“These stories are not really myths, romances, legends or folktales, but somehow straddle the boundaries between all of them. While I did enjoy this book, I gave it the low rating because it is curiously divided in quality almost neatly in half. Most of its first half is slow at best, unreadable at worst. Yet the last half is definitely worth reading.
If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be, "convoluted". Sioned Davies, in her introduction, calls this translation by Lady Charlotte Guest not overly flowery with antiquarian language, but the prose seems to me almost exactly the opposite. The worst story is "Kilhwch and Olwen or the Twrch Trwyth". It contains about six pages of names alone, of persons whom the hero abjures to help him in his quest, and when he arrives at his destination he is challenged not to one or three impossible tasks in order to win the woman he desires, but thirty nine, all of which are described to him and then described as he and the six pages' worth of warriors attempt them, and what follows is, well, almost impossible to follow.
There are some real gems in this collection, however, the best of which is the Arthurian romance, "The Lady of the Fountain", which features, notably, a magical ring of invisibility, one of the precursors to Tolkien's Ring discussed in John Ratlieff's writing. Also notable are "Pwyll Prince of Dyved", "The Dream of Maxen Wledig", "Peredur Son of Evraw" and "Geraint the Son of Erbin", all romances rather like fairy tales, and "Taliesin", a story more like a folktale, but laced with verse. The bottom line here seems to be that the Mabinogion story cycle will be enjoyed (for the most part) by those deeply interested in history, folklore and myth; but anyone looking for a light read, or a book to "dip" into, will likely come out of this disappointed. ”
Michael wrote this review Friday, October 2 2009.
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