What do You think about The Mabinogion Tetralogy (2003)?
I've read it once, I'm reading it twice, and it's still charming *-*I think that my favourite part is book #4... Gwydion!I can't really find a reason why this book and this writer are just so...unknown to most people (and actually I'm doing my best to persuade all my friends to buy&read it!). It's a damn GOOD book, better than many others that are more famous (even better, and it's saad saad to admit because I'm a huge fan of both, than The Mists of Avalon according to me)... it should deserve better!I really think that you need to be a good writer to write a really good re-telling.Yes, retellings can be pretty tricky: you don't need to make a whole plot up (even if I could question it...re-telling doesn't mean copying and pasting!) you need to make your work special: the fact that you are re-telling something people already know means that you need it to be so special in order for people to appreciate it and then remembering it.A plain re-telling is something you easily forget about, according to me, and a pretty boring thing too... why should I read something I already read? But if it's GREAT, if it's fresh, well written and if it adds something... then OF COURSE I'm going to read it, like it , and remember it.Ms Walton doesn't add anything to the original plot as far as i know (I'm not sure about a couple points like who fathered Pryderi -I haven't found anything like that in the original text, but I didn't look for it with so much intent I have to say-... but she's really really true to the original, even sometimes in dialogues which i found similar in some points), but what she writes is pure magic. She has such a wonderful and poetic style! She's able to create a dreamy athmospere with her words, and that's something I really appreciate. She can make you feel the tragedy, the happiness, the love...great.Characters are very deep too. I'm just in love with Gwydion -as I previously said-... but Manawyddan ap Llyr makes a great character too, and Arianrhod is fantastic in her wickedness.
—Annette
Whoooooooaaaaaaa I wasn't ready for how good this was. I was expecting something more mediocre but I'm happy I took a chance with it. Walton is indescribably beautiful with words. Her Mythic Wales is true in every way to the misty legends that have been passed down. Instead of misty though, Walton takes those ancient stories and clears the mist, humanizing and modernizing the legends.This contemporary novelization of the Mabinogion is a metaphoric dusting and dragging forth of the gods, heroes and monsters that took their rest under the barrows of old Wales long ago. Never has a legend been so masterfully revamped bar The Once & Future King. Even then I'm tempted to say it's just as good.
—Tristan
I first read this years ago, and since have read the set every other year or so. I know it by heart but love Walton's writing and the old Welsh Mabinogion so much that its like visiting an old friend.After reading the tetralogy I painted the goddess Rhiannon in watercolor, for the first time. Never before had the old tales been presented in a way I could relate to. Prior to this, I thought the Celtic myths were a rather boring collection folk tales.The Mabinogion as interpreted by Evangeline Walton changed my perspective and opened a new area of study.Be prepared for a treat and read these at leisure. I prefer to begin reading them in the autumn.
—Helena
