The King of Ireland's Son

Rating:
Summary: An adventure loved by both children and adults
Review: Hi, my great grandmother was Bridgit Colum, and Padriac Colum is my cousin from county Longford, in Ireland. I haven't read Padriac's book yet...but I am sure that it will be an exciting tale to read. The Ireland they knew was surrounded by family...and sometimes joy and also sorrow. I can only imagine the colorful characters that Padriac Colum has invented in his stories.....they will truly be a great legacy to uphold on the richness of Ireland's culture and folklore. I am going to read all of the books written by my cousin and hope that you too will enjoy them!

Rating:
Summary: From Padriac Colum's cousin
Review: Hi, my great grandmother was Bridgit Colum, and Padriac Colum is my cousin from county Longford, in Ireland. I haven't read Padriac's book yet...but I am sure that it will be an exciting tale to read. The Ireland they knew was surrounded by family...and sometimes joy and also sorrow. I can only imagine the colorful characters that Padriac Colum has invented in his stories.....they will truly be a great legacy to uphold on the richness of Ireland's culture and folklore. I am going to read all of the books written by my cousin and hope that you too will enjoy them!

Rating:
Summary: excellent book!
Review: I read this book to my 8- and 4- year old sons and they were both enthralled. We've decided that it is the best book we've ever read, even compared with the Chronicles of Narnia or Half Magic. We're going to read once a year for probably the next five years! It's beautiful, thrilling, and even if you get lost among the many plot twists, it all comes back in the end, and the wandering is so enjoyable it doesn't matter.

Rating:
Summary: A Story of a Story in a Story...
Review: My, this tale wanders! But it always manages to stagger back, and within its digressions one gradually becomes aware that the characters have come to accept that their main business is to be about finding how their own story comes out.

If that sounds a bit like life itself, it isn't. It is, rather, the exuberant piling-on and folding-in of narratives by a master story-teller. In the end, evil is trumped and love triumphant, as we always knew it would be. But like those bards of old who earned their place nearest the fire by their hypnotic words and unflagging invention, Colum delights in the texture of the telling, and assumes that old bargain with his audience, where we come to the tale with an appetite for wonder and an ability to listen, and he builds those gorgeous stage-sets and animates them with his language.

I enjoyed this somewhat less than "Nordic Gods and Heroes"; although Willy Pogony does the illustrations here as well, they are not as powerfully evocative. Also, in that other book I felt I was learning something: it was a story, but it was also "official" myth. This is just a shaggy prince story that wanders confusingly. But, though not very educational, it was still a thoroughly entertaining ramble.

Rating:
Summary: An adventure loved by both children and adults
Review: Our child came home from school one day and excitedly announced that the teacher was reading to the class "the best story," The King of Ireland's Son, by Padraic Colum. After much hunting I finally found the book on Amazon.com. It is a beautifully crafted story full of rich images and detail. The charecters and environments come to life with a sophistication that children and adults both appreciate. My husband never used to like to read to our child at bedtime but now has taken over this role - because he loves reading The King of Ireland's Son. He says nightly after finishing a chapter, "this is such a great story!!"

Rating:
Summary: Enchanting
Review: Readers of this delightful collection will discover that what initially appear to be seven different stories actually blend together to become tales-within-tales. The primary tale is a coming-of-age story of the quests of the youngest son of the King of Ireland. During the course of the quest, the king's son and others in the primary tale relate stories of their own. Characters from these secondary tales then appear later in the primary tale. The end result is a rich and complex tapestry of interconnecting histories and experiences as each character grows and finds out more about him- or herself. It soon becomes clear that for the central characters, learning the stories themselves becomes the goal of their quest. This in turn illuminates the importance of storytelling in the Irish tradition. A wonderful book which, if read aloud to older children before bedtime, will provide weeks of thrilling adventures with lovable characters.