The second time I listened to this, I liked it much better. I often don't read the summary on the packaging of a book, so was taken by surprise the first time I listened, when a new story began, the first story having ended a bit tragically.
It turns out this is a collection of interconnected short stories touching on major events through Irish history. This edition is an abridgment--I usually prefer unabridged versions, and probably would with this one as well, but if you have a fondness for Ireland, I'm sure you'd enjoy this either way. ( )

I plan to reread this again over vacation, as a refresher before I start the second book in the series. ( )

Rutherfurd's Princes of Ireland opens with a lesson in geography, anthropology, and history. I am always learning something new with historical fiction, like the difference between overlords and feudal lords. Did you know that Celtic warriors rode their horses naked? Kissing each other's nipples is a show of forgiveness? Clans buried their warriors standing up, facing their enemies camp, to keep an eye on them? So many customs and traditions and that is not even getting into the politics of the country!
Although I kept making comparisons to Thomas Flanagan's Irish series, Rutherfurd's Ireland is much rowdier than Flanagan's epic tale. People stealing horses for animalistic (pun intended) pleasures was a head scratcher for me. I have heard the rumors of men with sheep, but horses? Mythology and rituals abound. As an example, the success of the season's harvest is dependent on the druid's blessing. All of these details are a vehicle for the clever entanglement of fact and fiction - details so interwoven it is hard to tease them apart.
My favorite part of the story was Rutherfurd's mastermind of the relationship between Margaret and Joan. Margaret's misconceptions and prejudices of Joan were skillful and plausible. It was like a medieval gossip rag. Here is another drama: the king's wish to divorce his Spanish wife for the love of another. The townspeople quarrel about who is in the right. ( )

Príncipes de Irlanda es un retrato inmejorable de la historia del país: desde la llegada de san Patricio a la isla pagana de Irlanda, la resistencia a la cristianización o el enfrentamiento con los vikingos, hasta los conflictos entre los príncipes de Irlanda y los reyes de Inglaterra.
Edward Rutherfurd nos enseña que para comprender la vida de un país es necesario conocer su historia; esa es la oportunidad que brinda esta novela a través de historias ficticias y personajes inventados. Un viaje imaginario a través de los siglos, con parada en los hechos más significativos del devenir de Irlanda, que se engarzan perfectamente a la ficción y que arribará, en este primer volumen de los dos concebidos por Rutherfurd, hasta el siglo XVI.

Excellent Irish history lesson ( )