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madeleine_grace's review
3.0
I love Anya Seyton. I like GREEN DARKNESS better than this. However, I enjoyed the setting quite a bit.
It was very interesting especially some of the themes that Seyton seemed to highlight. Specifically, the po-Roman attitude and her handling of warrior women vs. classic damsels in distress. (Look who got the hot, sympathetic soldier.)
Overall, I enjoyed it. Very fast.
2 of 50 year goal
It was very interesting especially some of the themes that Seyton seemed to highlight. Specifically, the po-Roman attitude and her handling of warrior women vs. classic damsels in distress. (Look who got the hot, sympathetic soldier.)
Overall, I enjoyed it. Very fast.
2 of 50 year goal
ryner's review
4.0
Quintus, a Roman soldier in Britain in 60AD, has two missions: to conquer Britain in the name of the emperor Nero, and to find the ancient remains of his great-grandfather, murdered by Druids during the invasion of Julius Caesar many years earlier. However, the Roman military doesn't count on warrior queen Boudicea uniting the Celtic tribes in revolt, and Quintus doesn't count on falling for Regan, a fetching young Briton woman.
This is a fairly light-hearted story, given the subject matter. I found it enjoyable, and consider it a decent jumping-off point for a reader new to Roman history in Britain.
This is a fairly light-hearted story, given the subject matter. I found it enjoyable, and consider it a decent jumping-off point for a reader new to Roman history in Britain.
morgandhu's review
3.0
Anya Seton's historical novels were best-sellers in their time, narratives featuring, for the most part, resilient and determined women, their stories told in elegant prose, their lives and times well researched. Two of her books, Katherine (about Katherine de Roet, mistress and third wife of John of Gaunt, ancestress to the Tudor line) and Green Darkness (a complex tale of forbidden love and reincarnation set in two times) are among my favourites.
The Mistletoe and the Sword is one of Seton's lesser-known, and lesser-regarded novels. Intended for a young adult audience, it is a shorter and simper tale than most of her books. Set in Roman Britain during the time of the Iceni Rebellion, the protagonist is a young Roman soldier who falls in love with a British girl who is of the family of the Arch-Druid of Britain - assuming there ever really was such a thing. (Seton's research is solid on the Roman aspects of her subject, but she wrote during that period of time when the state of research into Celtic society tended toward romanticism.)
A light and pleasant tale, with a nice balance of action and romance, reminding us of a time when both young men and young women might be expected to read and enjoy the same books.
The Mistletoe and the Sword is one of Seton's lesser-known, and lesser-regarded novels. Intended for a young adult audience, it is a shorter and simper tale than most of her books. Set in Roman Britain during the time of the Iceni Rebellion, the protagonist is a young Roman soldier who falls in love with a British girl who is of the family of the Arch-Druid of Britain - assuming there ever really was such a thing. (Seton's research is solid on the Roman aspects of her subject, but she wrote during that period of time when the state of research into Celtic society tended toward romanticism.)
A light and pleasant tale, with a nice balance of action and romance, reminding us of a time when both young men and young women might be expected to read and enjoy the same books.
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