Set in Iron-Age Britain, the first novel in a magnificent new series recounting the life of Boudica, Britain's first warrior queen.
In AD 60, Boudica, war leader of the Eceni, led her people in a final bloody revolt against the occupying armies of Rome. It was the culmination of nearly twenty years of resistance against an occupying force that sought to crush a vibrant, complex civilization and replace it with the laws, taxes, and slavery of the Roman Empire.
Gloriously imagined, Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle recreates the beginnings of a story so powerful its impact has survived through the ages, recounting the journey to adulthood of Breaca, who at twelve kills her first warrior, and her sensitive, skilful half-brother Bán, who carries with him a vision of the future that haunts his waking hours.
In the company of a supreme storyteller, the reader is plunged into the unforgettable world of tribal Britain in the years before the Romans came: a twilight world of Dreamers and the magic of the gods; a world where horses and dogs and the landscape itself become characters in their own right; where warriors fight for honour as much as victory. Above all, it is a world of passion and courage and spectacular, heart-felt heroism pitched against overwhelming odds.
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The attack came an hour before dawn.- PROLOGUE AUTUMN AD 32
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(Transworld Digital, 29 September 2010, e-book, 720 pages, borrowed from Glasgow Libraries via Borrowbox)
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I really enjoyed Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle. I know very little about Boudica or the era the book is set in, so I enjoyed the historical detail and information. The book is rich with detail and multi-layered and quite dark at times as Boudica, her brother and her people fight against the seemingly unstoppable Roman Empire. This has everything you'd expect from a historical epic. I've also borrowed the other three books in the series and look forward to the next chapter.