland, this time to hopefully find information and answers regarding their mysterious father. However, Bran's magic goes a bit awry, and instead of traveling back to the ancient Ireland of 2000 years ago (which they had wanted to do, where their friend Finn is leader of the Fianna), they end up in early Mediaeval Ireland, a Christian Ireland being threatened show more by Viking invaders from the pagan north.

An ancient (and perhaps timeless and everlasting) druid named Biddy Gwynn transforms Bran and Fiona into ravens, sending them into a lost chapter of the Legend of Finn. Within the story, the legend, Fiona and Bran again encounter their friend Finn (but only as raven observers, he is unaware of their presence). However, much to their consternation, they also encounter their own mother (Sadie), as Sabdh, one of the Everlasting Ones, in the form of a red deer. Sabdh, who is being pursued by Fear Doriche, the Dark Druid of the Men of Dea, places herself under Finn's protection (under his protection, she no longer needs to be a deer), actually marrying him, and Bran and Fiona realise in astonishment that their friend Finn (from their previous adventures in ancient Ireland) is much more closely connected to them than they ever could have guessed, that he is their father.

The Lost Legend of Finn is again an enaging and exciting romp through ancient Ireland, with for the most part well conceptualised and realistically portrayed characters. Especially Fiona has come into her own; I feel very close to her and I also love the character of Legaire (I was really saddened when he was killed during the Viking raid on the monastery). Bran, on the other hand, I like much better in The Wizard Children of Finn. In the sequel, he has become quite egotistical, seemingly only caring about his own wishes and desires (just consider how Bran is constantly thinking of joining Finn in ancient Ireland, not giving any, or just scant thought to the fact that this would surely be traumatic for his 20th century mother). I guess in many ways, Bran and Uncle Rupert are very similar in their attitudes, caring more about themselves, their ideals, projects and desires, not all that concerned, or even all that aware of the consequences that their actions have or might have on others, especially their families. Fiona, on the other hand, always seems to think of the consequences that her actions, her thoughts, her words have or might have.

As much as I enjoyed The Lost Legend of Finn, I do think that the first book, The Wizard Children of Finn is superior in both content and style. Even the first book has some leaps of logic, some aspects of the fantastical that just do not entirely make sense, even if one takes into account that the story is, indeed, a fantasy. However, in The Wizard Children of Finn, the leaps of logic are not all that distracting, and are for the most part nicely balanced by the folkloric content. This only partially occurs in the sequel. Not only are the leaps of logic more pronounced at times, some of the folkloric content itself feels problematic (and I am still trying to figure out how and why Sadie/Sabdh ended up in 20th century America, or wether it was actually the Sadie of the 20th century who somehow went back in time to ancient Ireland and there became Sabdh, that is probably the one leap of logic I found and still find the most difficult to understand, to explain to myself).

I am a bit of a folklore purist (and very interested in folklore, myths and legends), so of course, I attempted to research the folkloric elements I encountered in The Lost Legend of Finn on the internet. And this proved rather frustrating at first, as the author (Mary Tannen) seemed to have either accidentally or deliberately used a different spelling for both Fiona and Bran's mother (her name when she was a red deer) and for the Dark Druid. In the novel, Sadie is called Sabdh and the Dark Druid of the Men of Dea is called Fear Doriche. I spent hours trying to unsuccessfully research these names on the internet, until I finally realised that Mary Tannen had made use of the legend of the birth of Finn's son Oisin (he is the son of Sadhbh and Finn, and Sadhbh was, indeed, pursued by and later fell victim to the Dark Druid, Fer Doirch or Fear Doirche). By misspelling "Sadhbh" (Sabdh), but especially by misspelling "Fear Doirche" (Fear Doriche), Mary Tannen not only makes researching the folkloric background to the story more difficult, there is also a slight feeling, an impression of disrespect for Irish folklore and mythology present (at least in my opinion). However, my LT friend Abigail has since pointed out that especially the spellings of ancient Irish names etc. are by no means consistent. And thus, while I still find the different spellings encountered in the book rather frustrating, I can now see that these were likely not only not deliberate misspellings, but that they might actually not have been mistakes in the first place, but accepted variations.

Stylistically, I think that The Lost Legend of Finn at times really shows that it is a book written and published in the early 80s. There are quite a number of instances where distinctly 80s slang and 80s expressions are used, and while in the first book The Wizard Children of Finn, these expressions seem balanced and not over-used, in the sequel, it sometimes feels as though the author is going slightly overboard trying to show Fiona and Bran as typical 80s (or rather 20th century) children (a few exclamations of jerk, bird-brain and other such insults, expressions which I actually remember from high school, would have been great, and would have felt nostalgic, the over-use just dates the book, making the narrative style, the flow of the text feel old-fashioned and rather exaggerated on occasion). I did however, chuckle with nostalgic fondness and a feeling of being rather old, when Uncle Rupert mentions John Davidson's ABC television show That's Incredible (gosh, I actually used to watch that show when I was in high school). And in that particular case, Mary Tannen (or rather Uncle Rupert) makes a very astute, profound observation. A time-traveling historian such as Uncle Rupert has become would not likely have been accepted as legitimate and might very well have only gotten a place on a pseudo-science show like That's Incredible. His fellow academics would most probably not have accepted him, would not have believed that Uncle Rupert had time-traveled, could time-travel.

I would recommend The Lost Legend of Finn to children and adults interested in ancient Irish myth and folklore. And although some reviews I have read claim that The Lost Legend of Finn is a fine stand-alone book, I would say that in order to truly enjoy and understand this story, you should really first read The Wizard Children of Finn (not only is it a slightly better book, but I believe that one does need the information, the story-line of the first book, in order to truly understand and enjoy sequel). show less

Fiona and Bran McCool, two young American children, are caught up in a powerful Druid spell and transported back in time to the Ireland of two thousand years ago. There they accompany their new friend Deimne on his journey of self-discovery. For he is none other than Finn, son of Cumhall and Muirne the fair, destined to become leader of the Fianna, and one of Ireland’s greatest heroes.

Inspired by Lady Gregory's Gods and Fighting Men, Mary Tannen recreates the boyhood exploits of Fionn Mac show more Cumhaill, as seen through the eyes of two modern children. Here is the encounter with Conn and his gang of boys at Magh Life; the visit to the King of Carraighe, and how Finn defeated him at the game of ficheall; Finn’s defeat of a giant churl, and recapture of the Bag of Aoife that once belonged to his father; the conflict with the Sons of Morna; and Finn's consumption of the Salmon of Knowledge.

An exciting adventure-fantasy that should please young readers, whether or not they have any knowledge of Irish mythology, The Wizard Children of Finn was on the syllabus of the class I taught on children's fantasy literature at my college. Part of a unit entitled Fantasy as Folk Epic, we read it together with a selection from Dáithí Ó hÓgáin's Fionn mac Cumhaill: Images of the Gaelic Hero. show less