The Hounds of the Morrigan [Import] [Paperback]

Pat O'Shea (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Puffin; New Ed edition (1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140322078
• ISBN-13: 978-0140322071
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,410,075 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book!, April 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hounds of the Morrigan (Mass Market Paperback)

I first read The Hounds Of The Morrigan in elementary school. Recently while at the library, it caught my eye again, almost like Pidge in the story. This is a wonderful novel - the characters are as alive as any people I've met, the setting is amazing, and, especially for a childrens book, the plots and subplots are intricate and complex. But fascinating - it's almost hypnotic - this is the only book I have ever seriously not been physically able to put down while reading it. Anybody looking for (I mean anybody, from 10 to much older) a really good fantasy and the quest you wished for devoutly as a child, a crash course in Irish mythology, and the kind of book will probably never come along again - read this book. It's well worth it. I wish Pat O'Shea would write another book like this - perhaps someday she will. Until then, read this one and hope. Come on, Pidge and Briget are waiting!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sigh, May 16, 2003

By 

Katherine Lothlorien (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hounds of the Morrigan (Paperback)

This is a masterpiece.
Look, I can rave about as many books as I read (and I will) but in the end, this book is my very favourite. It took ten years to write and is, quite frankly, brilliant.
It has (almost) everything that recommends a book to me. Warm, endearing protagonists (Pidge and Brigit are two of the most delightful heroes to grace children's literature), truly threatening bad guys, humour, suspense, scary bits, happy bits, bits that make your scalp tingle, and bits that make your heart sing. It's about friendship, and love, and courage, and good versus evil. It's about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. It's ostensibly a children's story, but is strengthened by some challenging concepts. Its length, which would normally be limiting, merely prolongs the absolute delight to be found in this book. The plot is engrossing, although slow moving to start off with and references to Irish mythology lend an air of familiarity to the story.
The true strength of the book though, lies in its characters. Everyone in this book has a story. Every character is fully dimensional. You can picture Puddeneen having his life made cheerfully miserable by Miss Fancy just as strongly as you can picture Brigit growing into a vibrant, intelligent young woman and Puddeneen is a talking frog. That is how well O'Shea does her job.
I could never understand why 'His Dark Materials' etc were any more popular than this truly marvellous book. I recommend it above all others. It's beautiful.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real magical fantasy., November 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hounds of the Morrigan (Mass Market Paperback)

Some books stretch the bounds of credulity with unexplained magical feats, but with this book I just didn't care; it makes no pretensions to be other than what it is - a children's fairy story, where anything can and does happen; monsters, giants, shapeshifters, witches, magic, talking animals - this book has the lot. It made me want to read it out loud to my grand-daughter, if it wasn't so long! It has that (now) outdated 'story-book' delivery to it that is somehow very appropriate to the plot and characters; short, descriptive sentences without waffle or padding convey the gist of the story using exactly the right words and phraseology - no wading through paragraphs of tortuous description. Brigit steals the show with her feisty 'I can do anything and I'm not afraid of YOU' attitude and the other characterisations are so good, you can 'see' each one in your mind's eye. Ideal material for a film, but I fear that Terry Gilliam is the only one good enough to do it justice. I loved it - read it with a child's open mind and you will too - a real joy!