Book Review: The Fair in Emain Macha

Moving from de Lint's workin the 80s into the 90s began with his entries for The Dungeon series, and then continued into The Fair in Emain Macha, which works as a spin-off of Arthurian legend.

The novella (the version I read included the Fritz Leiber story "Ill met in Lankhmar" on the flip side), follows Colom, the last member of an Irish tribe who has returned home after years of serving under King Arthur.  The story benefits from a basic understanding of the story of King Arthur, but doesn't require it, and is best described as mythic or epic fantasy adventure, with both a little romance and magic thrown in (Merlin is a supporting character).

At 104 pages the story moves along at an excellent pace, and give a intriguing look at de Lint's version of the Druid faith, as well as a dash of Viking mythology as well.

As I'm mostly familiar with de Lint through his Urban Fantasy stories, this was fun change and well worth the read.