A feminist retelling of The Morrigan, a celtic God of war, death and fate. I've never read anything related to The Morrigan before, and I'm definitely not caught up with Irish mythology, so this was a great insight into early Irish history.

This was a fast moving book packed with action, the years of The Morrigans life flew by. The book was brutal and bloody, I didn't hold back anything from the brutal nature of battles and war, nor did it hold back from the war women were used and abused.

I felt like I learned a lot, and I really enjoyed reading about her journey into what she eventually became.

Initially quite confusing, there are so many names throughout this book, and obviously none I'm familiar with. But I eventually let this go and just focused on the story as a whole. I loved the feminist feeling of this book, in a world dominated by men, The Morrigan still help the women. But she was learning too.

The Morrigan was fierce, brutal and unapologetically herself. This is great for anyone wishing to learn more about Irish history and mythology with a book full of female rage.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC of this book.

4.5 Stars

The Morrigan tells the story of the Battle Crow of the Tuath Dé. She held many names (Badb, Macha and Nemain) and played a role in many of the tales of ancient Ireland, but this book tells her story, rather than treating her as a side character.

Perfect for fans of feminist rage retellings, it gives voice to the women who have been forgotten, wronged and tossed aside. If you loved Savage Her Reply then this book is perfect for you. The book covers a long period of time, knitting together the mythological tales, from the arrival of the Tuath Dé, through to the story of Maev. Because of this long period covered, it does feel like the story moves on quickly from each part, maybe missing out on dealing with the consequences of people's actions a little.

The Morrigan is the constant through all these tales and I love the way Kim evolves her character as she learns from the humans around her. I adore Kim's writing style and was gripped by the story from the start to the end.

I devoured this feminist retelling of the Irish mythology of Morrigan, a shape shifting Goddess of war and prophecy. We see her rise with her kin the Tuatha Dé Danann in Ireland, and her eventual meeting with Queen Medb. Morrigan is a fully fleshed out, fiery character who has an almost insatiable lust for war and chaos. She's a magnetic character, one she I could easily see shaping and controlling the myths and stories that are told about her. I loved her fiery temperament and could easily understand why she was so full of rage.

The latter half of the book takes a different direction to one I was expecting, and Morrigan seems to take a bit of a backseat which I found slightly disappointing. There's lots of little stories that build on each other, expanding the lore (which was really interesting and certainly a bit different to the millions of Greek myth retellings around) however it felt a little directionless, and the timeline starts to jump forward quite a lot. As such I found my overall interest waning in the second half of the book.

Overall this is a different myth retellings that features the typical feminist rage type character that I've done to love in recent years. If you enjoyed books like Circe and Ariadne, I think you'd love this one too.

The Morrigan by Kim Curran is a captivating blend of mythology and modern storytelling. The story follows the fierce and complex character of The Morrigan through a vividly immersive world where gods and humans coexist. With well-crafted plot twists, rich character development, and thoughtful exploration of themes like power and self-discovery, this book is a must-read for fantasy and mythology enthusiasts. Highly recommended!

I went into this book with very little knowledge of Irish mythology and was absolutely captivated by the intricate tale of The Morrigan that I received. I loved how unapologetic this story is with a strong core of feminine rage running from start to finish. You find yourself screaming alongside our protag as she finds her place through moments of tenderness and triumph as well as times of sorrow and heartbreak.

This is a BEAUTIFUL fierce feminist retelling of the Morrigan, the goddess of war from Irish mythology. This became an instant favourite for me, I love mythology books and this knocked all my other favourites out of the water. She made the Morrigan so human and relatable. Perfection.

The Morrigan is an exciting and thought-provoking tale, brimming with mythological intrigue and emotional depth. Kim Curran has delivered a fantastic story that will captivate fans of fantasy and mythology alike. It's amazing how much the author has managed to fit into this book! Highly recommended!

As a lover of fantasy and mythology this book was absolutely perfect for me, and I am so thankful to have been given an ARC copy!!

There are dark themes in this book that may not be for everyone, but I personally felt they were explored really well, with phenomenal writing. The female rage and power that comes from the Morrigan herself is fantastic. I really enjoyed how the book encompasses so many stories and myths.

I would highly recommend this book for lovers of mythology, and for anyone looking for a feminist perspective on Irish myths.

The Morrigan tells the ‘true’ story of the mythical figure and goddess of Irish mythology and all the tales of bloodshed that follow her. I found The Morrigan an interesting look at womanhood and patriarchal expectations of both men and women across a long period of time. I also enjoyed the process of growth in Morrigan’s personality as she aged onwards and got involved in mortal conflicts.

I enjoyed Kim Curran’s writing style for this book, though it took a little while for me to get into it. The lyrical prose seemed to fit this kind of story. I didn’t notice pacing issues but this is more of a bunch of shorter stories woven together and so magical explanations for the passage of time made a lot of sense. Plus, I took would like to crawl into a cave and give nightmares to men that dared enter my domain, so I can relate hahaha!

Overall, a pretty good story. I really enjoyed the time reading it. I’d be interested in any other books that Kim Curran publishes.

Content Warnings:
Graphic: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Death of a Child, Sexual Assault, Rape (Off page but with descriptions), Misogyny, Death of a Parent, Gore, Violence, Murder, Blood, Death..
It's a Celtic mythology retelling that's decently accurate, I'm not sure what you expect other than like, every content warning 😅

Thank you Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This ran at a break-neck pace and left nothing room to breathe. So many characters, so many lives - but everything is just told to us in short snippets and barely anything is actually just shown. There's so much dialogue just of exposition and explaining constantly.

The characters where a mix, quite a few of them felt very flat honestly and despite that seemingly being intentional (Little time with characters, mostly only focusing on 1 or 2 aspects of each, etc), it kinda just blurred most of them together. The main character, The Morrigan, was good though. She was strong, powerful, stubborn, but had a good range of emotions still and was a really compelling main character! I just honestly wish we had more time for her to properly go through each scene though instead of quick snippets.

The pronunciation guide as well.. I'm quite heavily dyslexic, and while I've been learning Welsh that doesn't help with Irish too much haha. It's a fantastic guide, but it is *very* long. I read this in an ebook form and it was really frustrating having to keep going back to the guide and then reading through all of them again to try and find the 1 name I wanted. There's too many names to just remember, especially after the first "part" or so, and once you get closer to the end you're just not going to remember the new names' pronunciations. Imo it might have been better to keep the pronunciation note at the start, but then put the pronunciations when the names first come up in the book? Not perfect, but I'm sure there's a decent way to format that. Would be much easier to remember them and a lot easier to read!

I'm not Irish, and Welsh + Scottish mythology is more my wheelhouse but this book does seem to be faithful enough and certainly respectful obviously. The author is Irish and very clearly loves the tales of old and that comes through! It's certainly something that's absolutely needed in this current era of American fantasy attempting to take over and erase Celtic mythology in the worst of ways.
I just think that it was maybe trying to fit too many individual stories about her into the same book. I think there is too many duologies currently being made, but this might have benefitted from having more room to breathe.

Brilliant. A powerful and and interesting retelling of Irish mythology with a strongly feminist slant. The writing is blunt at times which suits The Morrigan.

I absolutely adored The Morrigan by Kim Curran. Just when I think I might have read enough myth retellings, The Morrigan reminds me why they can be so wonderful.

Based on Irish mythology, I particularly enjoyed the landscape, grey, rugged, yet green and bountiful.

I actually think feminist retellings are so rousing and important; dont get me wrong, the stories and characters are engaging, compelling and emotional - tears were shed. But some stories have been left in the hands of men for too long and this is just one example that asks us to consider The Morrigan from the female gaze and when we do, we are drawn into a story that shows us both the vulnerability of women through the ages, but their power too. These stories can ultimately give us power in the real world, by reminding us what we are capable of.

I will be encouraging others to pick this up and look forward to Kim Curran's next novel.

Born as one of the old favoured people, her family came to the island and settled. After fighting with the inhabitants they carved out a comfortable life but when her son is killed, she betrays her kind and they are banished. She alone stays to look after the land and its peoples. Goddess of battle, shapeshifter and woman of many names, she is remembered as The Morrigan.
This is a wonderful tale that encompasses much of the mythology of Ireland from the founding of Tara, the people of Tir Na Nog and the story of Cuchullhain. However it is also a story of the power of women and the thirst for vengeance. It's wonderfully written and engrossing.

Thank you to Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House and Netgalley for reaching out to me and providing access to this fantastic retelling from Irish Mythology.

Kim Curran is a new author to me and I loved her bold writing style and exploration into The Morrigan, a complex, multi-faceted goddess from Irish Mythology. I am a little familiar with Irish Mythology and it was refreshing to see an author bringing the stories to life on the page.

This book opens with the Tuatha De Danaan's journey back to Ireland and their battle with the Fir Bolg to reclaim the land. They are in turn defeated by the Milesians and driven underground. The Morrigan however refuses to be repressed beneath the earth with the rest of her race and goes out into the world on her own. The next part of the book features stories from the Ulster Cycle with The Morrigan meeting Queen Mebd and the great warrior, Cúchulainn.

I found this to be a beautifully written, fierce and feminist retelling that pulls no punches. The battle scenes are gruesome, gory and epic, definitely not for the squeamish. The witty dialogue adds a little humor and lightens an otherwise dark and brutal tale.

I would recommend this to fans of mythology fiction and I found it a little reminiscent of Circe by Madeline Miller. I will certainly be looking out for future books by this author.

The Morrigan is a feminist Irish mythology retelling, written from the perspective of the shape-shifting war goddess herself. I was unfamiliar with Irish mythology but who doesn't love a fierce female protagonist that defies the men around her?

"...wrote me out entirely because I didn't fit their narrative. I was too messy. A warrior and a mother? A seductress and crone? Poet and prophetess? No, no, no. Be neater. Be smaller. They reduced me to an old woman wailing for the dead. But I was so much more than that."

I was immediately blown away by the author's beautiful writing and I was highlighting left, right, and centre. This book is written with a slow, sweeping narrative as I imagine the author stitching together various mythological tales to form one comprehensive storyline. This narrative style definitely isn't for everyone but if you have enjoyed other mythological retellings (to me, it was very reminiscent of Clytemnestra) I would recommend you give this one a go!

I highly recommend listening to the audiobook (which I switched to at around 50%) - the narrator did a great job and hearing the Irish pronunciations only enhanced my reading experience.

In summary: you should pick up The Morrigan if you enjoy:
feminist mythological retellings
fierce female protagonists
stories that are dark and gritty
slow, sweeping narratives

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph for the opportunity to review this book.

Thank you so much to Penguin Michael Joseph for providing me with this wonderful ARC!
I love Irish Mythology, and the Morrigan has always been one of my favorites of the Tuatha de Danann, ever since I read the Mabinogion as a teenager. But whilst this book was good, it also did what I feared other mythological women books would do post-Circe.
First, the positives, because there certainly were some: starting with the fact that a debut author dared to thread together the notoriously messy tales of the Tuatha da Danann, and to humanize a goddess that is…far from human. This is the Morrigan we're talking about, goddess of battlefields and bloodshed, who represents some of the worst things people are capable of! But the book handled her well, making her into a character that the reader could partially connect to, and understand - even at her bloodiest of moments.
It certainly also managed to carry across the tone of the tales: which can be humorously crude, violent, and often both at the same time. It made the gods more relatable, and was full of some great characters to hate, too – especially the misogynists! Conchobar in particular, who I truly hated with a passion, and wanted to see wiped off of the face of the earth within a few pages of his arrival.
Women wronged and female vengeance was the center of this story, which was achieved mostly without tales being twisted out of shape, which is a very rare thing to find, in a story like this. It allowed the tales to be told in their more authentic form, on the most part, which was a nice change from the stories which try to bend and disfigure tales to mean things that they do not actually mean.
However, on the whole, it did still feel like the tales has been strung together haphazardly to create a story without a central thread and on a shaky premise, meaning that it felt meandering and distant - a byproduct of writing about a goddess who lived for millennia. At times, it even felt like Badb was trapped in her own narrative, that she was acting at the whims of the narrative and not necessarily shaping it, as she should. At times, it even felt like she was becoming a background character in her own story, to the likes of Mebh.
To be fair, that is an occupational hazard in handling these stories: which are all about battles, men’s egos, and the damage they create – especially in relation to women. But, on the whole, this is a brave effort of a debut and I for one am very glad that someone has been brave enough to tackle the tales of the Tuatha, amidst a deluge of stories about Greek and Roman mythology!

Thank you to Netgalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for the ARC.

My expectations for this book were high but nothing could’ve prepared me for how much I adored The Morrigan. Curran’s writing style here gripped me from the beginning and I found myself wanting more and more. It was poetic and expressive, fully immersing me in the story and made reading from the Morrigan’s perspective incredibly interesting.

The most interesting aspect of modern retellings to me is seeing how the author expands on our existing knowledge of a figure and fleshing them out into someone we can recognise. Curran does this excellently by showing us the Morrigan’s love, grief, anger, and empathy, making a decidedly non-human figure, incredibly human. This is only furthered by the exploration of the Morrigan’s relationships, and I particularly enjoyed seeing the dynamics evolve with her sisters, (Ériu, Fódla, and Banba), Lugh, the Dagda, Meche, and Medb.

While there isn’t a traditional story arc, the combination of tales and events from the Ulster Cycle and the Mythological Cycle allow for a clear character arc and journey for the Morrigan. I loved watching her grow and learn as a person and am looking forward to reading Curran’s future work. I would recommend to people looking for mythology retellings and enjoy poetic and evocative language.

Kim Curran’s The Morrigan is an encyclopaedic, rich retelling of Irish mythology that weaves together the stories of gods, goddesses, kings, queens and warriors. Though named for the fearsome war goddess herself, the novel expands beyond her legend, encompassing the rich tapestry of Ireland’s myths from the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann to the many battles for sovereignty.

Told from a first-person perspective, the narrative immerses the reader in the mind of the Morrigan, a shape-shifting, battle-hardened deity who is as terrifying as she is deeply human. Curran does an exceptional job of capturing the musicality of Ireland’s oral tradition, with writing that echoes the rhythmic, fireside storytelling of old. At first, the structure feels a little scattered, but as the novel progresses, it tightens into something masterfully woven, reflecting the tangled but deliberate nature of mythology itself.

The Morrigan as a character is deliciously dark and violent as she embodies fury and power, untethered by a single form. For me one of the novel’s standout elements is its treatment of this shape-shifting as a key aspect of the Morrigan’s identity. Her transformations feel fluid, visceral, and symbolic, as if to watch her shift is to witness something ancient, woven into the fabric of myth and magic.

If you are familiar to Irish mythology you’ll appreciate Curran’s nods to various myths. I especially loved the references to the Washer at the Ford and the banshee, subtle but powerful reminders of the Morrigan’s many faces.

Overall, The Morrigan is an enthralling read that breathes new life into Ireland’s ancient legends. While it requires some patience in the middle chapters, the payoff is a beautifully constructed, deeply immersive mythological epic. If you love Celtic lore, powerful female figures, and poetic storytelling, this is will be an enjoyable read for you.

The Morrigan is based around Irish mythology. Although I did like this book it seems more of a set of short stories rather than one story building up to an ending. I think it would’ve been good to learn more about The Morrigans origins so we know how she got her powers and why she loves war and blood so much. Although I did enjoy reading it, it felt like something was missing. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting read this arc.

There have been so many Greek mythology retellings recently, it came as a nice surprise to see that this new novel by Kim Curran takes as its subject not another Greek goddess, but an Irish one. In Irish mythology, the Morrigan is known as the goddess of war and fate, a fierce, shapeshifting figure who leads warriors into battle and can foretell whether they will live or die. She is sometimes known as Badb, sometimes as Macha and sometimes as Nemain and often believed to be all three. In The Morrigan, Kim Curran sets out to tell her story.

The novel begins with the Tuatha Dé Danann, the supernatural race to which the Morrigan belongs, returning to Ireland having spent many generations ‘in the north of the world learning arts and magic’. Soon after their arrival, they defeat the Fir Bolg in battle to reclaim Ireland for themselves, only to be defeated in turn by the invading Milesians, who drive them underground. Rather than stay beneath the earth with her own people, the Morrigan goes out into the world where she discovers that even the power of a goddess is limited in a land ruled by men.

The Morrigan is beautifully written and as a debut novel, I thought it was very impressive. Having very little knowledge of Irish mythology, I found it fascinating and particularly enjoyed the first section about the Tuatha Dé Danann, where the writing style, together with the shapeshifting, magical beings and epic battles, makes it feel like a high fantasy novel. The later stages of the book are based on the Ulster Cycle – with the Morrigan crossing paths with Medb, Queen of Connacht; Conchobar, King of Ulaid; and the legendary warrior Cúchulainn – and feel slightly more grounded in reality, but less captivating for me personally. I did love the way Curran incorporates all of the Morrigan’s three parts into the novel, moving seamlessly from Badb to Macha to Nemain, showing how her personality and actions change as she takes on each persona, while at the same time retaining memories of her previous lives and experiences.

However, there was so much happening in this book that I started to feel overwhelmed. There seemed to be no real direction to the plot and it felt like a string of short stories and separate episodes rather than one cohesive narrative. I think there was easily enough material here for a trilogy, rather than trying to pack everything into a single book. Maybe readers more familiar with Irish myth and legend would have found it all easier to follow than I did, but as a newcomer it was just too much for me to process all at once.

I would still highly recommend this book to anyone interested in sampling some Irish mythology – or anyone with existing knowledge who wants to see how Kim Curran approaches the subject. It has certainly left me wanting to look into some of the stories and characters in more depth and wishing more authors would move away from Greek mythology to explore other parts of the world!