This is a collection of twelve interconnected stories of the heroic age of the British Isles. Those who are fans of legends about King Arthur will find this book interesting. Note however that this is not exactly about Arthur himself.
There are some disputes to the meaning of mabinogion but I'll just go with the more popular translation of the word mabinogi which is "aspirant to bardic honor" or "someone who is apprenticed to a bard."
The following are the tales included in this book:The Lady of the Fountain
Peredur the Son of Evrawc
Geraint the Son of Erbin
Kilhwch and Olwen or The Twrch Trwyth
The Dream of Rhonabwy
Pwyll Prince of Dyved*
Branwen the Daughter of Llyr*
Manawyddan the Son of Llyr*
Math the Son of Mathonwy*
The Dream of Maxen Wledig
The Story of Lludd and Llevelys
Taliesin
*Four Branches of the Mabinogion
The author provides an introduction about how she chose to include the twelve stories listed above. She also provided a comparison between these tales and the Continental romance tales. I advise the reader not to skip this part because it is also important to know where these tales came from. Other than this introduction, the book does not provide analyses of the tales.
I recommend this to readers who are interested in Celtic mythology and the Arthurian legends. However, I have to warn about the style of which these tales were written, especially those who are not yet exposed to classic literature. Repetition of certain phrases and sentences here is common especially in the Twrch Trwyth.
I'm giving this book a 10 out of 10 rating.
