- Paperback: 544 pages
- Publisher: Knopf Canada; First Edition edition (Mar 25 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0676975593
- ISBN-13: 978-0676975598
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.3 x 3.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 Kg
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,313,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Dreaming the Eagle , the first volume of Manda Scott's "Boudica" sequence, is as much about establishing our sense of the issues at stake as it is about Breaca, the future Boadicea, herself. We are given a comprehensive and complex picture of pre-Roman British society--one which neither excludes the down-side of an aristocratic warrior society full of powerful mystics and touchy snobs nor regards it as significantly stranger or more primitive than the Romans these Celts are bound sooner or later to have to fight.
Breaca is a talented fighter, but her real interest is in breeding and training horses; for once, we get a picture of ancient Britain in which economic activity is a serious factor. Scott has an imaginative sympathy with opposed ways of life--Breaca's brother Ban spends time as a slave in Roman territory before being rescued by a Roman friend, and he comes to see much of what is worst and also what is best about Rome. This is the best sort of historical fiction--exciting, full of a sense of how different times feel, and also intelligent about historical issues; Scott knows that at the point when historical events happen, they seem as if they are open chances. --Roz Kaveney
From Publishers Weekly
Scottish writer Scott has already turned out three crime novels, but this is her debut historical fiction, the first in an ambitious trilogy about the life of Boudica, the warrior queen of Britannia who fought the Romans in the first century A.D. Long on meticulous detail and religious spells, and short on suspense and battle action, this lengthy volume runs from A.D. 32 to 43 and covers Boudica's youth (when she was known as Breaca), during which she kills her first opponent in battle and begins a life of leadership and bloodshed. Many of the tribes in Britain were either ruled by women or held men and women as equals. Breaca's tribe, the Eceni, had both men and women as warriors, healers and elders. Violent feuds, territorial rivalries, shifting alliances and desire for plunder made Britain a bloody patchwork of warring tribal lands, but invasion by the Romans gave the tribes a common enemy. Breaca meets Caradoc, warrior son of a rival king, and the two develop both a romantic relationship and a battlefield camaraderie that will be sorely tested over the decade. They fight Caradoc's evil brother, Amminios, who is allied with the Romans and whose treachery makes him a formidable foe. Tribal life and Roman politics are well depicted, and there is no shortage of juicy love triangles in all kinds of exotic configurations. The plot, however, needs tightening; it bogs down in too many soap-opera subplots about shocking betrayals. And those looking for blood-soaked battlefield mayhem will be disappointed. Not until the Romans arrive, 400 pages into the book, does the real action begin.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dreaming the Eagle (Boudica, Book 1),
By "tankgurl64" (New Westminster, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dreaming the Eagle (#1) (Paperback)
I absolutely loved this book.. I felt I was really THERE, that I could see it all taking place.I read quite a bit of fiction, but this is one of the few books that has accomplished that particular feat. I didn't feel quite the same connection with the second book ("Dreaming the Bull" (Boudica, Book 2)), but still eagerly look forward to the third, "Dreaming the Hound" (Boudica, Part 3) I consider this trilogy a "keeper". Those that are kept and read again periodically, just for the enjoyment of them.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dreaming The Bull,
By Barbara Rajnovich (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. CANADA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dreaming the Eagle (Audio CD)
Well....I read Dreaming the Eagle first by Manda Scott and didn't particularly like it. I found that the characters were superhuman and grew up very fast. The dreaming all the time made me wonder if they were stoned half the time. There were of course many things I did like it and I pressed on to read Book 11, Dreaming the Bull.It can only be said that if one was too add up the number of people killed it would make one wonder how many people were left in Britiania to carry on. And the wounds that people received would be enough to sink a battle ship. One positive thing is that the book is extremely well written and I was gently drawn in to the world of Breaca and Ban. The descriptions of the battles are amazing. One feels as if one is on one of the horses at the height of the battle, and I felt a real kinship with Hail. I realize that a good part of the book is fiction but I am now encouraged to read the books listed in the Bibliography. Manda's command of dialogue is superb. One can see the logic unfolding behind each character's decision to act. Things are very well talked out. One suspects that in actual history it would not have been so. However, I recommend this book to everyone, even if you were not impressed with the first book, you must read the second. It leaves you hanging and I can hardly wait for the third. I hope the powers that be make this series into a movie.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Details sharp as talons!!!,
By
This review is from: DREAMING THE EAGLE (SIGNED). (Hardcover)
The prose contained within this fabulous book is both unshakable and brave. But what I think readers will most appreciate is Manda's eye to detail. Her descriptions of the eagle were so archly vivid and so palpable, that every night I was reading this book (for over a 3 week period!) I would wake up in a sweat, after having dreamt deeply about the eagle--just as she described it--inch for inch. That alone made this book worth reading! Not to mention all the philosophical things it make me think about.
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