Customer Reviews

The White Raven

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Diana Paxson writes so eloquently of Branwen's story against the backdrop of Tristan and Isault's. Her presentation of Branwen's sacrifices in the face of Isault and Tristan's somewhat selfish love affair made compelling reading! Far from being a soft love story, Paxson's tale gives a fascinating account of relationships, unrequited love and selfless/selfish ambitions. I have read this years ago and still do re-read it occasionally...and the magic is still there! Highly recommended.

The White Raven is the classic love story of Tristan and Isolde, but it is told by someone who was slightly outside of the story. Her name is Branwen and she is Isolde's (spelled differently in the book: Esseilte) cousin and best friend and they were raised as sisters.

As the author points out in her ending authors note Branwen is essential to this love story. Esseilte is married to Tristan's (in this novel Drustan) uncle, the high king of Cornwall. But on the voyage from Ireland to Cornwall Esseilte and Drustan manage to drink a love potion accidentally and are forever entwined. (In this version Esseilte was trying to poison Drustan and herself because he killed her uncle, Branwen's father.) Anyway, the point is, none of it would have worked without Branwen to stand guard and make us excuses for the sometimes absent queen of Cornwall. She even has to take her cousins place on her wedding night so that the king, Mark, will think he married a virgin.

Only something happens. Branwen and Mark don't just consummate his marriage to Esseilte, they make the great marriage and become in a sense the green king and queen-living representations of the land and its forever servants. Of course, Esseilte doesn't know that. Branwen is also in love with Mark, but he doesn't know it wasn't Esseilte on his wedding night. And Esseilte and Drustan can't keep their hands off each other.

The situation is a mess and Branwen has to clean it up again and again. So her point of view is interesting, but I feel a little cheated on the romance-you get nothing really of Tristan and Isolde in this book because Branwen is telling the story. Her own love life is interesting-but this is one of the greatest love stories of all time and we get so little of it in this book.

Other than the political mish-mash in this book is impossible to follow. Too many old names that are hard to remember and track. The genealogy charts are no help what so ever.

Basically, three stars. Nice writing, but I'm still looking for a really good retelling of the tale.

I first read this book quite a few years ago when it first came out. I loved it then but after moving several times I lost my copy. This book haunted me. I recently found another copy through Amazon and was able to read it again. Ms. Paxson's detailed imagery and entrancing writing style carry you along on currents of emotions. Her re-telling of the love story of Tristan and Iseult is ingenius. If you can find this book, get it! You won't regret it!

I don't keep fiction ordinarily; most of my books are how-tos or reference works. This is one of the exceptions...

A romance, a tragedy, a history...all rolled up into one. I enjoyed it immensely and would recommend it to anyone interested in Celtic lore and the transition from Pagan to Christian belief systems.

This is a must for any helpless romantics out there.
I believe its the best telling of this myth by far. There is not only one romance, but two..and both are told beautifully and with their own complications and twists.

Everyone should read it!! one of my favourite books of all time, and just simply stunning

Simply beautiful.
no other version ends it better... i dislike the movie ending, and many other endings dont have such a powerdul impact and leave me upset.




it's a must readdd for lovers of this tale!!!




**Spoilers about the beautiful ending**
i love how isolde (( named Esseilte in this book))
dies after finding tristan (( named drunstan in this book)) dead. It shows how deep their love was for each other. Although Drunstan remarried another woman, he never loved the other woman and when severely wounded called for Esseilte to come back to him. His wife, also name Essilte, lies to him about what colour the sails of the boat are ((indicating whether essielte of ireland (his true love) has agreed to come to him)) his wife is jelous of tristans love for essilte so she lies to him about the colour of the sails, and he dies of dispiar...she dies once she finds him dead. and this version goes on to discribe them being burried together and even a glimpse of them as spirits together.
***

I absolutely loved this book. I really couldn't put it down. I felt like I WAS Branwen. I love mythology, but I didn't feel like I was reading a myth. A beautiful story!

Anyone who believes this book to be about the romance of Trystan and Iseult has missed the point of this book entirely. The legend only provides the base for the events in the story. The real heroine in the book is Branwen who growns from maidenhood to adulthood with Iseult and learns to tap into the power of the Goddess. The book in itself is good, but not for its Arthurian content. Some scenes of pagan worship may disturb the quesy reader.

The real shame about this book is that the Tristan and Iseult myth in itself is amazing. Unfortunatly, Brissen, as Paxton's narrator, comes off as too heavy-handed to be sympathetic, and Tristan and Iseult (names respelled, of course) are no more than empty stereotypes at times. The emotional impact of the myth is lost in this clunky retelling.