The Prize in the Game by Jo Walton. This is an absolutely dreadful book to read on an airplane. It's a very engrossing book, and the characters have a decidedly non-modern worldview, meaning that every time a stewardess stopped to ask if I wanted water or snacks, I had a moment or two of complete disorientation. That's pretty high praise, actually.

This is a prequel of sorts to The King's Peace and The King's Name, telling the story of Elenn (who becomes the Guenivere-analogue in the other books), Black Darag (an off-stage presence in the other story, and the Cuchulain-analogue in this story), and Conal Fishface, who probably has a specific analogue in myth, but who I got stuck thinking of as the mad Irishman from Braveheart. Yeah, I'm a cretin.

As with the previous books, it's not exactly a re-telling of existing myth, but there are clear parallels. The first two books are the Arthur legends re-told with different characters and a new ending, while this is recognizable even to me as a version of the Irish epic Táin Bó Cúalnge, or "The Cattle-raid of Cooley." The original can be found here, both in English and the original Irish.

The story is told from four different points of view, cycling chapter by chapter between Conal, Elenn, Emer (Elenn's sister, who falls in love with Conal), and Ferdia (a friend and foster-brother of Darag and Conal). Conal and Darag are rivals for a kingship, and the story follows their struggles in attempting to win the throne, and the relationship between them, the women, and Elenn and Emer's thoroughly awful mother.

I think I like this book even better than the others. The narrative is much more engaging than the looking-back-from-years-later tone of Sulien's narration, which necessarily undercuts some of the suspense in the other books. The story here is in the more common tight third person, where you see the story as it happens, through the eyes of one character at a time. It does a much better job of putting you into the head of the character at that particular moment, which in turn makes this an awful book to read on a plane.

I have a few minor quibbles with the characters who appear in the other books-- Conal, in particular, seems like a much different person. But then, we know that there's tragedy in his future before he makes those appearances, so it's probably not that surprising. And the story here is terrific, with all the characters being very well drawn.

I highly recommend this book, and not just because it's dedicated to my wife. It's a terrific read, and a very different take on Celtic mythology. Just don't take it with you if you're flying to Vegas.

(Originally posted on The Library of Babel.)