The Merman's Children

by Poul Anderson

Ebook, 2014

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF AndersonP

Collection

Publication

Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Description

The last of the merfolk scour Earth for a new home to call their own The underwater city of Liri has thrived off the coast of Denmark for generations. But now, as Europe's medieval age comes to a close, the efforts of zealous priests and the destructive ringing of church bells are causing the city to crumble. An ageless people who thrived apart from the cruelty of human existence on land, the merfolk are poetic speakers, loving and loyal, nearly impervious to death but with one great deficiency: They lack souls.   Their numbers dwindling, the merpeople scatter. Some abandon their home for the coast of Dalmatia in the Adriatic Sea, while others--the half-human, half-seaborn children of the great merfolk king Vanimen--decide to scout alien territory on land for adventure, treasure, and clues to their lost human heritage.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member jimmaclachlan
I thought I'd like this more than I did. I loved the short story about these characters that appeared in one of the 'Flashing Swords', I think. He's a great writer & I was a little disappointed in the book. Might just be me, though. He didn't seem to be so action oriented - wordier that normal.
LibraryThing member jaddington
I promise, I will finish it. I read a long time ago.....in a land far far away, when I was young and naive. Now I am mad at the story and need to put it away.
LibraryThing member jaddington
I promise, I will finish it. I read a long time ago.....in a land far far away, when I was young and naive. Now I am mad at the story and need to put it away.
LibraryThing member antiquary
this is one of Anderson's later and less great works, but competently done. It is set in the same kind of world as his great fantasy The Broken Sword, with fantasy creatures living on the fringes of a more or less historical medieval European world,but this is set some centuries later (1200s) with
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the peoples of magic in retreat --the merman''s children find their city has been exorcised by the Christians and destroyed, and they travel through the seas of much of Europe seeking more of their kind. I first read excerpts from this in two of the very good Flashing Swords sword and sorcery anthologies and later bought the book. I recall commenting to a Catholic friend in the Mythopoeic APA Elanor on the negative attitude shown toward the Catholic Church by the senior merman, and e replied he could care less what a merman thought of his church.
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Original publication date

1979

DDC/MDS

Fic SF AndersonP

Rating

(22 ratings; 3.4)
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