The Princes of Ireland (The Dublin Saga #1)

If you have enjoyed reading any other Rutherfurd books, you will enjoy this one too.

Rutherfurd has refined his writing style a bit in later books, but this one employs the same fundamental type of style, substance and format as his later works.

If you’ve never read a Rutherford novel before, I might suggest you start with one of his later ones, such as London, Paris or New York, unless you have a particular interest in Irish history. If so, you will not be disappointed with The Princes of Ireland. I only recommend considering later works for the simple reason that, as I said, he has improved his writing style a bit over time. But that’s not to disparage this wonderful work. All his books that I’ve read (and I’ve read most, but not quite all) are excellent. But each has shown an incremental improvement in his writing style and sophistication, which is probably to be expected.

If you are not familiar with Rutherford or historical fiction in general, these kinds of novels place fictional characters in a historical setting. When done well, as Rutherford does so very well, all historical events, places, scenery and other elements are carefully and precisely rendered to the best ability as to what is currently understood or believed by historians of the that particular time. Only the main characters, the specifics of their situation and how they react to the events of that time are fictionalized. So it is a fun way to learn about real history.

What makes Rutherford unique among other historical fiction writers is the way he follows many generations of multiple family trees across a very long timeline of history … in some novels starting in pre-history, e.g. as far back as the end of the ice age. Others start only a few hundred years ago (particularly, New York.) The Princes starts in-between those times … quite a few centuries back, but well after early civilization & royal hierarchy was already established in Ireland.

It’s a wonderful, educational and very enjoyable read. I am now about to purchase the second book in this Princes series. And can’t wait for Rutherford’s next book!!!

I read this wonderful novel and finished just as I left for a 5 week cruise in the North Atlantic and Scandinavian countries.
Princes of Ireland is a wonderful read that takes the reader from the ice age on thru many generations of clans. While entertaining the reader it is also teaching history, clan politics, religion and even some geography all while one is reading for pleasure. If that is not great enough to receive from a single book but for me, two weeks later to find myself standing in the ruins of the Glendalough Monastery looking up at the round tower, both of which was so prevalent in this novel there in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland. It was a great experience, my first time in Ireland made all the greater by this well written and lovely book.
I then read Rutherfords London and have New York waiting on the shelf.

I’ve read other books by this author before, and while I really enjoy the stories and following the history, I am not the biggest fan of his writing style. He uses the same words and descriptions over and over and over again to the point where I really feel like he should invest in a thesaurus. Additionally, I feel like I’m being beaten over the head with painfully obvious and predictable details. I’ve read three sagas of his so far, but I think this was the last of his books for me. It’s just too long of a commitment to be rolling my eyes every other paragraph.

Really this book is a series of novellas with major characters being descended from characters in prior stories; an authorial device which charmed me. I read this book chiefly because I wanted to get a better feel for early Irish history and I was not disappointed. Some of the other reviewers seemed to feel that the story was not enough of a page-turner and for me that was just fine. I enjoyed the fact that the author was giving historical context. I also enjoyed fact that the author was describing peoples’ lives as having both good and bad things happen. Another author might have wanted to stress the horrific aspects in an effort to create “suspense”. The story didn’t need that and neither did I.

This book, volume 1 of a duet, has a good story line from the days of early Ireland up to the early Tudor times, incorporating lots of history. Mr. Rutherford does a fine job of interpreting history, inventing characters, and incorporating them into what he and scholars believe to be accurate. This works well until the early Tudor times, when, for me, the fictional parts of the story become less probable. The book does make clear the complex interplay of native Irish, old English settlers, clans, the Church, and changing politics and religious practices blowing in from England and Rome. All in all, I liked Rutherford’s 2 volumes better than most other authors’ series on Irish history up to WWI. For the early 20th century troubles and the establishment of the Irish free state, I like Llywelyn’s “1916” and narrative histories. In the 20th century, Irish literature is a treat and very informative, from Joyce’s “Ulysses” to the novels of Roddy Doyle and the poems of Seamus Heaney. I also recommend Llywelyn’s novel “Bard” for its illumination of old Irish myths.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member