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| This is the first of a semi-fictional trilogy chronicling the life of Boudica (a.k.a. Breaca), Celtic warrior queen of the Eceni (or Iceni) tribe of forest-dwellers in ancient Britain, leading up to the Roman invasion in AD 60 (Year of our Lord). Apparently there is an actual coin that is imprinted with her image on it. I own a few similar books that detail the lives of these warriors and their relationship with the various elements of nature � earth, wind, fire and sky � as well as their pagan deities and druids. I hadn�t really paid much attention to them up to now, except to look at the gory/romantic pictures; reading Boudica has provided an incentive to read the actual stories now. As there are no illustrations in Boudica, other than a few obscure maps, it was fortunate that I had these other references to help my imagination along. Although Ms. Scott is quite meticulous in detailing the physical aspects of each scene, it became sometimes tedious, except when it was all about ultra-violence. Nevertheless, I plodded on through the saga, determined to try and figure out which strangely-named characters were good guys (or girls) and which were the bad. Indeed, there was no sexism happening then. In those days, every man, woman or child was raised and expected to actively participate on the battlefield, to defend, to the death, the realm in question. The exceptions were �the dreamers� � certain people who apparently received psychic visions in their sleep. These dreams could have been induced by the ingestion of some kind of hallucinogenic plant, though, as there is mention of giving someone �the poppy� (the origin of heroin) to ease their pain. Curioser and curiouser, Alice. At well over 500 pages, this is no readers� digest, and it was well-researched, going by the somewhat lengthy bibliography. I must admit, I found the story alternately boring and confusing until about mid-way through the book. At this point, the focus switched on Boudica�s little brother, B�n, who endured his own rather fascinating set of trials and tribulations in his very early coming-of-age (or coming out of the closet). Nevertheless, there was a hint of a repressed romance happening with Boudica, as well, and that was what kept me reading until the end of this portion of the trilogy, and by then I was hooked. Bring on the second one, Ms. Scott! |
| BOUDICA: DREAMING THE EAGLE - MANDA SCOTT Reviewed by Diane Wells |
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