Another mythology book done and dusted, and I'm already starting to feel myth fatigued. But we plow on regardless. And what kind of folklore does the Emerald Isle offer up? Whereas the Japanese stories all launch with a beautiful daughter, the Irish ones commonly begin with a beautiful son, or comely male youth. It's certainly a strange one, for a culture to place male beauty over female, but let's go with it. The tales are fairytale-like in nature, with the classic mystical trio of happenings in every interaction and plot point. This makes for frustrating reading, especially when whole swathes of the text are the same for each repetition. For instance, a protagonist will meet three characters on the road, one after the other, each offering a different boon. Or a hero will be challenged to defeat a foe and his army, three times, or engage in combat with a hag's three sons, always with the same outcome.
Thematically, the stories range from whimsical dealings with leprechauns, to big rollocking epics like the legend of Fin MacCumhail. Many of the stories feel rather rambling and unfocused in nature, with characters with no previously established powers randomly turning themselves into animals. There also seems to be a very strong Greek influence, with the episode of Odysseus's escape from the cyclops cave repeated here across multiple stories, with barely a detail changed. This is less cultural influence and more straight up plagiarism in my opinion. Do the giants really need to have a single eye in the middle of their heads, for instance? Do the heroes need to escape by hiding under a sheep fleece? The quality of the various writers contributing to this tone are not all equal. James Stephens is significantly superior in his use of language, with some beautifully written stories. However, they were too little, too late at the end of the volume to raise the rating.
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