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    Dreaming the Eagle
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    Dreaming the Eagle
    Unavailable
    Dreaming the Eagle
    Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

    Dreaming the Eagle

    Written by Manda Scott

    Narrated by Clare Higgins

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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.


    From the Trade Paperback edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 27, 2003
    ISBN9780739303948
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Dreaming the Eagle

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    • 3/5
      The historical heroine Boudica is one who has always fascinated me: warrior woman, leader of the legendary Eceni, fierce defender of her homeland, nemesis of the might of Rome. So it was with relish I picked up the first of a series of novels about Boudica by British author, Manda Scott. I was not disappointed.Scott's realization of Boudica and her development as the leader of her people is a well-researched, richly detailed historical novel without the usual descent into romantic saccharine usually accompanying the work of many female historical fiction writers. This is a gritty portrayal, not unlike the work of Bernard Cornwell. There are, of course, artistic liberties which have been taken, but most of them done with sensitivity to the integrity of historical accuracy. If you love realistic historical fiction I highly recommend plunging into Dreaming the Eagle, by Manda Scott. Very much look forward to reading the next in the series.
    • 3/5
      A good friend recommended this to me and it was a pretty good read. I'll definitely look for the rest of the books in the trilogy.I was familiar with the story of Boudicca from Ravens of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson (another excellent read that tells the story from a slightly different point of view). She was an amazing woman with an epic, tragic story and it's a nice change to read historical fiction with a strong woman at its center.Ms. Scott does a good job of creating the reality of Celtic tribal life and has made an excellent start in this book of bringing all of the characters onto the stage and beginning to flesh out their relationships and their roles in the coming tale. My one complaint about this book was that she spent way too much time dealing with the story of the Romans, in particular of Caligula (who would be dead before the Romans invaded Britain again). A lot of this portion of the book felt like a distracting filler and this sense was heightened for me when she returned to the Celts with lots of change and next to no explanation of how we got there. To set our heroine up as the Warrior of Mona is an interesting premise. I was disappointed that the author didn't spend much time actually fleshing out Mona, its society, and people.Overall, though, this was an enjoyable read. I'll be getting the next one in the series next time I go to the library.
    • 4/5
      Listened via Audible, loved the staging, the reading and the sound effects. Compelling story telling with clearly drawn characters who develop through the challenges they face. Highly recommended. Have started book 2.
    • 5/5
      Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle is the fantastic story of Boudica, warrior queen of the Iceni tribe (or Eceni, according to Manda Scott). This novel is the first in a series, and covers Boudica’s (called Breaca) early years, from the age of eight to 21, when she faced the Romans in battle. Other major characters in the novel are Ban, who later goes to the Continent and experiences a sort of rebirth as a Roman citizen; and Caradoc (Caractatus), leader of the Catuvellauni, with whom Breaca has a tentative alliance.You could say this book is divided into two parts, with the first half devoted to the struggle between the Iceni and Catuvellauni, and the second to the struggle between the native Britons and the Romans.It must be very tough to write a novel about a people whose culture was oral and not written. The Romans wrote about Boudica, but their opinions were hardly objective. Not much is known about Boudica, and even less is known about her childhood, so a lot of this novel is, as the author admits in her note at the end, fictional. But Scott does a fantastic job with what little information she does have, and her characters seem real and believable. Her information about the Romans is a little more complete, because they, of course, left written records. The historian Dio Cassius described Breaca as having flaming red hair, and boy, does Manda Scott run with that.I took a real chance when buying this book, because I’d never even heard of the author before and didn’t know if I’d like a 700-page novel about Roman Britain. And, at first I was a little wary of the “dreaming” concept that drives the book. But I was pleasantly surprised. The dreaming isn’t over-the-top, and the animal imagery is simply amazing. The story takes a little while to gather momentum, but reading through the first 50 pages or so yields a really rich, rewarding reading experience. This is a very strong start to what promises to be a very engaging series.