Taliesin

[watervole]

I'm currently reading 'Taliesin' by Stephen Lawhead. I feel it's a good book and well written, but for some reason, it isn't grabbing me. I'm about a hundred pages in and wondering whether to continue or not.

I've identified one thing that I don't like. All the characters talk in 'heroic' mode, they never use any contractions in their speech.

I think the occasional very heavy dollops of descriptive text may not be helping either. (I tend to like my descriptive text woven more into the story)

Can anyone think of other reasons why this book is failing for me?

Have you read it? Would you recommend that I continue with it or not?

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Well, apart from it being one of those books which makes professional Celticists spit nails?
Try Patricia Finney, A Shadow of Gulls or Evangeline Walton's retellings of the Mabinogi instead, of you haven't already red them.

[megamole.livejournal.com]

It gets quite Christian.

Also, most of the heroic people are the Atlanteans. As soon as they do an Elendil, it gets more interesting.

I found it worthwhile and rewarding.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

The Celtic culture felt a little off-beat (too wealthy perhaps), but I'm not knowledgeable enough to identify for certain where it's wrong.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I don't like Lawhead's strong Christian biases, and I think the heavyhanded Christian subtext (or text in many cases) gets more clunky and central as the series goes on. The book was first published by a Christian publisher, though I'm not sure who's publishing it over here. It's clearly marked "Christian Fiction" in the US. I don't have a problem with Christianity or Christians, but it's not my path and if I have it in my fiction, I like it with a heavy dose of alleogry a la CS Lewis. :)

[cuddles-batcave.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with telynor.

I went through a phase of buying just about every variant of the Arthurian myth including Lawhead's trilogy, which still sits in my bookshelves. I found the concept of the Atlantean background just a bit too 'out there' and I never got past the first couple of chapters of the second book (Merlin).

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love this book. Admittedly, I first read it as a preteen, and it was one of my first encounters with retellings of stories with roots in Celtic myth (I don't like the rest of the series nearly as much as I like this book)--Lawhead is definitely doing his own thing with it, but I like what he does.

I can see the "heroic mode" dialogue getting to you, though. I wonder, too...I'm not sure how far into the book you are, but perhaps the Atlantis worldbuilding isn't grabbing you? I suspect that if I reread it now, I might find it lacking a bit.

That said, I do recommend that you finish it, if only because there are some lovely scenes later on, and a romance that I found beautiful rather than cloying (I'm not a romantic person, in general).

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Your second point is a good one. I always did like Taliesin himself much more than Charis and company, and the interactions later in the book are the real core of interest (even if I do rather love the bull-fighting sequences).

Um..

[djelibeybi-meg.livejournal.com]

I know I've read this book - and I can remember nothing about it apart from the title and author. Whilst there are *many* books I've read and re-read then only vaguely realised I've read them before, this one is a complete blank.

I'm sure I had a point, but it escapes me.

[kerravonsen]

For me, it falls into the class of "too long, too big, too slow". I did start it, but like you, I found it heavy going.

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed Taliesin and the follow-up books, though the last one or two were much less satisfying. I was able to ignore the Christian aspects of the text far more than I can ignore the allegorical stuff from CS Lewis; I like Lewis but I detest his (to me underhand) Christian message.[1]

I enjoyed Lawhead's Song of Albion books more than his retelling of the Arthur myths.


[1] I don't have a problem with Christianity (or indeed other religions), but I don't like it being presented in that type of way.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I find I can cope with Lewis's allegory better than Lawhead's direct revelations from god. When I found that bit, that was when I decided to give up.

I'm fine with Christian characters, but I object to the Christian god being presented as a real character in a fantasty novel.

I think the reason I'm fine with allegory is that I view all religion as myth in any case - presenting a variation on the myth is fine by me.

[winterbadger]

I enjoyed Lawhead's Song of Albion books more than his retelling of the Arthur myths.

Agreed. Somehow I thought they were written earlier, but I see from Wikipedia they were actually written partway through the Pendragon cycle. And I don't think I ever read more than Taliesin from the Pendragon series. I must just have encountered them first.