Song of the North (Dalriada, Book 3) [Paperback]

Jules Watson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2008

Roman England, 366 AD Minna, a Roman serving girl, loses family and home and is flung out into the brutal world to fend for herself. Desperate to reach her soldier brother at the northern frontier, she falls in with Cian, a tribeless youth with no loyalty to anyone but himself. A terrible mistake sees them thrust into the wilds of barbarian Scotland, a land in chaos. The Romans have sent scouts north from their frontier, seeking to subdue Scotland by any means possible. The dark Picts retaliate, raiding and pillaging Roman farms. And caught in the middle is Cahir, King of the Dalriadans in Scotland. Year by year he has watched his people fall under the Roman yoke, and wounded by shame, his power dwindles. At Cahir's fort, Cian and Minna must struggle to survive. Cian retreats into the pain of his hidden past, while Minna has an entirely unexpected path open before her. What are these visions and dreams of Scotland - full of battles and bloodshed - that plague her? Minna's visions reveal a destiny that she shares with the wounded king Cahir. Yet her journey to heal them both has far-reaching consequences.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Archeologist Watson concludes her popular Dalriada trilogy (after The Dawn Stag and The White Mare), with another richly imagined and action-packed saga. Watson's heroine, Minna, is a nursemaid for a Roman family living south of Hadrian's Wall that separates Roman Britannia from barbarian Alba (present-day Scotland). A half-caste with unnatural eyes and strange ways, Minna runs away after the death of her beloved grandmother. Traveling north where her brother serves with the legions, Minna is captured by slave traders and sold into slavery. Her new owner, Queen Maeve, the wife of King Cahir of Dalriada—one of the tribal kingdoms of Alba—assigns her to tutor royal children. King Cahir soon realizes that the new tutor is a 'sign of the prophecy' that it is his destiny to free Alba of Rome. King Cahir forges an alliance among the usually fractious northern tribes and marches south to confront the Romans. Standing in their way are the hated Roman legions, their despised Wall, Minna's split allegiance to her Roman roots and her captors, and treachery among Cahir's family and allies. Watson's work is as inventive, eloquent and exotic as ever; her fans will relish this rousing conclusion. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"the writing is smooth and pleasing. If you like your Celtic historical romance well written and constantly interesting, this book is for you." Historical Novels Review "She breaks new ground targeting Roman incursions north of the border, a road few historical novelists dare to tread" The Herald --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 17 and up
  
• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Overlook (January 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590200012
• ISBN-13: 978-1590200018
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,521,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jules's parents emigrated from England to Australia, where she was born. She grew up surrounded by beaches, desert, and flies - but dreamed of misty Celtic lands, mountains, snow, and blackberries. Always writing stories, she gained college degrees in archaeology and public relations. She also worked as a cocktail waitress, personal assistant, mine worker, archaeologist, PR consultant, and business writer. Most bizarre job: driving 50-ton tip trucks through a gold mine on the edge of the desert: very hot. Best job (before author): Digging up a Roman army fort in Germany: very cold.

Jules was inspired to write novels by the "Mists of Avalon", a bestselling book steeped in ancient Celtic spirituality, sword-fighting and of course, romance. Jules waited for someone to write more books with that mix..but no one did, so she wrote her own, based on her background in archaeology. The story - historical fiction with a hint of fantasy - tells the tale of a Scottish priestess and Irish prince fighting the invading Romans. It grew into The White Mare and The Dawn Stag; and a third book The Song of the North (The Boar Stone in UK) joined it to make The Dalriada Trilogy. The trilogy has enjoyed great success all over the world, and been translated into French, Spanish, Dutch, German and Portugese.

Jules's latest books are two re-tellings of ancient Irish myths. The first, The Swan Maiden, depicts the romantic tale of Deirdre of the Sorrows. The Raven Queen, due in 2010, tells the story of the ruthless warrior Queen Maeve.

After much travelling, Jules convinced her husband that she had to move to the misty highlands of Scotland or die. She now lives surrounded by snowy hills, hairy cows, heather - and blackberries.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Boar Stone/Song of North - same book, great read either way, March 30, 2008

By 

CCF (Atlatna, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Song of the North (Dalriada, Book 3) (Hardcover)

In case anyone else is confused about this as I was: The Boar Stone and Song of the North are the same book. Do not buy both of these books together as Amazon is suggesting, you will be getting to copies of the exact same book with different covers. I'm not sure why the author chose to publish it under two different titles, but there it is.
Which ever title you buy it under, this is an amazing read. Ms. Watson does it again, weaving a story that keeps you guessing until the end and creates characters who are amazing yet fully human. This one ties up the trilogy in unexpected ways, although it is set 300 years after the first two.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars (4.5 stars) You may not want to read this review if you haven't read "The White Mare" and "The Dawn Stag" first, November 25, 2007

By 

Lilly Flora "by Lilo Drandoff" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Boar Stone (Dalriada, Book 3) (Paperback)

When I first began reading "The Boar Stone" back in the early summer, I honestly didn't think I would be able to finish it. I'm not sure why, because I loved the first two books so much. Maybe it was because I hadn't been reading fiction set that far back in time, maybe it was because the novel has a bit of a slow start. Or maybe it was because I had no idea why out of the three books in a trilogy any author would set the first two in one era and the last book in a completely different time 300 years later.

The last one's probably it. I totally didn't get it and was more than a little annoyed that the books were even considered to be part of the same series. But then I read more and understood, like a lightbulb going on over my head. This book is about the completion of the destiny that Rhiann and Eremon started when they allied the tribes of Eastern Alba with the tribes of the west to try and drive out the Roman threat. At the time of this pact, an artifact was created to be a tangible reminder of the oath the people had sworn to fight together to drive out the Romans. This was called the Boar Stone and when, after the last traumatic, losing battle against the Romans in The Dawn Stag (The Dalriada Trilogy, Book 2) Rhiann delivered her and Eremon's first child too early and it died, the Boar Stone was buried with her because her parents had lost all hope.

In "The Boar Stone" (which does have a slow start) we meet Minna, who is about ¼ Celtic, from the Parissi tribe of north eastern Britannia and ¾ Roman and who flees the Roman Villa where she works after her grandmother dies and her brother joins the Roman army. On her to find her brother, who she knows is somewhere along Hadrian's Wall, she meets Cian, an acrobat who won't get too close or share his story. But he agrees to take her north because someone in Alba owes him money.

Once in Alba, Minna, who has always had "awake-dreams", begins to connect to the land in a way she never has before. Before she can explore it though and find her brother she and Cain are captured by savers and taken to Dunadd, the Alban (Scottish) seat of the Dalriadans. Here Minna is set to teach the daughters of the king and Cian becomes a stable boy. Minna learns the language too quickly, starts to dream of ancient battles and knows the herbs of the land without ever learning them. She soon connects strongly with the dispirited King of Dunadd, Cahir and the two of them strike out on a quest for something (they know not what) which will help them with the threat posed by the Romans, something calling to Minna in her dreams....

I was actually really surprised by the way this book played out. Pleasantly so. It's very imaginative and does bring the trilogy full circle. The only thing I didn't really like was Minna and Cahir's romance which seemed a little contrived and not very real or realistic.

Still, this is a good book which made me want to re-read the first two. I hope Jules Watson writes more soon.

Four point five stars.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, May 8, 2008

By 

A. Zivkovic "Read all night" (Winters, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Song of the North (Dalriada, Book 3) (Hardcover)

Jules Watson is a phenomenal writer and this third book in her Dalriada trilogy is fantastic. Just like The White Mare and The Dawn Stag, it is rich with ancient lore, intrigue, drama, love, suspense, and characters you absolutely fall in love with and miss as soon as you finish reading the book...so much so that when I finished reading the book, I turned right back to page 1 and started reading again. Actually, I did this with all three books in the trilogy. Jules Watson is a wonderful storyteller, and I can't wait for her next novel, as I re-read the Song of the North and savor every moment.