Reviews

The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea

offtheedgeofthemap's review

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

scorpstar77's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

caughtbetweenpages's review

adventurous hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

An incredibly sweet fantasy middle grade. Pat O'Shea clearly knows and loves her Irish/Celtic folklore, because it was poured into every sentence of this book. Were the villains mustache twirly and the good guys squeaky-clean? Yes. Did the protagonists experience much character growth/change/agency, rather than being set up on a quest through Tir na nOg only to be spat back out to their home after the quest was complete? No. Do I care? Absolutely not! I had fun exploring the strange and wonderful land that O'Shea built out. I enjoyed meeting the little red fox, wandering through a ceilidh, sweets trading, escaping hounds by flying on a kite, all of it. This book felt extremely nostalgic, even though I'd only just read it for the first time, and had the vibes of a movie from the 80's a la Labyrinth or The Neverending Story. Very fun.

nicheinterests's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

maeveaurora's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

judetheunbeliever's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

alabiblioheck's review

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

5.0

brennaa's review

adventurous challenging inspiring fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

bookscoffeandacat's review

5.0

The story is about a 10-year-old boy named Pidge, who finds an ancient Celtic manuscript in a second-hand bookstore and releases an evil serpent that had been on one of the pages. He is approached by some rather odd people who seem to think that he and his 5-year-old sister Brigit are meant to destroy the serpent AND prevent the Goddess of Death and Destruction (The Morrigan) from obtaining the serpent and adding it's poison to her own (allowing her to....ummm... take over the world or something like that. I can't remember if the book ever specified what she would be able to do, but it would definitely be VERY BAD).

I really enjoyed the whole book. I loved the way the final chapter ended and I wish that it had been the very last thing left to be read in the book. Instead there was an epilogue tying up a loose end. In my opinion it was a rather odd epilogue and I didn't like ending the book on it. I DID like the glossary of Gaelic words, with pronounciations of some of the people and place names.

There wasn't a moment when I felt like the book had slipped into a lull - If I had the time I might well have read the thing straight through. I'm not certain if it was the book's fault or my own bad memory, but there were a few bits where some person from earlier in the book was mentioned and I couldn't place exactly who they were just by their name because there were so many characters.

I will probably read this again sometime. (a positive aspect of having one's memory go is being able to reread really good books that one has almost entirely forgotten the plot of)

megankass's review

2.0

Ugh, I hate reading old fashioned books told in the old fashioned style. You get a simplistic plot that would only work for children (fine, in and of itself), couched in dry, long-winded prose that could only be read by adults with a great attention span. Is it for kids or scholars? Make up your mind!