It can be hard reviewing book three in a series. Prospective readers have to have read the other two books in the series to get much from the review, and if you have read those, you probably already know whether to read the next installment. This review of The Land of the Living and the Dead will not give any spoilers for what has come before. Instead, I’ll assume you are entirely new to works of Shauna Lawless and aim to explain why you might want to pick up her Gael Song series. If you have read the earlier books, do read on to see why I insist that you keep on going!
Why Read The Land of the Living and the Dead?
The Gael Song series goes from strength to strength through each book. The story arc across the three is wonderful. It’s artfully crafted and rooted in Irish myth and history.
Many series feel like book one was where all the ideas were. Then, the events of continuing novels feel borne out of publisher interest rather than driven by a storytelling need. Land of the Living Dead is the sum of what went before it. Shauna Lawless has threaded strand after strand throughout her books, which are then woven together during the third book in the series. Incidental asides from early in the series, suddenly take on great significance in a masterclass of laying narrative foundations.
Better still, during book 3, you can see more threads being laid down. It’s easy to assume that fantasy series will be trilogies but Gael Song could run and run. The Gael Song books concern themselves with the rise and subsequent fall of King Brian Boru, capturing this major historical event in 3 volumes. Perhaps that’s all we’re going to get. Yet, Lawless leaves us with many unanswered questions, largely posed by the books’ mythological components. While the foot soldiers of Gael Song are mortal, and tied to historical events, many of its characters stand outside of time. For them, the story could run and run.
Though steeped in real-world history, Gael Song has a folklore element that makes its stories all the more evocative. The books invoke the “Tuatha Dé Danann,” the gods of Irish folklore, and pits the immortal descendants of the Tuatha Dé Danann, against their ancient foes the “Fomorians.”
History and Folklore – Webs within Webs
What makes the Gael Song novels so strong is the different levels and layers on which the characters and plotlines operate. The history of Ireland at the turn of the Millennium is fascinating, with not only Irish Kings vying for prominence but also the threat of Viking incursions from all parts of the British Isles and beyond.
Layered over that is the rise of Christianity, the pagan worship that the Vikings bring with them, and, of course, the Descendants of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorians themselves. This melting pot of cultures and religions, again, adds to the richness of the Gael Song saga.
The icing on the cake, however, is the novels’ personal interactions. The interplay between the Kingdoms of Ireland, the personalities and egos involved, and the alliance-by-marriage politics create an environment for all sorts of skulduggery and double-crosses, as well as acts of courage and loyalty. The Fomorians and the Descendants add yet another dimension to this political interplay – the Fomorians, and in particular Gormflaith, are the saga’s antagonists, making the Descendants nominally the good guys. Yet, the Descendants are not unified and some of the moments of true treachery throughout the books come from them. Many of the Descendants are far from heroic.
Throw in a smattering of god-like legends and magic, you have a series that stands out as one of the finest examples of historical fantasy. One filled with rich, rounded, and highly believable characters. While book 1, The Children of Gods and Fighting Men, was arguably quite slow, the build-up to the inferno that is The Land of the Living Dead, thoroughly justifies Shauna Lawless’ deep-rooted world-building. I can’t recommend these books highly enough.
If you would like to pick up a copy of The Land of the Living and the Dead, you can do so here, in the US, and here, in the UK. (Affiliate Links)
If you enjoyed this review, check out my other book reviews, here.
I received a copy of this book in order to write this review.
