Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Bending the Boyne

  • A Novel of Ancient Ireland
  • By: J. S. Dunn
  • Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
  • Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (3 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Bending the Boyne cover art

Bending the Boyne

By: J. S. Dunn
Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Dragonkeeper cover art
Let the Drum Speak cover art
Voice of the Eagle cover art
Wolfsangel cover art
Sidroc the Dane: A Circle of Ceridwen Saga Story cover art
Nzinga cover art
The Blood-Tainted Winter cover art
Children of the Plains cover art
Tidewater cover art
Into the Woods cover art
Emissary cover art
Black Ships cover art
Pile of Bones cover art
Sackett's Land: The Sacketts cover art
Owlflight cover art
Ilse Witch cover art

Summary

Circa 2200 BCE: Changes rocking the Continent reach Eire with the dawning Bronze Age. Well before any Celts, marauders invade the island seeking copper and gold. The young astronomer Boann and the enigmatic Cian need all their wits and courage to save their people and their great Boyne mounds, when long bronze knives challenge the peaceful native starwatchers. Banished to far coasts, Cian discovers how to outwit the invaders at their own game. Tensions on Eire between new and old cultures and between Boann, Elcmar, and her son Aengus, ultimately explode. What emerges from the rubble of battle are the legends of Ireland's beginnings in a totally new light.

Larger than myth, this tale echoes with medieval texts, and cult heroes modern and ancient. By the final temporal twist, factual prehistory is bending into images of leprechauns who guard Eire's gold for eternity. As ever, the victors will spin the myths.

This story appeals to fans of solid historical fiction, myth and fantasy, archaeo-astronomy, and Bronze Age Europe.

Bending the Boyne draws on 21st century archaeology to show the lasting impact when early metal mining and trade take hold along north Atlantic coasts. Carved megaliths and stunning gold artifacts, from the Pyrenees up to the Boyne, come to life in this researched historical fiction.

Awarded first place, Next Generation Indie Awards 2011 (USA). Nominated for Foreword Book of the Year Award (historical fiction); to be announced June 2012.

©2011 J. S. Dunn (P)2012 J. S. Dunn

Critic reviews

"Bang-on with the latest archaeological debates." (Peter Clark, MIFA, Director, The Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury, Kent, UK)

More from the same

What listeners say about Bending the Boyne

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining story

I bought this purely because Tim Gerard Reynolds is such a good reader. However, I'm really glad I did because this is an interesting book. Dunn has taken the archaeological evidence from man's early history (the baddies are the Beaker people) and used it to create a story that's at least partly based on the facts. It is part love story, part adventure and part science, in that characters regularly discuss their lives in a way that is clearly based on the archaeology Dunn has seen. There's also a lot about the stars.
If you are expecting Game of Thrones, you will be disappointed because it's not that exciting, violent or complex, but it is a nice story and Dunn manages to get you to care about the characters. There is also a lot about the environment, notably that mankind has destroyed it since his earliest days.
I very much enjoyed it, and learned something.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!