Eirelan

I just received this ARC that I won from Firstreads. This size is a bit daunting at over 700 pgs but I'm not one to shy away from a challenge. Hopefully I will be writing the review for this soon.

Synopsis

Eirelan is a dramatic saga of a people struggling to survive against great odds. The Province of the Twenty Clans, founded on the shores of Lough Ennell in Ireland, is about to celebrate its millennial year. As this milestone year approaches, the Province and its Celtic allies in Cornwall, Wales, Scotland and Brittany are threatened by an ever-colder climate overspreading Europe and by determined, powerful enemies on land and sea. The fight to defend the Province and its allies is led by Conor Laigain, a poet who dreams of peace and a hilltop cabin; his sister Fethnaid, an archer fighting in the Line of Bows who comes to realize that old ideas must change if the Province is to survive; Conor’s fiancée Mairin Fotharta, a warship captain in the Province’s naval squadron whose sleep is plagued by nightmares of a brutal childhood; and his towering Uncle Padraic, general of the army since the death of Conor’s legendary father Domnall. This is a story of human beings fighting for the right to live and enjoy the beauty of the world as they see it. When a great battle between the armies of the Province and the Ghaoth Aduiadh carpets a lovely meadow with thousands of dead and dying, Conor’s mother Liadan tries to console herself with words written by her father-in-law, philosopher Uinseann Laigain: “We must be content with life and love and the beauty of the earth. All the rest is dust in the wind."