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 love
and 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!


Gedge steps out of Egypt   March 22, 2001
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

Wow! I have always loved Pauline Gedge's novels set in Ancient Egypt. Her attention to detail, historical fact and ability to imagine a civilaztion in the fullest sense of the term based on the knowledge we have available through the work of Egyptologists continues to impress me. In the Eagle and the Raven, Gedge brings her remarkable abilities to another place and time in histroy and is quite successful. I really encourage a reader who wants to see and feel living history to pick up this book. You won't be sorry, I promise.


Really should be printed again, great book   December 19, 2005
 13 out of 16 found this review helpful

It was a small island on the edge of the most massive empire the world would ever see.

Coated with mist and covered with the magic of the druids.

The many tribes fought constantly, and a mans honor was valued by the strength of his sword.

Even woman were honored by the blood they had spilled in Battle.

Then Rome turned its eye towards them.

They never stood a chance.

This is the a story of three people, brave, devoted and strong who fought for a cause they knew was hopeless from the start. They gave all they had, gambled all they knew and dedicated their whole lives to a simple ideal: freedom.

This is beautifully written, even moving at times. Pauline Gedge is a wonderful writer, and this should be published again.

If you like this also read The Light Bearer by Donna Gillespie.

Five stars.



Hack work that gives the genre a bad name   March 26, 2008
 13 out of 15 found this review helpful

I awaited this book with high hopes, having read the many positive reviews and being both a historical fiction fan and an avid student of ancient history and archaeology. What a disappointment! It's hard for me to believe that I am reading the same book so praised by many other reviewers. Maybe it's just a matter of expectations.

If you are even half serious about looking for quality writing (skillful use of language, depth of characters, engaging plot, etc.) and/or historical authenticity, or at least plausibility, pass this drivel by. A much better choice that deals with the same historical background would be the four Boudica novels by Manda Scott. On the other hand, if you just want something, anything to read, maybe this is a good choice.

Gedge has written several books that seem to be well-reviewed on Amazon at least, so it was a real shock when I started reading what most closely resembles bad romantic fiction. Gedge clearly made little effort to become acquainted with the historical material on which the novel is based. Her treatment of setting is at best superficial and more often completely generic--the story could take place anywhere and at any time; not what one looks for in overtly "historical" fiction.

The characters are invariably crude one-dimensional parodies of themselves, and although the story spans several decades, there is no discernible development or complexity explored. The charactrers at age 14 act and think like they do at 30. They all end up in what are supposed to be amazingly committed and passionate relationships, but we are given no real basis for believing this; that is to say, Gedge writes that it is so, she does not write anything to show how or why it is so.

In fact, Gedge's writing strikes me as not just historically sloppy, but fatally undermined by her penchant for cliches, her unstinting heavy-handedness, and especially her insistence on telling us what is happening rather than showing us what is happening and letting us, her readers, draw our own conclusions. It reads more like the very ambitious project of an untalented high school student than the mature work of a seasoned novelist. It is utterly unconvincing.


The most AMAZING book about the Roman Invasion of Britain   June 16, 2003
 7 out of 8 found this review helpful

I can't tell you how many times I've thanked my lucky stars that I found this book on a table at Bargain Books. IT DESERVES TO HAVE A PLACE FAR HIGHER as well as to REMAIN IN PRINT! I am currently without it and I am so afraid that something will happen to it that I refuse to allow it mailed to me unless I am its personal messenger. Seriously. I just pray that someday the publisher will somehow have it reprinted.

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.