One of the things that makes this book so good is its chosen subject -- obscure figures who have become the stuff of legend; a mysterious and ancient fight for freedom that yet finds a home in our modern souls. Another is its realism -- brutal violence and desperate betrayal alongside deepest loveand noble ideals held, compromised, lifted up. This story does not shrink from death and wrenching sorrow, nor does it invent a hundred miraculous escapes, nor become so caught up in mysticism that it leaves no room for the ordinary man and woman. It is a tale of real people, intermingling and forging lives in less than ideal circumstances, yet time and again forced onto two opposing sides of an issue that has many more facets than two. It is a terribly sad story, but also a triumphant one, and one to stir your blood as others cannot. It deserves many more than five stars. Print it again!
Pauline Gedge was able to make these historical figure come to life in a way that I didn't know possible. I've been interested in Roman Britain and the Celts for so many years and I've read all that I can get my hands on, yet this is still the best in fiction but I feel that it's much too historically accurate to be simply classified as 'fiction", it is like a history lesson but with all the elements of being there and living it.
If you ever run across this book, BUY it, or write me and I'll buy it from you, because I can definately use another copy-or two, you know...as backup. I mean it.
Thanks for reading my blithering blubber, but I can't imagine what I can do to get this book back in print so I can actually have a copy to read with me here in Portland, instead of in Florida, as I said earlier, I refuse to take my chances mailing it across the entire United States. It's that good.
This book was one of the best I have ever read. I couldn't put it down at times (even though I had to force myself to so I could go to sleep at night). You are brought back into time and feel as though you are with these people, silently watching and cheering on the Celts, while at the same time cursing the Romans and their greedy grasping ways. It is a long book but it doesn't seem so as the pages fly through your fingers as you become enveloped in the Celt's cause against Rome. The book is wonderfully detailed with ancient pre-medievalism descriptions of people, places, etc. You just have to buy this book, and read it, to believe how incredible it really is. The characters are so three dimensional and emotional that you feel their pain and their triumphs with unbelievable passion.
Yes, this book is out-of-print, but if you find it, buy it, and read it and treasure it for years to come. You will not be sorry that you turned the first page of the first chapter.
If you enjoyed this book I think you would also enjoy "Warrior Queen" by James Sinclair (also out-of-print but an excellent read), and "Ashes of Britannia" Warrior Queen Series by Haley Elizabeth Garwood. These titles delve deeper into Boudicca's fight against Rome.
