Customer Reviews

Druids

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the only book I have ever read from the perspective of the defeated Gauls. The clash of cultures is vividly portrayed by contrasting the mechanical Romans, with their square camps and uniformity, to the nature loving Druids and semi-disorganized warriors.
The book was thrilling and brought alive the events from history. It is one of the best historical novels I have ever read!

I wont go into a lengthy review, but this is one of the best books I've ever read. The author is an exceptional writer and the world - and characters - which she presents completely pulled me in. From front to back.

If you're a mature reader then don't let some of the sillier reviews here deter you. This book deserves a chance, and while I'm sure that your appreciation of it will vary from my own, I'm nearly positive that you wont regret reading this.

Thanks Morgan for such a great book,
~Steph

If you like Marion Zimmer-Bradley's Avalon series, you will like this one as well. The story is compelling, the characters are well developed and the story is interesting.

I just finished reading this and came online to put all her books on my "wish list". I love the way she writes! I was completely caught up in the story, to the point of it invading my dreams as I slept...the characters become so real and she writes with such authority I felt transported into their world each time I started to read.
As a young girl I was enchanted by Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy, and this story of druid & king reminded me a bit of Merlin & Arthur as presented by Stewart. Perhaps that's one reason I enjoyed it so much ... and like "The Crystal Cave", this is one of those few books going up on the shelf to be enjoyed again and again.

I read the reviews about this book and was excited to receive my book and start the read. I enjoy the history and myths of Ireland and Scotland and thought this would be right up my alley. I found the book to be very average.

Unfortunately, the cover art is appropriate: This is the first New Age Historical Drama that I've ever read. If this book were mostly about Vercingetorix "Rix" organizing the Celts against Caesar and his army, this might have been an entertaining and historically informative story. However, the story is told in first person by Ainvar the Druid, who spends nearly every page communicating with the spirits in the Otherworld. Hardly a page goes by without Ainvar and his "new age" prophesizing about everything. The monotony of this is only broken when he is assisting Rix in organizing the splintered Celtic tribes of Gaul against Caesar and his army - but whatever momentum is created here is soon lost with more Ainvar and his ceremonies and sacrifices (at one point he kills roosters for rain). Granted, we don't know much about Druids, so Llywelyn had to take a wild stab at how much influence they would have had during these campaigns - I think the story would have been more effective had it been from Rix's point of view.
The other nag with this story is the outrageously anachronistic dialog. Ainvar repeatedly refers to his tribesmen as "Celts." This was a phrase applied to them in the 19th century - small beans? Maybe, but the language that he uses would leave you to believe that he attended formal schooling.
I think Morgan Llywelyn is a very good writer, but I don't think that this story is very good.

I read this book as a project for a college class I am taking, I thought it would be good, but I had no idea how much I would enjoy it. The link I felt between the characters and myself was amazing. It has been a very long time since I read a book that has captured my attention with such a force. Makes me long for a more simple time.

While I do not consider this to be one of the greatest books I've ever read, it certainly is a good one. It has it's flaws, yes. Every book does.
I was a little surprised that Llywelyn actually included human sacrifice in her portrayal of the druids, considering that the only source of "witness" to such practices were the Romans themselves, who, being the enemy of the Gallic Celts, were known to create various lies to plant fear of the druids in the minds of their followers. Note that I am not deducting any stars due to this, though, because there is very little we know about the Celts and their lives and one cannot be absolutely certain.
However, I feel the need to defend this book against some of the reviews, because, frankly, many of them were down-right stupid.
Take, for instance, the reviewer who deducted a star merely because it had a "sad ending". How many books have sad endings? Some of the greatest books of all time do! It has nothing to do with the quality of the book, so don't deduct from the average star review for such a stupid thing as that! He follows up with an "Oh, well, that's history" attitude. So why deduct the star at all?
Oh, and the person who complains about the central character being "egotistical"...So what if he ever showed any signs of egotism? That's his character! Once again, that's a part of the story. And then you spoke of the Romans being "exaggerated". That's because it was from the Gallic Celts' point of view. Of course they're going to portray the Romans that way! It's their point of view! Oh, and if you're going to bash a book, at least use something resembling good English grammar so you don't look like a complete fool. There's a difference between typos and not using anything resembling capitalization, punctuation, etc. When talking about the Romans, use the plural form of the word. "of Roman" does not cut it.
And there was another man who said the characters were too "sophisticated" for him, because the Celts are shrouded in such mystery. You're right, there is much we do not know. But the author has the license to guess. She seems to have done a fairly good job at remaining as historically accurate as possible. What do you want her to do? Have paper-thin, 2-dimensional characters? Come on! She has to breathe life into them somehow! And there is hardly a reason to believe that the Celts didn't have the vocabulary to express concepts such as "professional jealousy."
Sorry for ranting like this, but I'm tired of stupid, trivial reviews complaining about stupid things. Reviews such as "this isn't what I was looking for", so the book itself is terrible because "I was unaware of its true content".
Like I said, this wasn't a perfect book. I give it four stars because I believe it deserves that much for it's fluidity and presentation. It reads pretty well. But it lacks something.

I read this book years ago and was impressed with the mastery at which Llywelyn writes around a culture that has no written history, yet maintains numerous oral rumors and myths. I especially enjoyed looking at the fictional side of the northern people's view of the invasion by Caesar. Remember the conquest of Gaul and all the things written about their "pagan" ways came from their enemy. Hmmm.....makes the truth of the history questionable doesn't it?

Spiritual book which left me wanting more. Well written with believable characters and a storming story.