Tales of a Minstrel

Bar presents nine tales of Finbar the Minstrel, a wandering musician with a knack for crossing paths with fell beings and mythological entities. It%E2%80%99s 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.)