Customer Reviews

Isle of Destiny

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3 star:		(1)
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The story is awesome. It is a fast-paced work of fantasy/fiction that keeps you wanting more when it is finished. This is the first book that I read by this author and I highly recommend it to all age groups.

This was a refreshing read on ancient Celtic lore. I knew that the cast of characters had been written about many times before with different names from many other authors, including the renowned Morgan Llywelyn. However, that being said, one can only read and reread Ms. Llywelyn's books so many times before they begin to hunger for a different perspective. This book adeptly delivers that! Although, the beginning of the novel moves rather slowly it quickly gains momentum in the character conflicts of Sentanta & Cormac, Queen Meave & King Conchobar, the druids Cathbad & Calatin and many more.

Ancient Ireland itself is a mystical, magical place and its inhabitants are no less interesting in this book. It actually was a spellbinding tale I had a hard time putting down many nights! I've read everything I can find in this genre of historical fiction/fantasy and this is one of the best I've read in a long time.

Authors that write any type of fiction must learn to draw their readers in and hold them there for the entire duration of the novel and Kenneth Flint has managed to do this very skillfully. I will seek out other novels of his and read them! If you like/love Morgan Llywelyn's Celtic novels of Ireland, you will also greatly enjoy this author's original take on the subject.

I would call ISLE OF DESTINY a work of historical fiction more than fantasy, although there are fantastic elements to the plot. But the "historical" part of this book seems contrary to much of what is considered accepted Celtic mythology. Flint gives well-known Celtic characters such as Sentanta (Cuchulain), Meave, Conor MacNessa, and Fergus MacRoy drastically different roles than do most of the ancient Celtic tales. These characterizations are in stark contrast to those of scholarly research or even of an author like Morgan Llewelyn, the widely acclaimed Queen of the Celtic historical/fantasy novel. This book is worth reading for a different perspective, but there are much better tellings of this same tale to be found elsewhere (especially Ms. Llywelyn's works).