The Island of the Mighty
core novel 1970 The Mabinogion Tetralogy
Record
| First published | 1970 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.16 (380 ratings, collected 2026-08-26) |
| Page count | 368 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780345019592 |
| Internal chronology | 4 |
Synopsis
The Island of the Mighty is the earliest-set novel in Evangeline Walton's four-book cycle retelling the Welsh Mabinogion, originally published in 1936 as The Virgin and the Swine. It retells the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion and opens in the kingdom of Gwynedd, ruled by the magician-lord Math ap Mathonwy, whose power depends on an unusual condition placed on his daily life. Math's nephew Gwydion, himself a skilled enchanter, and Gwydion's brother Gilfaethwy set in motion a chain of deception and assault against a neighboring kingdom that draws Math's household into scandal and punishment. The narrative then turns to Math's niece Arianrhod and, above all, to her unacknowledged son, who is raised through Gwydion's magical intervention and grows into the hero Llew Llaw Gyffes.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Mabinogion Tetralogy
- Series: The Mabinogion Tetralogy core; position 1 of 4 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Evangeline Walton
Notes
- From the series record (The Mabinogion Tetralogy): A four-novel prose retelling of the medieval Welsh mythological cycle known as the Mabinogi, written out of internal-chronology order; the author's first volume (by writing date, 1936, reissued 1970) tells the latest story in-world.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Mabinogion Tetralogy: position 1 of 4: next The Children of Llyr (1971)
- Internal chronology, within The Mabinogion Tetralogy: position 4 of 4: previous The Children of Llyr (1971)
Sources
- The Mabinogion Tetralogy bibliography (specialised series-tracking site)
- Evangeline Walton biographical entry (encyclopedic reference)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_of_the_Mighty
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