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‘Tis the month of all things green and Irish.
While you might have spent your St. Patrick’s day celebrating, going to parades, bar hopping, drinking a nice cold glass of Guiness and coming home to a warm, comforting meal of corned beef hash, now is the perfect time to grab a book and sink into a day of relaxation and recovery.
And what better way to do that than with a book based on Irish mythology.
With that St. Patrick’s Day feeling lingering in the air, there is no better time to experience the rich fantasy worlds inspired by the magic deeply rooted in Irish mythology and fairytales. Or, it might just be fun to see where BookTok’s beloved fae came from before they were steamy hot men with magical powers and a territorial obsession with their mate.
Either way, I hope you find something that piques your interest and, as always, happy reading!
Savage Her Reply by Deirdre Sullivan
Genres: fantasy, mythology, Irish literature, young adult
Once upon a time, Aífe married Lir, a king with four children from his previous wife. Although she loved Lir very much, she resented his children for the love and affection he showed them. In her jealousy, she turned to witchcraft, turning the four children into swans and cursing them to haunt the wild seas for 900 years.
Savage Her Reply is a dark, lyrical retelling of the Irish legend known as “The Children of Lir,” in which Sullivan writes in the perspective of Aífe, the “evil stepmother” in this classic fairytale. Sullivan explores themes of guilt and feminist agency within the flaws of Aífe’s character and the ways in which she is tormented in the aftermath of the crimes she committed.
Daughter of the Forest (Sevenwaters #1) by Juliet Marillier
Genres: fantasy, romance, fairy tales
Sorcha has been loved and adored all her life. As the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters, she has spent her years cared for by her father and six brothers, sheltered from the hardships of the world and the suffering within it. But everything changes when an evil enchantress bewitches her father and curses her brothers. Only Sorcha holds the key to free them from their terrible fate and the cost is her silence.
If completing a quest given to her by the fairy folk and their queen while sworn to silence wasn’t hard enough, Sorcha’s luck turns for the worse when she is kidnapped by the enemies of Sevenwater and taken far away from home and the brothers she is so desperate to save. But what she finds there is not what she expected and soon she must make a choice: her brothers or the love of her life.
The Harp of Kings (Warrior Bards #1) by Juliet Marillier
Genres: fantasy, historical fiction, young adult
Liobhan is a woman of many talents. At eighteen years old, she is already a powerful singer and an expert whistle player. Alongside her brother, who has the most beautiful voice and a rare talent for the harp, it is only natural that they would find their way to Swan Island. While it is her brother’s dream to become one of the island’s elite warriors, Liobhan competes alongside him for a spot among their ranks.
It is within their training that they are given their first mission: find and retrieve the harp of kings, an ancient relic that has gone mysteriously missing. To save the kingdom, Liobhan and her brother go undercover as traveling minstrels and embark on the journey they have been dreaming about. But it soon becomes apparent that this may not be the work of mere mortal men and Liobhan is forced to make a choice between her ambition and her conscience.
Song of the Huntress by Lucy Holland
Genres: fantasy, historical fiction, mythology, LGBT
Herla doesn’t know how long it’s been since she walked the lands, free from the Otherworld. Too long. Everyone she loves is long dead, all the people she wanted to save by making a deal with the king of the Otherworld. Now she is only his blade. Now she is only the Lord of the Hunt. The years continue on. For centuries, she leads the immortal warriors of the Wild Hunt. Until Æthel.
Queen Æthelburg of Wessex needs Herla. Dead kings are waking. The Otherworld has its eyes on Britain and King Ine’s brother lusts for the throne. Their salvation lay only in waking the ancient magic of Ine’s bloodline. Until Herla. As Herla and Æthel grow closer, Æthel realizes that perhaps Herla has the power to save them all, if they can reclaim her humanity and break the curse tying her to the Otherworld and its king.
The Táin: From the Irish Epic Táin Bó Cúailnge by Anonymous
Genres: mythology, classics, Irish literature
The Táin, otherwise known as The Cattle Raid of Cooley, is Ireland’s great epic. It started off small, nothing more than a simple bedside squabble between King Ailill and Queen Medb about who was richer. But when Ailill wins by a single enormous bull, Medb will stop at nothing to get one of her own, a bull of equal value, which can only be found in Ulster.
When the Ulster cattle-owner denies Medb the bull she so desperately desires, the only answer that remains is violence; she must take the bull by force and what better way is there to do that than through the power of a curse? One by one, the people of Ulster begin falling ill to a mysterious illness, rendering them useless in the coming battles. All but a single man, Cúchulainn, the Hound of Ulster. He is the only one unaffected by the curse, and it is through him that Ulster, and its enormous cattle, will survive when the armies of Ailill and Medb come for them.
