Cliquer sur une vignette pour aller sur Google Books.
Chargement... The Mistletoe and the Sword (1955)par Anya Seton
Roman Britain (36) Chargement...
Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. Interesting - it's very detailed, in some odd ways. Fascinating views of Roman Britain, early on - houses, climate, attitudes, clothes, and behavior of different groups (hopefully reasonably accurate - I didn't notice any outright errors, anyway). Our Hero is a snotty Roman "young gentleman" of a legionary - though he does display the (rare) ability to treat not-Romans as human beings almost from the beginning. Clash of honors and duties, on many levels. It's quite a rich story, though not a comfortable one - friends and enemies keep switching places, and nothing is quite predictable. Well...the overall story is, pretty much, but there's a lot of interesting twists along the way. Her foreword says that all these events happened, though the whys are often uncertain and she presented her own idea there - she mentions several of her sources, too. Fun, definitely worth reading and possibly worth rereading, and I'll be looking for more by her (though it's a pretty old book!). And unfortunately, despite a mention in the foreword, there's no "endpaper maps" in my paperback copy. I picked this up for a song at the library discard shelf. "Written for the younger generation" as stated on the back cover, this was a story of Roman Britain in the days of Boadicea and her revolt. A young soldier, Quintus Tullius, standard bearer in the IX Hispania is sent to Britannia, not merely to fight for glory but with a personal mission--to find the bones of his grandfather near Stonehenge and to give them proper burial. In the course of the story, he meets a young British woman, Regan, granddaughter of the Arch Druid and foster daughter of Boadicea, with whom he falls in love--no, any romance is only a small part of the story and understated, at that. After Boadicea's mistreatment by the Romans, she begins her bloody uprising. Since the II Legion in the West has not joined the other legions, General Petillius sends the Celtic-speaking Quintus West disguised as a Silure, to find out what happened. He is guided by Regan and a native potter, then a servant of the Arch Druid. After his return a big battle is fought with Boadicea. Quintus doesn't succeed in his quest, but finds something far superior! After a few pages I thought, "Gosh, this isn't the Seton I read years ago--her style is too unsophisticated." Then after reading the back cover I understood--a YA book before the terminology had come into vogue. So I didn't feel disappointed after accepting the book on its own terms. Characters were not terribly "deep", but endearing. I liked much the best what Quintus found at the II Legion fortress, his treatment there, and his meeting and befriending the two other messengers, Dio and Fabian, who had been sent before him. I loved their banter--comic relief? Imprisoned together in the fort, they rejoin the Roman army after their [too obvious and simple] escape and journey back. A light, easy read. I do fault the author for using modern place names instead of ones the Romans would have used; St. Alban's [Verulamium] especially sounded odd. Wales as an entity didn't exist until the Middle Ages. Both modern and Roman names were given on the end-papers, which had a cleverly drawn map of Roman Britain [although called "England"] and line drawings of items important to the story. Anya Seton's The Mistletoe and the Sword tells the story of Roman officer Quintus Tullius's adventures in Britain at the time of Boudicea's uprising. Arriving in Britain to join the Ninth 'Hispana' Legion, Quintus is determined to find the bones of his grandfather, who had been killed by Druids a century before. Quintus' quest, however, soon takes a backseat to the war between the Romans and Boudicea, Queen of the Iceni and leader of the British tribes fighting against Roman rule. While not a bad book, at 250 pages I didn't feel it was long enough to truly enable the characters and storylines to be fully fleshed out. The story just felt too rushed, and not enough character development occurred for me to truly connect with any of the principal figures. Not a bad read, just not a great one. I read more than half in one night - cannot put it down! Having loved Latin Class in high school and college, I have always enjoyed stories about the Romans. This tale of Roman conquest in ancient Britain was even more engrossing than I would've imagined. Once again, no matter the time period - Anya Seton is outstanding. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
Anya Seton, author of the bestselling Katherine and The Winthrop Woman, was at her peak when she penned those two novels in the mid-1950s. But during that same period, she also wrote a little-known shorter novel entitled The Mistletoe and Sword. Here she turned her peerless talents as a storyteller and researcher to the adventure and romance of Roman Britain circa A.D. 60. Quintus Tullius, the young standard bearer with the Ninth Roman Legion, has come to Britain as part of the empire's efforts to pacify the rebellious tribes there. But he is haunted by his quest for the bones of his grandfather, who died seventeen years before in "the place of the golden tree and the stony circle." As the druids who haunt Stonehenge lead him through the mythic land, he falls in love with the beautiful and mysterious Regan. But this girl is the foster daughter of Boadicea, the warrior queen of the Icenians and instigator of the historic, bloody rebellion of the British tribes against Rome. With its suspenseful battle scenes and its mysticism and romance, The Mistletoe and Sword is an absorbing tale that makes this obscure era of history excitingly contemporary. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
Discussion en coursAucunCouvertures populaires
Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)823.9Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern PeriodClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
Est-ce vous ?Devenez un(e) auteur LibraryThing. |
Events focus on Queen Boudicca’s rebellion and a mysterious druid from Stone Henge.
The characters are vivid, though I feel Boudicca/Boadicea is too melodramatic.
The plot is a good adventure yarn, with action, mystery, suspense, a little romance, and a hint of druid-style magic.