(i)Roan: The Tales Of Conor Archer by E. R. Barr(/i)
This book interlaces Celtic and Native Mythology, ancient legends and the current coming of age of a seventeen-year-old boy-to-man beautifully. E.R. Barr makes Irish American Conor Arche an instant character of intrigue that you can not help but root for as he returns to Tinker’s Grove, Wisconsin. A place of family history and lives past that his mother asks Conor to return to before she passes away.
But before Conors mother sends him to begin unravelling the past and his role in it, he is bitten by a shapeshifter and becomes very ill. When he arrives in Tinker’s Grove his Aunt Emily takes him to the Monastery where one of the leaders knows the secrets of Conors illness, and the cure. This begins him down a path of discovery about the ‘Tinkers’, and the offspring called ‘The dark ones’ that the Tinkers cared for and raised. Conor begins to physically be changed, a transformation into something other worldy, not human. The people begin to see him as the fulfillment of prophecy, a savior that will save them from the evil that has haunted their ancestors for generations to the present. In a battle with a primeval force that id rising again, Conor is the last chance for not just the local folks, but humanity itself.
It is a classic novel of good versus evil, with your typical evil nemesis, the rich and powerful, evil scientists pitted against the forces of good. Mr. Barr mingles legends of the local natives with Celtic lore extremely well, forming an intriguing storyline that is very captivating. The addition of new age technologies, and advances in science to the age-old myths from time past adds a key twist to what was always accepted, or unexplained by the people of the past.
Conor struggles with his place in all this, but with the help of his friends they must stir the powers of land and myth to rise once again to life. The past, present, and future all are part of Conors choices, he must accept his place, in a battle that has gone on for centuries that has the future of the world hanging in the balance.
I really liked the Mythology and folklore that Barr intermingles to build his story around. Either one, native Mythology or Celtic folklore in and of themselves is a very interesting subject. Mixing the two together would be an extremely difficult tasks for must writer's, but E.B does it with deft confidence, born of someone whose own roots have been fed and nurtured around them. The fictional town of Tinker's Grove is wonderfully detailed, and a vivid, living color picture of it is easily conjured in the readers mind. The world building, and creatures are wonderfully well developed and descriptive.
It is a very long novel, and at times 'wordy' and a bit dragged out. Sometimes there can be an over abundance of detail, BUT I did not find that any of this took away from my overall enjoyment of the book. And, in reality, 'wordy' and drawn out to me, might be perfectly characterized and seamless to another. No book can be perfection to all
.Final verdict: I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was captivating, and the true test for myself on anything I read is...do I want to turn the page? Answer...yes, yes you will want to!
I give this book a (b)5 out of 5(/b) rating because it held my attention from beginning to end, had excellent plot and storyline development and the characters where well thought out and easily related to. There was little to no grammatical issues that I found and the few "issues" I had were more of a personal preference than a fault with the writing.
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