Customer Reviews

Gloria: The Merlin and The Saint: From the Joan of Arc Tapestries

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I found this book to be very interesting. I did not read the first two books in the trilogy but had no trouble following this book. I think it was an interesting story, combining fiction with a historical character. The way Chamberlin describes La Pucelle througout the book keeps you wanting to read more of the story.

In 1428 Christian time, Augustinian monk Jean Pasquerel, a follower of the Old Religion of Merlin, knows that the young peasant Jehanne of Lorraine is the mythical La Pucelle. This chosen one will break the Templar Knight curse that cripples France. Meanwhile Jehanne persuades her loyal follower Lord Gilles de Rais, who sees her as his soul mate and salvation from a life of abuse and sin, to help her crown Charles the Dauphin as King of France.

Jehanne obtains loyal military help and with Gilles at her side leads a force to try to lift the siege at Orleans, a needed step on the way to placing the Dauphin on the throne. She leads her men into battle while Jann provides the witchcraft. Still Gilles has doubts not about the skills of Jehanne or Jann, but that the Dauphin will prove not strong enough to complete the final magical step that requires a sacrifice of major magnitude, which can only be the monarch himself or some equivalent, of which he knows of none other.

Adding Merlinian sorcery into a vivid accurate historical portrayal of troubled fifteenth century France, Ann Chamberlin provides a fantastic historical fictional fantasy. Jehanne is wonderful as she matures from her youthful naiveté (see THE MERLIN OF ST. GILLES' WELL and THE MERLIN OF THE OAK WOOD) yet contains that charismatic exuberance that brings her loyal followers. Gilles has mellowed mostly because of his one true love. Fans of the series will devour the third tale while looking forward to the continuing saga of Joan of Arc meets Camelot in France.

Harriet Klausner

I found this book at my library and decided to give this book a try since I really like the subject of Joan of Arc. I am about halfway through this book and I find that it is very well written and interesting. But the one thing that really keeps me from enjoying this book is the fact that she has Joan being portrayed as a pagan witch when history have proven to us that she was a very devout Catholic. The author had gotten her theory that Joan of Arc is a pagan from Margaret Murray someone that no reliable historian has been able to take her and her views on history serirously. If this book had been just a speculation of what Joan's life would have been like as a pagan I wouldn't have minded, but the author even goes so far as to say that she finds herself believeing that Joan is a pagan. I will probably end up buying this book to add it to my collection of books about Joan of Arc, but I must warn people to not take this story seriously as history since it makes a claim about a Christian saint that is both unrealistic and untrue.

GLORIA: The Merlin and The Saint is not what I expected. The book's cover attracted me when I viewed it on the new books rack at my local library and I thought that it was a new biography. The cover portrays Joan of Arc on her majestic horse and surrounded by adoring people. I was not aware that this is the third book in a series called the Joan of Arc Tapestries. If I had done a little more research, I would have found that I was not getting a biography, but instead a story of medieval fantasy.

I did read the book and found it to be interesting as pure fiction. I have no idea how accurate the battle sequences are, but I feel that this story does a disservice to a great historic figure. The fantasy aspects were something that I love in the LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy, but found disconcerting and too offbeat with this particular subject.

This author should stick to her fiction without adding real people to her stories. I now plan to read a true biography of St. Joan in order to get a more historic and honest view of the woman. I don't recommend this book for students of history and will admit that it left me with an unsavory feeling.

This is the fourth book (the third was published only in German) of a fantasy series on the life of Joan of Arc, borrowed heavily from similar books in the past - all the usual elements from this subset of "Johannic" literature are present here, written in a fairly standard style familiar to readers of the fantasy genre. Some historical elements have been carried over into this fictional version, although these are few and far between.
For most people interested either in fantasy or Joan of Arc, this book will be familiar territory.