Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle (Boudica Quadrilogy (Paperback)) (Boudica Trilogy) [Paperback]

Manda Scott (Author)

Book Description

Series: Boudica Trilogy | Publication Date: March 2, 2004

Dreaming the Eagle is the first part of the gloriously imagined epic trilogy of the life of Boudica.

Boudica means Bringer of Victory (from the early Celtic word “boudeg”). She is the last defender of the Celtic culture in Britain; the only woman openly to lead her warriors into battle and to stand successfully against the might of Imperial Rome—and triumph.

It is 33 AD and eleven-year-old Breaca (later named Boudica), the red-haired daughter of one of the leaders of the Eceni tribe, is on the cusp between girl and womanhood. She longs to be a Dreamer, a mystical leader who can foretell the future, but having killed the man who has attacked and killed her mother, she has proven herself a warrior. Dreaming the Eagle is also the story of the two men Boudica loves most: Caradoc, outstanding warrior and inspirational leader; and Bàn, her half-brother, who longs to be a warrior, though he is manifestly a Dreamer, possibly the finest in his tribe’s history. Bàn becomes the Druid whose eventual return to the Celts is Boudica’s salvation.

Dreaming the Eagle is full of brilliantly realised, luminous scenes as the narrative sweeps effortlessly from the epic—where battle scenes are huge, bloody, and action-packed—to the intimate. Manda Scott plunges us into the unforgettable world of tribal Britain in the years before the Roman invasion: a world of druids and dreamers and the magic of the gods where the natural world is as much a character as any of the people who live within it, a world of warriors who fight for honour as much as victory, a world of passion, courage and spectacular heroism pitched against overwhelming odds.

Dreaming the Eagle stunningly recreates the roots of a story so powerful its impact has lasted through the ages.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Scottish writer Scott has already turned out three crime novels, but this is her debut historical fiction, the first in an ambitious trilogy about the life of Boudica, the warrior queen of Britannia who fought the Romans in the first century A.D. Long on meticulous detail and religious spells, and short on suspense and battle action, this lengthy volume runs from A.D. 32 to 43 and covers Boudica's youth (when she was known as Breaca), during which she kills her first opponent in battle and begins a life of leadership and bloodshed. Many of the tribes in Britain were either ruled by women or held men and women as equals. Breaca's tribe, the Eceni, had both men and women as warriors, healers and elders. Violent feuds, territorial rivalries, shifting alliances and desire for plunder made Britain a bloody patchwork of warring tribal lands, but invasion by the Romans gave the tribes a common enemy. Breaca meets Caradoc, warrior son of a rival king, and the two develop both a romantic relationship and a battlefield camaraderie that will be sorely tested over the decade. They fight Caradoc's evil brother, Amminios, who is allied with the Romans and whose treachery makes him a formidable foe. Tribal life and Roman politics are well depicted, and there is no shortage of juicy love triangles in all kinds of exotic configurations. The plot, however, needs tightening; it bogs down in too many soap-opera subplots about shocking betrayals. And those looking for blood-soaked battlefield mayhem will be disappointed. Not until the Romans arrive, 400 pages into the book, does the real action begin.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Very little is known about Boudica, the first-century Celtic warrior who helped defend her tribe and Britain from Roman invaders. Nevertheless, Scott has written a suspenseful historical novel that will entertain fantasy readers and those looking for a strong character who can fight her own battles and still show her vulnerability. Breaca does not take on the name Boudica until she proves herself in combat, and Scott imagines what her life was like while preparing to be a leader in battle. Breaca hesitantly follows in her mother's footsteps as a ruler (due to noble birth) and a military leader because she wants to be a dreamer--one who can see the future, that is. Dreamers are important in Scott's tale because they advise tribal leaders, and the community depends upon their special talents and gifts. But Breaca cannot change her fate, and she decides to travel to Mona, where she learns the art of warriorship. Of course, there is a bit of romance here; Caradoc, taken in by Breaca's people after he is shipwrecked, proves to be an equal to Breaca's intelligence and bravery, and Scott augments the story with their romance. Oaths, loyalty, and tradition are at the heart of this imaginative tale. Michelle Kaske
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Delta (March 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385337736
• ISBN-13: 978-0385337731
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #348,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Historical Fiction, July 2, 2005

By 

Chapati (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dreaming the Eagle (Boudica Trilogy) (Hardcover)

Many people have written reviews for this book saying that it isn't historically accurate. I personally don't know much about pre-Roman Britain. I'm pretty sure *most* people don't know much about pre-Roman Britain, and I think that's one of the things Manda Scott is trying to prove with this series of books. Much of the culture was an oral history, and has since been lost. Perhaps not everything Scott does is historically accurate, but to me, everything seems plausible.

In any case, most of what is known about pre-Roman Britain is conjecture, and Scott weaves a good story out of the assumptions and beliefs she has.

As the first book in a projected series of four, Dreaming the Eagle sets up the basis of the rest of the books. Everything that happens in this story is fiction, as no one knows much about Boudica before the Romans began writing about her. The Romans, for the most part, aren't even in this book. It's more about the tribal relations existing in Britain at the time. Yes, there is a great deal of mysticism that seems to draw a lot on a mixture of Celtic myth and Native American folklore, which may or may not be realistic.

The story itself I really like. It's slower than some and takes a while to get moving, as it is mainly an introduction. But it's very well-written and promises a great deal of character development in the future of the series. I particularly like Ban, who also has a major role in the sequel, and Caradoc, who seems to be the "typical hero" but really isn't.

Overall, the book is easy to read, and certainly holds a person's interest.

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Needs improvement...., April 11, 2003

By 

ilmk "ilmk" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dreaming the Eagle (Paperback)

Compared to McCullough, this offering from Scott wasn't impressive, but perhaps understandably so. `Boudica' from Manda Scott tends to follow a well-trodden formula in its plot technique. It is a methodology repeated in many current offerings in this rapidly expanding sub genre of historical fiction which, admittedly, has the benefit of enabling the reader to discern more easily the excellent from the mediocre.
The opening chapters of the first of this trilogy inevitably present us with the childhoods of Ban and Breaca and move onwards through the latter's development into an Eceni warrior, multiple battles, soul searching and growth.
We are pointed towards the Eceni (another interpretation of the spelling of the British tribe I haven't come across - along with the one `c' Boudica) as being a peoples emerging from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, the usual (and accurate) place of tribal honour being given to the smith. From Breaca's killing of the Coritani warrior raider to her first crafting of a brooch, to her first sword we move from one important educational episode to the next with moral purpose to build reason behind the adult character to come. Fairly typical of historical fictional biography and it enables the author to firmly establish character. Yet, my biggest problem with this novel is the unreality of age and intellectual maturity. The main characters all seem to be in early adolesence yet are treated by the adults and act as though they are in their thirties or more, making tribe-affecting decisions and taking usually hard-earned experience actions with unsettling aplomb. In makes the entire novel less credible. Admittedly, we know nothing about Boudicea's (if you prefer the Victorian spelling) youth and thus the opener of this trilogy is pure fantasy, but it takes it to heights that are a little incredulous. So much so that by the time the entire entourage takes a little trip to Mona reality is entirely suspended.
The other problem was that the novel lacks that necessary requirement of any trilogy opener - the ability to provide a gripping story. I found it very easy to stop mid-paragraph do something else and then come back and not feel I'd missed much. It did not inspire page turning. In fact, I confess I read 4 other novels between this one.
So, the book was well written, technique well-crafted, it possessed plot and yet...I found it hard to empathise with most of the characters and I wasn't gripped - the page turning quality never kicked in to the point that I hope the second novel is much improved over this offering.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, June 1, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Dreaming the Eagle (Boudica Trilogy) (Hardcover)

I'll admit, not many 13-year-olds are going to be reading this book, especially considering that it is an adult book, but it is an amazing piece of literature!

True, the plot may be slightly difficult to understand, at least for me, but it is really, really good. It took me about three months to read, and usually a book of that size takes me a week, max, but that was because, for it to really pull me into it, i needed some time, as in an uninterupted hour or more, to read it. (Sorry for the run-on sentence!)

Some of the content may be considered "for adults only" by many people, such as when, towards the end of the book Breaca sleeps with a man to whom she is not married, but we all know enough about that by the time we turn 13, and if we don't, then we need to learn.

Altogether, I say that this is a book well worth the price and time it takes to read and I say we should all propose a toast of long life to Manda Scott for writing this beautiful series!