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  "path": "/journal/22394",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-12T15:39:19.000Z",
  "site": "https://adactio.com",
  "tags": [
    "Tuatha Dé Danann",
    "The Ulster Cycle",
    "The Morrigan",
    "Madeline Miller’s Circe",
    "The Odyssey",
    "Odysseus",
    "The Táin",
    "Cú Chulainn",
    "many, many modern retellings of Greek myths",
    "Brigid"
  ],
  "textContent": "Every culture has its myths and legends. Greece has its gods and warriors. England has its stories of Arthur. Ireland has the Tuatha Dé Danann, The Ulster Cycle, and more.\n\nBut while the Arthurian legends and the Greek myths have been retold many times, the stories of ancient Ireland have remained largely untouched.\n\nKim Curran’s book The Morrigan takes on this challenge.\n\nThe blurb for the book compares it Madeline Miller’s Circe, which is a bold comparison. The writing in The Morrigan isn’t in the same league as Circe, but then again, very little is.\n\nStructurally, the comparison makes complete sense.\n\nCirce starts with the titular nymph in the world of the gods of Olympus before moving on to more mortal affairs, coming to a head with the events of The Odyssey, when Odysseus’s story dominates.\n\nThe Morrigan starts with the titular goddess in the world of the gods of the Túatha Dé before moving on to more mortal affairs, coming to a head with the events of The Táin, when Cú Chulainn’s story dominates.\n\nI took me a little while to adjust to the tone, but once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling. It manages to simultaneously capture the bloody, over-the-top feeling of The Táin while also having a distinctly modern twist. By the last third, I was completely engrossed.\n\nAfter finishing Circe I went on a spree of reading many, many modern retellings of Greek myths. Now that I’ve finished The Morrigan I want to do the same for the Irish legends.\n\nBut I can’t. Apart from re-reading a translation of The Táin, there’s not much else out there for me.\n\nKim Curran does have another book that’s just been released; Brigid (the goddess? the saint? both?). If it’s anything like The Morrigan, it’s going to be a must-read.\n\nI hope these books are the first of many.\n\n",
  "title": "The Morrigan by Kim Curran"
}