So, it actually took me longer to write and format this post than it did to read this short story. 😀
I really quite enjoy the realism of the Fionn series. It’s still modern enough to understand, but it has a gritty could-actually-have-happened in a way realness to it that immerses me in each story.
I got this one, for free… I want to say for signing up for a mailing list??? Either way it’s actually free on amazon right now. So… I mean… go! (Also though, the newsletter is called Vóg, which is a fucking fantastic name for a newsletter and you should sign up for it, lol)
Ireland 192 AD:
A pregnant refugee fleeing through the wilderness encounters a relentless predator. Only by drawing on all her courage and cunning can she hope to survive.
Muirne Muncháem feared wolves. As a child, she’d spent many evenings on the palidades of Almhu, her father’s stronghold, listening as the creatures circled unseen in the darkness below.
This is a prequel to Fionn: Defense of Ráth Bládhma, and as such it details some of the journey of Muirne Muncháem, who is fleeing through the wintery Irish landscape while pretty pregnant with a future Irish Mythological Hero to get to her destination (which is Ráth Bládhma, as it turns out).
On her way, she runs into a giant timber wolf (though, maybe not quite as large comparatively as the cover would have us believe!) and subsequently flees from it while it follows her, getting hungrier and hungrier as it goes. NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!
Short and sweet, a thrilling little read which gives a nice feel for O’Sullivan’s writing style. It concluded well and left lots of room for the entirety of the Fionn mac Cumhaill story to begin in earnest. If you haven’t read it, this is a great place to start!
I give it 5/5 stars!
You can see this story on goodreads here, and buy it (for free) on amazon here.
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