The Children of Llyr

I gotta be honest, I did not like this book. I'm giving it 3 stars because it is a necessary re-telling of this branch of the Mabinogion that brings characters and motivations and inner dialogues to the modern reader. And there are parts where Walton's language is still so sparse that the action kind of slips by the wayside.

Really, though, I think it is the story itself. One horrible tragedy, after another, evil and damage to innocents, harm with no hope. There are just some things that I don't need to read about. The story does not glorify violence, far from it, but the violence just does not stop. All that is good and lovely is crushed: Branwyn, sister to Bran the Blessed, High King of the Isle of the Mighty, accepts the marriage show more proposal of Matholuch, King of Ireland. Which starts a series of events that culminates in Bran, his brother Manawyddan, and all the forces of the Isle of the Mighty traversing the Irish Sea to get retrieve Branwyn from her abusive husband and end her enslavement in the kitchens of the King. And the terror and bloodshed does not end there.

Anyway, if you are interested in the larger "Mabinogion" then this book spells out the details in all of the other translations of this story. So be aware and read with caution. show less

A haunting apocalyptic retelling of the Second Branch of the Mabinogi. Walton is true to the tale as written in the medieval books that survive, but also draws on contemporary nuclear fears and the images developed by Arthurian writers and by Eliot. Perhaps more than any of Walton's adaptations, Children of Llyr makes it clear how these ancient tales and their progeny continue to shape the mind of the Anglo-Celtic world and diaspora.

This is the most complex of the branches of the Mabinogion, and contains several themes which transcend the purely Welsh environment of the tales. we find here the stories of Llyr's children Bran, Manawydan, Evnissyen and Branwen. The treatment by Walton of the stories is sensitive and fully aware of the two tropes that will come to dominate a good deal of the "Western Canon". Here we find the concept of the magic Cauldron, the precursor of much Grail imagery, and the story of Evnissyen who causes a major war, but redeems himself by doing something to end it. This redaction is well worth the reading. I've read it twice, in 1975, and 2008, and it stands up well.

Still a good read but a lot more convoluted than the first branch, and consequently a lot harder to concentrate on. And a lot more speculation by the author here - logical and correct I suspect, but it leads off in too many directions at once. Still worth the read, but it'll be a bit before I finish the series.

Great, I'm going to read all four. This one is full of plotting for crowns, betrayal and warring.

The second of Miss Walton's adaptations of the Mabinogion to be published - some 30 years after 'The Virgin And The Swine' aka 'The Island Of The Mighty - 'The Children Of Llyr' is a far darker tale with not even death being a bar to characters continuing to participate in the story.

Based on the Second Branch.