Hoewel het begin van het boek mij niet veel deed, was het einde een stuk beter.

Zeker de vele malen beschreven seks maakte diverse maakten dat ik dit boek als pulp wou wegleggen, maar ben toch wel blij dat ik doorgezet heb.

Joanna leeft in het puriteinse Ierland van na de Apocalypse. Zij wordt door haar vader uitgehuwelijkt aan de varkenshoeder Muldooney. Zij ontvlucht het huis van Muldooney en komt terecht in de verboden Gloeilanden. Achtervolgt door haar vader en de varkenshouder komt zij via een scheur in het Tijdgordijn terecht in het mythologische Ierland van weleer. Flynn, haar minnaar gaat haar achterna, geholpen door de mutant Portan en zijn vriend Amairgen.

In het oude Ierland heeft de adel nog warm dierenbloed in de aderen en is Cormac, heer der wolven, de rechtmatige koning van de Wolflijn, in een dodelijke strijd verwikkeld met koningin Mab de Bedwelmende, die ooit zijn geliefde was.
Haar sullige zoon Eochaid, met leeuwenbloed, zit ten onrechte op de troon van Tara en bovendien wordt Mab bijgestaan door akelig sterke krachten uit het donkere Ierland, zoals de Erlkoning en zijn lugubere helpsters: Morrigan, Macha en Blaaskraai.

Maar ook Cormac, die door Joanna wordt bevrijd uit de burcht der Schaduwen, staat niet alleen. De meeste bloedlijnen - zoals de strijdrossen, de adelaars en de panters - zijn hem trouw. Zo ook de Cruithin en de duistere sidh. Maar zijn krachtigste bondgenoot is Joanna, al kan ze het zelf maar nauwelijks geloven. Zij krijgt van Cormac de magische Nachtmantel, die is geweven van de nachtmerries van de legendarische koningin Dierdriu. Het is de toverkracht van deze mantel waarvan veel, zo niet alles, afhangt... ( )

Time has passed since The Great Devastation which accompanied the visit of The Apocalypse to the blue and green misty isle that is the jewel of the Western World.

In Tugaim Joanna Grady and her family eke out a spartan exisitance, determined not to succumb to the old ways which led to the downfall of the Letheans - humans whose fraility and decadence had brought the Apocalypse to Ireland all those years ago.

Remnants of the lives of the Letheans linger on, as do reminders of the devastation: The Glowing Lands that border Flynn O' Connors home are forbidden territory to all but the keepers of the secret...The Gealtacht. High on a neighbouring hill, houses the mutants unfortunate victims of a terrifying past. Then there are stories of machines which fle or helped a man plough a field in a matter of hours. But Flynn and Joanna are united in their love for an even more remote time,recorded in ancient Lethean book that the O'Connors hide from prying eyes: an ancient Ireland of myth and magic, of kings and queens, witches and giants. It is only when Joanna is threatened with conjoining with Mulrroney,, an ignorant pig farmer, that the truth of the legends is proven at the centre of the Glowing Lands lies the gateway to the kingdom of Corma Mac Airt, Cormac Starrog.The Wolfking. Flynn is devastated by the disappearance of his lover, he vows to find a way to find her and bring her back - if that is possible. Accompanied by Amairgen, Leader of the Keepers, Flynn finds himself at the gates of the Bright Palace, home of the rightful king. But an usurper sits in the Sun Chamber, The Wolfking is in exile. There is no sign of the errant Joanna for she has entered the Wolfkings lair and found herself a reluctant ally in the fight to regain the throne. And there are other contenders for the kingdom of Tara, not least of which is the Erl King, a monstrous figure whose terrifying reputation casts a terrifying shadow across the land

This book is the first in the Wolfkings Trilogy is virtually a reworking of the third in the series 'Rebel Angel'.The remarkable similarity does not detract from the as rebel Angel was so enjoyable and the Wolfline princes are such attractive characters. ( )

This sounded like my perfect book about post-apocalyptic Ireland and a way to travel back into the mythological past and it was good but didn't grab me the way that I hoped it would.

A brief plot synopsis would be that Joanna Grady expects to be conjoined with Flynn O'Connor but her father has different ideas and matches her with a pig farmer. She runs to Flynn's home and decides to hide in the Glowing Lands, an area that has a reputation for danger, but she finds herself in a very different world. Flynn follows and tries to find her. In ancient Tara the Wolfking, Cormac, has been usurped and Joanna and Flynn become involved with the politics and the threat from the Morrigan; Erl-King and Miller.

There are some good things about this book. I loved the picture of post-apocalyptic Ireland and some of the things that Bridget Wood did with traditional Celtic Mythology but I did find it rather uneven in tone. There are some very dark adult scenes and then there are ones which I suppose she saw as light relief but I found the changes rather jarring. I see that there is a sequel and I might get around to reading it one day.

Edit - Re-read in 2018 and it was better than I remembered, not so uneven. Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind the first time I read this book ( )

A Celtic post-apocalyptic time-travel / fairy universe novel. Some truly creepy imagery. ( )

One of the best Celtic fantasy novels I've ever read. Not easy to find now, but worth it if you do.

Premise: A nuclear war has occurred and the world has reverted to an almost medieval order, both socially and technologically. There are fields one is not allowed to enter, called "the glowing lands" because they glow with radiation at night. The heroine must hide there, and finds that the borders between present and ancient Ireland have thinned, and she finds herself in the age of mythology, where the Wolfking still ruled and myths like the Erlking walked the lands. Riveting. Superb. Get this, you won't regret it. ( )