The Lantern Bearers [Paperback]

Rosemary Sutcliff (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up

Threatened by a tide of invaders, the last of the Roman Auxiliaries are to leave Britain forever. But Aquila, a young legionnaire, chooses to stay behind, in order to join the fight to save his native land.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A spellbinding historical adventure." --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

About the Author

Rosemary Sutcliff is one of the most respected children's authors and in 1975 she was awarded the OBE --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (June 30, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374443025
• ISBN-13: 978-0374443023
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #897,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > History & Historical Fiction > Fiction > Ancient Civilizations

More About the Author

Rosemary Sutcliff wrote more than 40 historical novels for young adults-including The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, The Lantern Bearers, The Sword and the Circle, and Black Ships Before Troy-five adult novels, and several books of nonfiction.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keeping the light ..., October 9, 2000

By 

Toby Joyce - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lantern Bearers (Paperback)

Set in the brief Romano-Celtic twilight between the end of the Roman Empire and the creation of Anglo-Saxon Britain, this is the story of Aquila, a Roman soldier who chooses to stay among his adopted people. However, his world crashes to pieces when he and his sister are enslaved by the Saxons, their father slain and their farm destroyed. Aquila eventually escapes, but his sister, now married with a Saxon son, makes her own choice to stay with the invaders. Aquila is embittered and angry, and the remainder of the story is his redemption, helped by a kindly priest, his celtic wife from an arranged maarriage, and the Romano-British leader, Ambrosius, whose friend he becomes. I first read this book in my early teens, and it has stayed with me ever since. The themes of irreparable loss, vengance and redemption are quite adult, but not at such a level that adult or teen cannot appreciate them. Sutcliffe brilliantly captures the heroic twilight of the Dark Ages, and makes it utterly convincing. She also wrote a longer sequel called "Sword at Sunset" (use the out-of-print service) based on the Arthur legends - Aquila appears as a minor (older) character, Arthur appears as a young warrior Artos in "Lantern Bearers". Both books are highly recommended for adults, "The Lantern Bearers" for teens and adults.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bitter but magnificent, July 5, 2005

By 

Darkmind (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lantern Bearers (Paperback)

This is a book that I have to force myself to read, despite the fact that I love it dearly. The first time that I ever read it I was reduced to tears several times and even now, almost twenty years later, I still have to steel myself before dipping into it again.
This is a book about a lost world, the moments when the Roman Empire in the West flickered and died and the black cloak of the Dark Ages descended, almost swamping the light of civilisation. This is a book about the start of the fall of Roman Britain as it began to fall under the sway of the Saxon barbarians. This is a book about a small group of people who, as in the title, became lanternbearers, trying to keep alight the flame of civilisation as the darkness and chaos of the Dark Ages threatened to swamp Britain.
It is not a cheerful book for obvious reasons, and as such is more for older children who are starting to look into darker literature. It is a book that deals in issues such as anger, despair, revenge, fortitude and resolution. It is also a book about loss, about what Britain lost when the English came, and speaking as a Welshman it has more than once reduced me to tears.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fading but still fierce light, December 19, 2006

By 

DobbsRover (Westchester, Co., NYUSA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lantern Bearers. Rosemary Sutcliff (Eagle of the Ninth) (Paperback)

I brought this book with me a month ago for my first trip to London a month ago and reread it for likely the fourth time in 40 years under an oak tree in Hyde Park. Ranking along with Flowers for Adonis as one of Sutcliff's most bleak but sweeping books, The Lantern Bearers features a a classically great and complex hero who is a tough, thorny, quiet brooder caught between old and new worlds. As both the young romantic risking all to give his world one last blaze of hope and the bitter general fighting to hold back the enemy tide, Aquila is an engrossing study of a man trying to make sense of his duties to his families, friends, and ruler. The choices he is forced to make at the twilight of British-Roman England are heartbreaking but of a piece with the man and his world.

Arguably the most complete of Sutcliff's novels as she weaves the bits of recorded history into a tale that pulls together an important era for England, this a hard but rewarding novel. Full of great settings including the Roman lighthouse, Saxon war camp, British mountain stronghold, and various battlefields, the book also includes the dolphin ring that ties together a string of Sutcliff's novels from early Roman Britain to Norman England as she highlights the many peoples who made England.