Review: The Children of Gods and Fighting Men

The Children of Gods and Fighting Men by Shauna Lawless
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I would normally round up from a 3.5, but that does not feel warranted in this case... This book should have been just up my alley and exactly what I would love to read during the month of March. I was left disappointed, however. It was obviously well-researched and written with passion for the subject matter, which is why I am rating it this high. But I had a few issues with the book that caused me to feel almost like I'd wasted my time reading it.
The book follows the journey of a descendant of the Tuatha De Danann as she is charged with spying on a new upstart king in medieval Ireland, Brian Boru. Fodla is unsure that she can complete her mission satisfactorily and must decide whether or not she can trust the "mortals" or not. The other point of view in the book comes from Gormflaith, one of the last two Formorians. She is the widow of a Viking king and wants to ensure her mortal son gains as much power as possible, but she must also avoid the notice of the descendants of the Tuatha De Danann, who are out to destroy any Formorians left in Ireland.
This sounds like it should be a great book--a mixture of Irish mythology and history--detailing the rise of Brian Boru and his dealings with the Viking settlers of Dublin. It just falls flat, however.
One of the problems I had with the book was the plot/pacing. The book moved sooooo slowly. It felt as though the reader was being led to an epic battle between the Vikings and the Irish, but it took 400 pages to get there. I got bored and needed more action. Long periods of time were completely skipped, and then things that shouldn't have mattered were described in--blandly bleak matter-of-fact--detail. For the most part it felt like the majority of the book was spent with Fodla wringing her hands because she was forbidden to use her magic, and Gormflaith railing agains the fact that if she used her magic and exposed herself she would be discovered and killed. This took the element of "magic" pretty much out of the story. The addition of magic could have contributed an even more "epic" feeling, but it really could have been left out; it caused an almost distracting sense of incomplete world-building. If one is intimately familiar with Irish mythology then that might help, but it seemed to me that quite a few loose threads about the "history" of the Tuatha De Danann and Formorians were left hanging and could have contributed to a stronger plot and storyline, as well as a better understanding of where the characters were coming from. And once the story was over, the book left me feeling unsatisfied--I had read a over 400 pages and it felt like nothing had HAPPENED.
It also bothered me how the Vikings were supposed to feel like they were in direct opposition to the Irish, and yet they were referred to in terms that were completely Irish. If place-names like "Dublin" were replaced with the words used at the time, it would have felt a bit more accurate and authentic and would have emphasized the opposition between the two people. This was especially jarring when other place-names and terms were exclusively medieval Irish, as though the reader should already know about the Ui Neill, the geography and names of northern and Southern Ireland, or historical and mythological heroes like Cu Chulainn. Either things should have been elaborated on or left out. It was at best confusing and at worst alienating to the reader.
But my biggest issue with the book was the complete lack of character development. The characters of Fodla and Gormflaith did not grow or change at all throughout the 400 pages of the book. Fodla was incredibly and unbelievably naive for a woman who was over a century old, and her motives felt strange and hard to identify with. At times she was angry and resentful of her fellow members of the Tuatha De Danann, yet she followed their commands blindly, to the detriment of herself, her nephew, and her friends. By halfway through the book I was annoyed with her, and by the end I was just mad at her. Gormflaith was a bit better in that I understood her motivations for her decisions, but she still was hard to root for and her ruthless determination was described in a dispassionate way that didn't engender any emotion on the part of the reader.
This was a well-researched book on Irish history. But I struggled to root for or identify with the characters, I struggled to get into the story, and I felt a bit like I had wasted my time when I finished it. I don't think I will read the next book in the series, even though most of the storyline in this book was left unresolved.

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