Stephanie Jane reviewed Yellow Sun by Stiofan O Nuallain
A good adventure story
4 stars
I was glad to be offered a review copy of Yellow Sun because, although I read a lot of historical fiction, it is rare for the time period to be set so far in the past. Nualláin's Ireland of 4000 years ago pre-dates, for example, Ilka Tampke's novel Skin by a good couple of millennia although I think readers who liked that book may well appreciate this one.
Nualláin has set his story on the cusp of an overwhelming and terrible sociological change as the discovery of how to smelt metal is brought to currently stone age communities. Human nature being what it is, this new 'magic' is grasped upon by men seeking wealth and power above anything else and clans with many generations of joint history suddenly find themselves torn apart, literally overnight, by greed. In Yellow Sun we follow the remnants of such clans as they flee from …
I was glad to be offered a review copy of Yellow Sun because, although I read a lot of historical fiction, it is rare for the time period to be set so far in the past. Nualláin's Ireland of 4000 years ago pre-dates, for example, Ilka Tampke's novel Skin by a good couple of millennia although I think readers who liked that book may well appreciate this one.
Nualláin has set his story on the cusp of an overwhelming and terrible sociological change as the discovery of how to smelt metal is brought to currently stone age communities. Human nature being what it is, this new 'magic' is grasped upon by men seeking wealth and power above anything else and clans with many generations of joint history suddenly find themselves torn apart, literally overnight, by greed. In Yellow Sun we follow the remnants of such clans as they flee from their ancestral homelands into the unknown. I appreciated the diversity of people we met throughout the book.
What was especially riveting for me in this story was Nualláin's detailed portrayals of stone age Irish landscapes and village settlements, as well as the information he imparts about daily life. We see typical clothes and housing, travel and survival, what foods are eaten and how they are prepared. In fact, I would have appreciated a recipe section at the end of this book because some of their food sounded delicious! The lead characters are fascinating for their similarities to present-day people and also their differences. There is a much stronger sense of self reliance and understanding of the natural world surrounding these people. Their relationships are geared towards providing for the whole community, not just their individual family groups.
As well as being interesting historically, Yellow Sun is a good adventure story. I enjoyed the tension of not knowing how our protagonists would cope with the challenges they had to face and was keen to keep reading to the end.