Ys Of The Hundred Towers

In Poul and Karen Anderson's The King Of Ys Tetralogy, I prefer the many passages and entire chapters set in the fabulous city, "Ys of the hundred towers." Thus, on a previous reading, the entire fourth volume, after the destruction of Ys, felt like an anticlimax. However, I will shortly reread and comment on this volume. How the survivors coped with the loss of their city is a major part of the story.

Again, I was inclined, on rereading, to skip the chapters set in Ireland but these are also important as the Irish king Niall plots the downfall of Ys.

At the beginning of Volume Four, when Dahut sinks and drowns, "Someone waited." (Poul and Karen Anderson, The Dog And The Wolf, London, 1989, p. 24)

Who? Lir? Satan? Someone else? Although dying characters enter a hereafter, the narrative points of view remain those of the living so we do not know who awaits Dahut or what she experiences. We are told that, "Transfiguration began." (p. 24) So she is not merely an unquiet ghost but is transformed into something more active. What? A mermaid?

Like a mermaid, she lures sailors, is exorcised, dies (again?) and leaves physical remains which her father buries.