The Children of Gods and Fighting Men

Shauna Lawless
Completed 8/24/2024 Reviewed 8/24/24
3 Stars

I haven’t read any of the Game of Thrones books, but I have a feeling that I got a mild taste of what it would be like.  This book is a mix of Irish mythology and historical facts, creating an epic tale of the power struggle between the Kings of the different parts of Ireland for the title of High King.  When we were voting for this book in online book club, I was hoping for a little more god-human interaction.  Instead, the mythology is about two races of immortals playing politics with the crown.  It wasn’t exactly my cup of tea.  I found it rather tedious at times, though I did pretty good remembering who was who amongst the myriad of characters.  

Gormflaith is the widow of the Viking King of Dublin.  She is trying to position her son Sitric as the next king as well as the High King of Ireland.  She marries off her stepdaughter to the future King of Norway for ally support.  She also belongs to a race of immortals called Fomorians who have fire magic. There is a race of indigenous immortals called the Tuatha De Dannan who are sworn enemies of the Fomorians and are tasked with killing them, although they don’t live among the humans.  One such immortal, Fodla, is released to live with the humans as a spy on King Brian.  Disguised as a disfigured healer, she finds King Brian and his family to be less warmongering than she was led to believe.  Between these two camps is another king and the rise of Christianity to complicate matters.  

One of the things I both liked and didn’t like about the book was that there are no clear good guys and bad guys.  While one might say the Vikings are the bad guys, the indigenous Irish Kings are generally no better.  All have strange views of what peace is and of course they require power to secure it.  What I like about this is that the tale is told from both the Fomorian and the Tuatha De Dannan POV.  This gives you a taste of the morality of both sides with less judgement than a straightforward good vs. evil story.  The downside for me is that I feel rather ambiguous about both sides as well.  I don’t feel like I have anyone to cheer for.  However, towards the end, I was starting to like King Brian’s clan better.  But who knows if this is a ruse that will be revealed in the next book.

I do have to say Gormflaith is kind of a baddie, mostly because all her frustrations and tragedy in life is now vented toward getting Sitric on the High Throne.  But she is not just an evil Borg Queen of a baddie.  With the book being half told from her POV, it’s easier to empathize with her.  Fodla comes off as less of a baddie, mostly because of her realizations that all human men aren’t warmongering imbeciles.  Her task to spy is interesting because she is a healer posing as a human healer.  She is not supposed to use her supernatural powers to heal anyone.  However, this becomes more and more of a struggle as she becomes closer to the clan she was sent to spy on.  

I give this book three stars out of five.  While it is well constructed and well researched, I felt it dragged often.  I found it tough to get into in the first third, and then once I got into the book, I found it tough to stay in it.  I just didn’t find it all that interesting.  I got more engrossed in the last third, wanting to see which king was going to take a leading role.  But knowing this is a trilogy, I was prepared to be only partly satisfied.  I don’t think I’ll read more of this trilogy unless book club votes for the rest of the series.  It’s just a little too much fantasy politics for me.