Poet, Prophet, Fox: A Review
“A book about a trans man set in ancient pagan Ireland, and dedicated to transgendered youth? There couldn’t be a book more perfect for my genderqueer and pagan child. That’s why Salem ended up reading this book before I did, and why this is really two reviews in one: first Salem’s and then mine.”
“Seers and Poets, Prophets and Healers”
POET, PROPHET, FOX: THE TALE OF SINNACH THE SEER
I volunteered to review M.Z. McDonnell’s Poet, Prophet, Fox: The Tale of Sinnach the Seer because it’s set in ancient Ireland, and that’s a time and a place I know something about. Still, the moment I opened the book for the first time, I realized it was my 13-year-old child Salem that needed to read the book first.
Why? Because of the dedication page, which reads “to the transgendered youth: know that you are part of a long legacy of seers and poets, prophets and healers. You embody an uncommon power and with it enable humanity to see itself more clearly.”
A book about a trans man set in ancient pagan Ireland, and dedicated to transgender youth? There couldn’t be a book more perfect for my genderqueer and pagan child. That’s why Salem ended up reading this book before I did, and why this is really two reviews in one: first Salem’s and then mine.
Poet, Prophet, Fox: A Review by Salem Thompson
Poet, Prophet, Fox: The Tale of Sinnach the Seer by M.Z. McDonnell brought me back to a home I never knew I had.
Obviously, being both an Irish Pagan and genderqueer, I was thrilled to begin reading this book. I am happy to say my expectations were met and exceeded. Not only does Poet, Prophet, Fox beautifully display the main character’s journey to finally being the person he always was, it does it in a way that will be relatable to modern readers while still being an emotional and honest window into what a trans person from ancient Ireland might have gone through.
Being a Pagan, I also deeply enjoyed how the book intersected Sinnach’s gender with his spirituality. Considering the strict and ever-changing standards for what makes a person “truly trans” it was refreshing to see the magic and humanity brought into Sinnach’s gender journey as opposed to the clinical and perfectionist ways society often asks us to look at our own.
In the very first chapters, McDonnell paints a vivid picture of ancient Ireland in the true spirit of animism. Just like the characters, the land itself feels like it has a fully fleshed out personality. Poet, Prophet, Fox both helped me rediscover my connections to nature and Paganism as well as displaying how one can find refuge and joy in any place if they know themselves and have love and support. McDonnell shows that support doesn’t always have to be from other people and that it can be as much as a relationship with the world around you, however, they also show the importance of community and how it can change your life forever. The balance between wanting to be fully independent and part of the world as opposed to a part of a place that you were not accepted in and wanting to find and create acceptance in that place is an experience that rings true for many transgender and nonbinary people, and it is depicted in this novel with a great deal of truth and emotion.
Reading Poet, Prophet, Fox, I often found that on days when I felt like I had no one to lean on, I could find the support I needed in the world and characters that spilled out of the page. The world was a world I was constantly wishing to go back to despite never having physically been there before, and the characters were so real and detailed I came to feel as fond of them as my very best friends. I felt as if I had known them for a lifetime.
Within the first three chapters, this book skyrocketed itself to the top of my list of my favorite books of all time. I give Poet, Prophet, Fox: The Tale of Sinnach the Seer my highest recommendation and I am confident that other readers will be the farthest from disappointed in it.
Poet, Prophet, Fox: A Review by Christopher Thompson
There are very few novels set in ancient pagan Ireland, and even fewer authors with the knowledge and skill needed to tell a believable story with such a setting. One of the things that struck me immediately about Poet, Prophet, Fox was that M.Z. McDonnell has clearly done a lot of research into the authentic social structure of ancient Ireland.
Not that the book is a dry work, by any means. The story of Sinnach’s life is an engaging one, and the background details make the world feel like a real place where real people live. Was Ireland actually like this at some point? I don’t know, but it feels like an Ireland that might have been and uses many details from the Ireland that really was.
The sense of authenticity in this book is so great that it may run the risk of confusing some readers, if they don’t realize which aspects are drawn from ancient sources and which aspects are fictional. However, that’s a risk in any work of historical fiction, and this one contains far more authentic historical material than average.
I was especially pleased that the main character was not a member of the warrior aristocracy, but of the lower classes most writers would never even mention except in passing. That’s a refreshing change, and watching the character develop into a powerful druid is a satisfying story.
I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fantasy fiction, but especially to any practitioner of Celtic (and especially Irish) forms of paganism. It’s a good story, it takes the history and the culture seriously, and it’s a fun read. If you know any pagan transgendered kids, you should get them this book as soon as you possibly can, and you should read it yourself as well. For me, it was a great way to get to know my kid on another level.
Christopher Scott Thompson
is an anarchist, martial arts instructor, and devotee of Brighid and Macha. Photo by Tam Hutchison.