Sword of Fire and Shadow (Chronicle of Fionn Mac Cumhal, Book 3) - Hardcover

Paxson, Diana L.; Martine-Barnes, Adrienne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688141560 ISBN 13: 9780688141561

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1995

Synopsis

In the conclusion of the heroic saga of Fionn mac Cumhal, the lord of Almu and ruler of the wildwood faces treachery, shame, and betrayal as his enemies gather for their final assault

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

The life of the ancient Irish hero Fionn Mac Cumhal is brought to its close in the resounding conclusion to the trilogy begun in Master of Earth and Water. In his weary maturity, Fionn and his fianna (national guard) serve the Ard Ri (High King) Cormac mac Airt while striving to keep blood feuds from destroying his country, Eriu. He himself succumbs to a feud when his protege and dear friend, Diarmuid mac Duibhne, runs off with his promised wife, Grainne, daughter of the High King. While Fionn and his men pursue the fugitives for years, his son Oisin by his long-lost love, the Sidhe Sabd, experiences his own unhappy love. Though evading an attempt to embroil him in a war among the Sidhe, the ancient fairy people of Eriu, Fionn falls victim to treachery and hatred among humans. The authors poetically portray a lost culture, breathing life into ancient myths.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

In the final volume of their trilogy based on the Fionn cycle of ancient Ireland, Paxson and Martine-Barnes face a difficult task: to make a sympathetic romantic hero out of the aging Fionn while staying true to their novels' sources. This is the Fionn who chases poor Diarmuid and his beloved Grianne across Ireland, who loses his beloved son first to anger and then to Faerie, and who is finally overcome by younger warriors. But the authors both sustain the compellingly fierce character of Fionn from their earlier works and deal forthrightly with his foolhardy and sometimes cruel actions. In a magical ending, Fionn is whisked away to an intermediary world between this one and the next, where goddesses tend him as he sleeps until Ireland needs his strength again. A marvelous conclusion to an unusually effective series. Patricia Monaghan

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0688141560
• ISBN 13: 9780688141561
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 426