I agree about the interesting twist on those myths. I remember how shocked I was when the Arthurian story started coming into it; it just didn’t seem to fit, at the time.

But that was before I started reading Celtic myth and discovered that the later French and Christian overlay was what I was familiar with, yet the real original myth had been very Celtic. I finally “got it” then. I certainly feel like this trilogy was the most creative solution to the triangle that I’ve ever seen.

As to the Odinic myth — yes, wasn’t that fascinating? That was almost more an Indo-European myth, since there are similar scenarios with trees in other myth systems too. Yet this one had a lot of the elements the Odinic myth. (Thought. Memory.)

What moved me most, in the entire trilogy, was Kevin’s story and what myth he lived. I can barely read the second book, because of that. But Paul’s deeds, especially in The Summer Tree, deeply moved me too.