Reviews

Hound

The Alien Online Review: March 2nd 2004

Green presents a tale of valour, love, honour and friendship; a stirring, exciting, cathartic story of the life of a mythical hero whose deeds live on after him, and whose exploits will, with a little help from the likes of Hound continue to enthrall generation after generation of eager readers. Definitely recommended.....

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Guardian Review: September 13th 2003

Conor, Great King of Ulster, rules a kingdom which can be crossed in four days, in an age when it takes a galloping messenger three months to ride from the Imperial City to the edges of the Roman empire. Conor's world is one where men fight, women fight, bards make songs, druids prophesy and slaves do all the work.

On to its rocky beaches is washed Sigmund, German warrior, Roman hostage and possibly one-time lover of the Roman emperor Tiberius. Events in Ulster being defined mostly by prophecy, Sigmund ends up as charioteer to the boy Cuchullain, hound of Cullan, a hero sired by a God who abducted his mother on her wedding day.

Green pulls off the difficult trick of bringing something new to a retelling of the Táin while keeping the spirit of the original. Tightly written, oddly touching and with a strong sense of history as wellas myth, Hound makes for an impressive first novel.

George Green
Dept of English and Creative Writing
A30b Bowland College
Lancaster University
01524 594173

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