Customer Reviews

Yearwood (Finnbranch volume 1)

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

 

 

Yearwood is an unexpected book. On the one hand, it is full of half-familiar, half-remembered names from Celtic and Gaelic lore, old themes of selkies ("selchies"), speaking crows (think of the Northern Ravens), islands in the seas and other witcheries. For me the cadence took some getting used to, although 20-odd years ago when I read more of the older fantasies and original materials it would not have seemed so odd. The wounded hero, Finn, is not weak, but a mixture of ignorant and arrogant, the way youth and beauty can and should be. I think it is a very good book, but it is not fast and easy going, and it is not just the same old same old rehash of Americanized pop pseudo-Celtic themes. I am looking forward to reading Undersea and Winterking also. If you liked this melange of familiar yet not quite the same, you might like Tad Williams' To Green Angel Tower.

I thought this was a good book. Why the heck is it out of print? I think most of the fantasy genre is really crappy formula written. Everything since Tolkein has the same Tolkeinish plot, except Yearwood, which is not so much an epic about fantasy and killing the great evil plague. It was about a young boy coming of age in a dark time. Can't wait to read the other two books.

This has been my favorite book since it first came out in the early 80's. I love Hazel's writing style, and the fact that it wasn't the typical fantasy crap. Finn is a very sympathetic character in that many people around him know who he is and what he's supposed to do, but no one will ever give him any straight answers. Because he is young and sometimes haughty and angry, things that seem plain to the reader still go right over his head. Alot of the mysteries Yearwood leaves you with are answered in the second book of The Finnbranch, Undersea. But then Undersea leaves you with more. The third book, Winterking, answers some of those, but is altogether very different from the first two. In fact, Finn is not even a major character. It took a few readings of Undersea and Winterking for me to unravel things. This would frustrate the hell out of many readers, I understand. Like I said, I love Hazel's writing.........

Hazel doesn't seem to publish anymore. I think he may still be teaching. I've read everything I could possibly find by him, but unfortunately, it's not much.

I agree with the first reviewer: this book is excellent. Very dark, descriptive but not too wordy (for those of you who couldn't stand Peake), not formulaic at all. Makes you stop and think, makes you stop and feel gloomy, but leaves you satisfied, wanting more. (Keep some sugar handy in case the gloom gets to your head and you need to perk up, though.)

About a "boy coming of age in a dark time" alright! :) Buy it, if you can get your hands on it; disregard the terrible paperback cover you may see at some used bookstores. You can tell Hazel graduated from Yale. The guy's a genius.

I am a Welsh/British/Celtic mythology nut, and I LOVE stuff like that. So when i saw this book! I went nuts. I couldn't find it at the bookstore, so I got it from the library (thankfully) Here's what I thought: I HATED IT!!! The character, Finn (Herwad, whatever) had no personality at all. The plot was unsure of itself. The other characters were wanting. When I first read the part about the talking crows, I thought it would be fun and fantasy-ish, but instead it was boring. I know that when you write stuff like this, you need to stay within the boundaries, but not much is known about this stuff, so Mr. Hazel could have made it better. I had to pull through the rest of the book. Finn was kinda dumba nd weak-minded, to me. That's just my opinion. The whole story seemed dark and foreboding, and it was hard to follow. I will definately look for other books. I am SO glad I did not buy this book. If you're looking for GOOD stuff, read/buy _The Mists of Avalon_ by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It changes Celtic mythology as we know it a bit, but stays within the boundaries. It's really good, and it follows the Arthruian legend rather well. Though this book did not satisfy me, I may look for other Paul Hazel works, because if he wrote a bit more cheerfully, the books would be magnificent. I think he should try for other books, and don't get me wrong, some parts of the book were okay, and I DO NOT blame the author.