Much of the earlier history of both Ireland and Pictland is shrouded in a mist that hovers between reality and legend and mythology, and this earlier period is often view through a much later lens.

Coleman does his best to utilise the historic sources, archaeological evidence, and myths and legends, to shed some light onto this period and its ruler. He uses comparative examples to "fill out" a proposed timeline and biography. The early histories were mainly oral except when documented by clerics usually in the form of a Vitae of their patron, and always from a distance and with an agenda or moral in mind. Much of what is covered is - as mentioned - open to interpretation and this itself is explored and placed in context.

Having said that, I enjoyed reconnecting with one of the larger than life, mysterious, yet real characters of history. And like today, the lines of reality are sometimes blurred with those of myth.

A very insightful, well researched book. I would suggest more suited to an academic audience as it contains a great deal of detail regarding the ancient world of Ireland and Scotland. Having said that it is extremely interesting to connect these two countries and how much one was influenced by the other. A great read. My grateful thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and the hardworking author for the chance to read this book.

Áedán of the Gaels: King of the Scots was an interesting premise- providing an investigation of a little known and little discussed Gaelic king. I was looking to read more about Scottish history and this seemed like a promising place to start. 
The first part of the book was interesting and presented the issues of studying a figure like Áedán, particularly the lack of source material, and the influence of mythological writing in contemporary texts making it hard to discern fact from fable. 
On the whole I found it interesting and explored a period and region I am not very familiar with, however I had issues with the chronology, which I found inconsistent and at times a little difficult to follow.
The author relies heavily on texts discussing the life of a contemporary saint. He also provides a thorough discussion on the available primary materials (texts and places, etc) that reference Áedán, including Welsh documents, and the likelihood of their veracity, or capacity to provide insight into Áedán's life. Given how little documentation exists for this period, and how inconsistently it is recorded, the book is a true feat from the author. I particularly enjoyed the discussion around the relations between mainland Ireland and the communities/kingdoms in what are now Scotland and England.
That being said, although the author does point out that it is hard to know for sure, or even, the likelihood of certain events, much of his account is supposition. Although most historical books are supposition, given the scarcity of contemporary texts and the poetical nature of the available documents, there is very little that can be said about Áedán for certain. The author presents his rationale for guessing the locations and time periods of events, but even many of these are still vague/uncertain...and when later suppositions are based upon guesswork, it leaves me questioning the overall plausibility of the argument. 
Overall I found it an interesting look at the period and a good introduction to the figures of the time, and the available sources. The author works within the complex constraints of the period and makes some convincing points, even if I am not entirely convinced by all. Those looking for a straightforward biography or who are used to reading about better documents periods may have a difficult time with this book, but it is an interesting introduction to a lesser known period.

There isn't a lot of documentation about this historical character so part of what is told in this book is supposition or story of that time.
I liked what I read and discovered a fascinating and mysterious historical character.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Coleman provides what appears to be a well-researched tale of 6th century Scotland. I am unfamiliar with this time period and location, so I was excited to learn more about it, but it doesn't really provide much context for those unfamiliar with Aedan and the era. I am sure this will be of interest to students and history buffs of that period.

Thank you, NetGalley and Pen and Sword Military, for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy.

"Áedán of the Gaels" is a pretty astonishing historical figure, and it's a pretty astonishing book! I enjoyed reading this book so much, that I'm now hoping there's a series of novels either in existence or in the pipeline. Keith Coleman takes you through Áedán's life with great skill, giving a taste of that time in history and leaving you longing for more.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

NB: free ARC received for honest review

I found this an interesting read. As with any work that attempts to tackle a poorly and inconsistently documented period, there is a fair bit of complexity to contend with. The author can't simply recount what happened because we don't really know, and must instead provide a number of different possible scenarios and consider the likelihood of each. In many cases this means telling us that a battle where we don't know why it happened, where it happened, when it happened or who actually won it.

If you're looking for a simple chronological account of the period, you're not going to get it here, but I think anyone offering such an account would be taking a lot of liberties to do so.

I’ve been interested in the Del Riata kingdom in Scotland and the ties to the Irish. So the requested this book from Netgalley, hoping to find an interesting history.

It was very focused in Aedan and details of the era. I was hoping for a more general history. It also presented the authors opinions on various theories about what actually happened back in that time.

I think the problem was lack of suitable background so I was not the audience the author was addressing. It seemed to be a book more directed at an audience with a deep knowledge of events 1500 years ago. So I did not finish this book.

Unfortunately, I had to give up on this one because it was so hard to follow. I may not have been the right audience, in that I feel the book presumed I knew a lot more of the structure, places, and contextual history than I do -- and not knowing that made the hypotheticals and maybes hard to follow. I don't feel I can give a fair rating as I may have been the problem more than the book or author.

Aedan of the Gaels is a history of a... mythical-ish Scottish/Irish king in the late 500s? I think? It follows his life as a king and his contemporaries during the early Middle Ages.

To be honest, I had a hard time with this book. This was my first time reading about Scotland and Ireland during this time period and I had an extremely hard time with the people and place names. Most of the time I felt like I was at the beginning of a fantasy novel where you kind of get thrown in without context and are trying to get a grip on where you are and who the characters are. I don't think I even got there by the end of the book. I know who Aedan was (kind of), but I can't name another historical figure from the book. I'm not really sure why Aedan in particular was important and what his lasting impact was on the area.

As with most figures from the early Middle Ages, it seems like we don't have a lot of definitive information about Aedan. The author spent time going through possible historical events and explained why they most likely did or did not happen in the way described by contemporaries. While I liked this lens for a semi-mythical king, I feel like now I don't know anything about who Aedan was as a person or why he was worth having a book written about him. I would have appreciated a stronger outline of Aedan's impact to make his life clearer.

There are some spin-off myths in this book that I really liked reading, but once it got back to Aedan I forgot why I read the other myths in the first place as they didn't seem to include or affect him. They ended up making me feel more confused. I'm not sure if this is a me problem since I'm unfamiliar with the time and location, but I really struggled to understand what was going on for all of the book.

Overall, if you are familiar with the time period and location of this book, I would give it a read. 2.2 stars rounded down to 2. Thank you to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book!

I am unable to review this book on Goodreads because it isn't there.

This was a puzzling book - it seems rather half-baked and chaotic. Chronology was not in any way attended to, so the story kind of jumped around and I never knew quite where I was. I can think of lots of ways to improve the structure of the book, but the fact that it is in NetGalley tells me that ship has sailed... Perhaps people who are already informed in the field of early medieval Scottish history would be able to follow it but I was frustrated almost the entire time.

I would have appreciated some indication at the outset of how we even know such a person as Aedan existed, before diving into legends about his birth and ancestry. I was left with the impression that we know he existed because biographies of Colum Cille mentioned him, and much of the rest is a stew of myth, legend, and ambiguous annals. Because chronology was not the organizing principle, there was a lot of repetition of stuff from chapter to chapter, and a lot of times I was not sure whether 'Dal Riata' referred to the kingdom of the Irish in Scotland, or the section of Antrim from whence they had come.

One factoid from the beginning of Chapter 6 will stick with me: "we now know" (we do?) that the Picts spoke a P-Celtic language. This kind of blew my mind, Everything I've read up to this time leaves the Picts as shadowy strange barbarians who have left no trace in the people of later times. But this suggests that they were kin to the Britons and Welsh, at least in language. I want to know more about this. Sadly, after reading this book, I don't know much more about Aedan than that he appears to have existed.