Customer Reviews

Dreaming the Serpent Spear: Boudica 4

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This is the fourth book of what was to have been a trilogy, the author obviously had second thoughts and thank goodness she did. I believe that this one is the best of the lot, or maybe it is because it is still the freshest in my mind, no matter, they are all a triumph of historical fiction.

I do not think there is a boring page, never mind a boring chapter in any of them.

Most people who have any interest in history will have some knowledge of the Queen of the Iceni, what befell her and her daughters and the pain and suffering she rained down on the Roman invader in retribution.. . .

The Warrior Queen has burned Colchester to the ground and the Roman's are leaving London. Rome's forces are stretched to the limit and their chain of command is broken. Never in the history of the legions have the Roman forces been in such disarray.

Can Boudica sustain her advance against the might of Rome. Will she ever she her daughter Graine again. The young girl has taken refuge on the island of Mona will her mother succeed where others have failed. Can she unite the land of Britain against its invaders, or will the might of Rome finally impose its iron will on the tribes of Britain.

So, we have arrived at the final climatic novel of Scott's series. Having started with a touch too much fantasy in the opener the previous two efforts have been high quality and gripping. The pace, characterisation and emotive response doesn't let up in this final novel as we follow Breaca to her inexorable destiny at the hands of the Augusta II.
The novel opens rapidly where the third left off. Cygfa and Graine are coming to terms with their brutal mistreatment at the hands of a cohort of Roman legionaries. Breaca is painfully learning to wield a sword again whilst Valerius seeks to prove himself to the Iceni host whilst the simmering anger of Cunomar lingers painfully at his side, the younger man desperate to prove himself his mother's heir should she fall in battle. From this point we follow Scott's retelling of what little history we know as Valerius destroys the IX legion in a manner emulating the infamous Varian defeat in A.D. 9. Cunomar develops his own band of elite troops, the Bears, blooding them in fierce combat. All the while Breaca is struggling to heal, both physically and mentally, reaching her fateful decision during the final sack of the Claudian Temple in Camulodunum whilst her son and brother debate who must lead the war host.
After injecting a cameo from Graine as she defeats the Corvus-led invasion of Mona using the power of the Dreamers and the subsequent self-sacrifice by Dubornos after the rites in the lands of the Coritani, we find Hawk appointed the true bearer of Breaca's father's sword and the swelling host of the British warriors sacking London before the final fateful battle.
When readers of Scott's magnificent series find themselves reluctant to read this final novel they will realise that the character empathy engendered by this sterling author has given us an emotional link to Breaca and the Iceni. We know with terrible finality that Breaca will die because history commands it but we do not wish it to happen. As the pages march inexorably on the heart grows heavier knowing the Dreamers and the Iceni are doomed to failure and the Boudicca cannot lead her people to victory. Still, Scott delivers it in a manner that is both exhilarating in Breaca's courageous fight at the climatic battle and her subsequent benediction on the surviving Valerius, Cygfa and Graine who take the power of the Dreamers into a hidden world to rest and nurture before being reborn once the Roman Empire falls.
My review of the opening novel in this quartet found it lacking and fantastical. That view remains. However, from the second novel through to the end Scott delivers a series that packs an massive emotional punch, crisp subplots, vibrant language and a colorful sense of humanity that ensures the pages keep turning faster and faster. It will appeal to readers wanting to gain a sense of the violence and raw battles that define the period, it will appeal to readers trying to gain a sense of the celtic druids and the otherworlds they walked. But, above all, it will appeal to the reader who wants to pick up a series and wish it never stopped.
A masterpiece.

I waited and waited for this one to come. It was a good ending and I love the characters.