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Via the sheep-farming landscapes of today's Wales and the Blitz-hit London of the 1940s, his novella dwells on 'the cyclical nature of atrocity' in swift prose that slips between its periods and levels with gravity and grace. The Independent Sheers makes his 20th-century setting sing but holds on to the otherworldliness of his source material... A spellbinding fable about male self-destructiveness and the effects of war on those who return home. Financial Times White Ravens and The Ninth Wave, the two first New Stories from the Mabinogion: It is hard to take on the giants of the past without being felled by them, but Celyn Jones and Sheers have done justice to the Mabinogion, and to themselves. The Times The most intriguing aspect of Sheers' take on the myth is the official sanction of mythology, through a government 'investing in superstition'. The use of the bizarre raven mission is a typical authorial technique for Sheers, combining the ancient with the contemporary, the real with the imagined. The Independent on Sunday (The New Review) White Ravens and The Ninth Wave, the two first New Stories from the Mabinogion: Seren has had the intriguing idea of asking prominent Welsh authors to 'reinvent' the [Mabinogion] stories [ - ]: the assignment has drawn both authors into fresh imaginative territory, without becoming entangled in what Alison, in Garner's The Owl Service, ruefully calls 'the complicated bit: all magic'.A" Saturday Guardian [the] core tale is framed by a gripping contemporary story [ - ] brilliantly absorbs the magical elements of the originalA" Saturday Guardian "a gripping tale of the unexpected that fuses Welsh myth and modern macabre into a superb, bewitching wholeA" Sunday Times this unsettling, resonant and fantastically strange tale is impossible to pin down. [ - ] the audacity of his vision is energizing, and his precise and elegant phrasing a joy.A" Daily Mail One of the strengths of Branwen is the matter-of-fact exposition of the most appalling atrocities, and Sheers has wisely chosen a similar understated style [ - ], and by using the device of the old man telling his story, he retains the essential nature of the medieval tale which would have been recited or read aloud.A" The Planet
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New Stories from the Mabinogion is an exciting series of contemporary novels by leading authors, reworking ancient Celtic myth cycles.The first two stories are published in October 2009. Authors so far commissioned are Owen Sheers, Niall Griffiths, Russell Celyn Jones and Gwyneth Lewis. The eleven stories in the Mabinogion are diverse medieval Welsh tales taken from two fourteenth-century manuscripts collating a much earlier oral tradition. They were first translated into English in the nineteenth century. They bring us Celtic mythology, a history of the Island of Britain seen through the eyes of medieval Wales, and include the first appearance in literature of King Arthur - but tell tales that stretch way beyond the boundaries of contemporary Wales. There is enchantment and shape-shifting, conflict, peacemaking, love, betrayal. A wife conjured out of flowers is punished for unfaithfulness by being turned into an owl,Arthur and his knights chase a magical wild boar and its piglets from Ireland, across south Wales to Cornwall, a prince changes places with the king of the underworld for a year - Each author has chosen a story to reinvent and retell for their own reasons and in their own way: creating fresh, contemporary tales which speak to us today, while tapping into a vigorous source of stories still flowing just beneath the surface of our culture. White Ravens by Owen Sheers is the first in the series and is based on the tale of Branwen, Daughter of Llyr, one of the most action-packed in the whole myth cycle. This 2009 retelling moves this bloodthirsty tale of Welsh/Irish power struggles and family tensions into the twenty-first century, but retains many of the bizarre and magical happenings of the original.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a little miracle of economy and power. You will read it in one go, and will be amazed at how many stories it enfolds, and by how they interlink, and by how vivid and transporting they are. Writers re-imagining myths is a business as old as myths themselves, and a common feature of contemporary publishing. Atwood, Byatt, Lawrence Norfolk, Carole Ann Duffy - we could go on. But nothing I have read by these luminaries in this field is as good as White Ravens. From Foot and Mouth to the Blitz to the Mabinogion - Owen Sheers draws a glittering thread of imaginative truth, pulled tight by the unteachable gift of good old fashioned (ancient-fashioned) story telling. And it has something, something very rare and clear, to say about the British Isles, too. Get it, read it, give it! You're in for a treat...
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A group of us reviewed this book. Opinion was polarized. The majority seemed to feel it was a little gem; a modern retelling of a Welsh myth in which extraordinary things happen - an intertwining of fiction with fact from the most recent century. A few others thought it was a clumsy attempt to fit a rich, ancient, fantastical myth to the present day; a short novel in which lots of characters and scenes are introduced, none of which are adequately expanded upon. P.S. It is a bit gory in a few places.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A modernisation of the Mabinogi tale 'Branwen, daughter of Llyr'. It has a strong start, the lamb butchering thread intrigued me immediately. As the story unfolded, however, I did begin to wonder if this novella was a handy outlet for Shears to make use of some of his surplus WWII research following on from his novel Resistance? The later stages of the book, set in Ireland, tried to include many magical aspects of the original tale but was not as convincing or compelling as earlier stages of the story.
The superlative image, the jealousy-fuelled, chillingly-brazen mutilation of Branwen's horse, is lifted straight from the original text. Shears was right not to tamper with this epic image; neither, though, may he take credit for it.
Is mentioning that he wrote this book in New York coffee shops is a little pretentious?
The superlative image, the jealousy-fuelled, chillingly-brazen mutilation of Branwen's horse, is lifted straight from the original text. Shears was right not to tamper with this epic image; neither, though, may he take credit for it.
Is mentioning that he wrote this book in New York coffee shops is a little pretentious?
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
White Ravens
I bought the book to take on holiday at Christmas. Afer reading the first line I was hooked and read it from front to back in one day. A thoroughly enjoyable read!
Published 18 months ago by numbumb
Perfection
Total perfection in language, construction. Interesting concept of taking ancient stories and extracting universal themes. I look forward to more from this series
Published on 20 May 2010 by Gossy
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