Master of Earth & Water - Hardcover

Diana L. Paxson; Adrienne Martine-Barnes

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688125050 ISBN 13: 9780688125059

Publisher: William Morrow, 1993

Synopsis

Guarded and loved by a fairy queen and protected by his own superior skills as hunter and warrior, Finn travels widely, survives deadly encounters with giant beasts, and struggles to find his place in the world. 10,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author:

Diana L. Paxson is the award-winning author of The Lord of Horses, The Wolf and the Raven, The Dragons of the Rhine, The White Raven, and The Serpents Tooth, and coauthor (with Adrienne Martine-Barnes) of Master of Earth and Water, The Shield Between the Worlds, and Sword of Fire and Shadow, the chronicles of Fionn mac Cumhal. She lives in Berkeley, California.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Paxson has carved out her niche in fantasy with recastings of Tristan and Isolde in The White Raven (1988), and King Lear in The Serpent's Tooth (1991). Now, with an assist from Martine- Barnes, she launches a three-volume retelling of the legend of Fionn mac Cumhall (Finn MacCool)--a retelling that, unfortunately, starts out looking like the mustiest sort of generic fantasy, with a long list of Irish character and place names in dauntingly authentic spelling, and a foreword with a list of suggested reading. But then the story of the hero's youth kicks into gear, and the book comes to life wonderfully. We see Fionn as an orphan and an exile in the forest, raised by the druidess Bobdmall and the warrior woman Liath Luachra. He travels to the king's fair, making both friends and enemies while he beats all comers at running and spear-throwing; he visits the Sidhe, has visions, slays monsters; he is a servant to noble lords and apprentice to a blacksmith, then a poet. In the end, Fionn comes to accept both his identity and his destiny. Overall, an unusually good Celtic fantasy: it's sometimes prone to bathos--Fionn often pauses in the midst of dramatic events to ponder some mundane question--but the high points of the story sing, and leave the reader with an appetite for the volumes to follow. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0688125050
• ISBN 13: 9780688125059
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 395