Tales of a Minstrel

by Tala Bar

Overview

"Tales of a Minstrel" follows the adventures of a minstrel named Finbar as he travels from village to village telling his stories. His own experiences, however, tend to outshine even the most exciting story he tells. The first chapter begins with Finbar struggling to hold onto his life while fighting back monsters and memories and feverish dreams. The chapters that follow describe magic and life and love, taking him from one world to another, battling magicians and enchanted animals, dragons and bears and evil wizards, across time and great distance. Throughout his travels he encounters a wide variety of intriguing characters and fantastic settings including a family of magicians (some ignorant of their powers), a mother and daughter who become animals, and an epic battle with evil featuring Ofara the Witch, an intriguing character who calls upon Finbar to help defend the world and save magic from destruction. Tala Bar tells this tale in nine vignettes, discrete stories that paint a vivid and compelling work. Tala Bar's storytelling may even rival that of Finbar himself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781938349003
Publisher:	Pelekinesis
Publication date:	11/27/2012
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.37(d)

About the Author

Tala Bar was born on a kibbutz in Israel. She lived in London for a time where she received an M.Phil. in Hebrew literature and later a BA in English. She returned to Israel to teach Hebrew and English languages and literature. She has a number of books, stories, and articles published in print and on the net, both in Hebrew and English.

Editorial Reviews

04/13/2015
Bar presents nine tales of Finbar the Minstrel, a wandering musician with a knack for crossing paths with fell beings and mythological entities. It’s revealed in the first story that Finbar is doomed to die apparently alone, but each tale at least tries to present the illusion of tension as he deals with creatures who could easily erase him from existence yet never do. Bar writes enthusiastically, but her work unfortunately fails to match her ambition. The nine vignettes reveal too little of Finbar for him to be an intriguing character, and the situations he finds himself in never rise above the European myths and folklore that inspired them. The source material remains a more interesting body of work, and while this is not an awful book, neither is it especially noteworthy. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly