Review by Booklist Review
In the Forest House of ancient Britain live the last remaining Druid priestesses, practicing ancient rituals and attempting to keep peace between their people and the Roman invaders. Primary to the struggle is Eilan, herself the lover of Gaius, a half-Celtic Roman commander. Eilan's twin (well, actually, aunt, but they look so much alike their own families mix them up) is Dieda, another priestess, beloved of Cynric, leader of the vengeful Ravens, who are half-Roman offspring of raped Celtic priestesses. Somehow, the two bloods and the two religions must meld in order to form the sacred background of Arthurian legend, so richly mined by Bradley in The Mists of Avalon. Getting that job done is sometimes tedious (Gaius is sent to Rome to observe the Senate, married to a Londinium girl for dynastic purposes, sent off to war against the Germans) and sometimes thrilling (Eilan goes into a deep trance to encounter the goddess, and Gaius becomes the Year King in sacred sex). The second half of the book introduces far too many subsidiary characters for the reader's comfort, yet on whole this is a compelling goddess tale that should draw quite an audience. (Reviewed Jan. 15, 1994)0670844543Pat Monaghan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ever since the Industrial Revolution, the authors assert, our society has required men not only to break away from their mothers, but also from those qualities and emotions associated with ``mother.'' Male offspring are expected to leave home, often before they are ready, and many mothers unconsciously distance their sons physically--by not hugging them, or by sending them away to school--or emotionally--by discouraging their ``feminine'' emotions or never becoming very close to them. Drawing on clinical case histories and images of men from popular and classic films and fiction, Silverstein, a therapist at the Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy in New York City, and freelance writer Rashbaum convincingly show how this forced gender split results in unhappy, unfulfilled men and perpetuates a patriarchal system that shortchanges men and women alike. Mothers of male offspring, stress the authors, can break through these emotional barriers, or avoid building them, by having the courage to discard cultural conventions of how to raise sons and instead become ``agents of their own values.'' (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Ten years after her success with The Mists of Avalon , Bradley returns with the tale of a young Druid destined to become the new high priestess, yet head over heels in love with a young Roman. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
YA-The setting of this historical/fantasy novel is Roman Briton. Eilan, a Druid girl who has been raised in the cult of the Goddess with the priestesses wielding the power, has fallen in love with a young Roman named Gaius. He is a half-Briton whose mother was of the Druid tribes and whose father is a powerful officer in the Roman legions. The clash between these two cultures and the eventual hope of unification through Eilan and Gaius's son is one of the book's many story lines. Bradley does a masterful job of creating the flavor of the period and the two diverse cultures, as well as strong female characters. With its elements of love story, intense emotions, and mysticism, Forest House will appeal to YAs.-Susan B. McFaden, Fairfax County Public Library, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Continuing her fictional tub-thumping on behalf of ancient goddess religions vanquished by male-dominated cults, erstwhile science-fiction author Bradley moves her campaign from the seventh- century Britain of her bestselling Mists of Avalon (1982) back to the first century, the time of Roman occupation. Here, a Druidic priestess-in-the-pod and a Roman officer fall in love--with the predictable miseries, rebellions and upheavals, intra-Druidical conflicts, and mystical communions. (Sometimes out of body, priestess-wise, is the way to go.) The handsome young Roman Gaius Marcellius (whose mother came from a native British tribe) literally stumbles into acquaintance with the family of the Druid Bendeigid, son of the Arch-Druid Ardanos when the Roman falls into a bear pit. He is rescued by Bendeigid's foster son (later, a firebrand avenger opposed to Druidic negotiation with the Romans) and Eilan, his daughter, the spitting image of her aunt Dieda (this will come in handy later). Eilan and Gaius fall in love, but marriage is immediately rejected by Druid and Roman fathers. Gaius will marry unhappily, while Eilan is taken into the ``Forest House'' of the priestess of the Great Goddess. After secretly giving birth to Gaius' son, Eilan will become High Priestess and learn for herself not only the dangerous and exhilarating possibilities of communion with the Goddess but the invasive influence of the Arch-Druid. Will Eilan find the Goddess' Way and her own? And what of that new religion, Christianity, which seems to attract Gaius' unhappy wife and a Forest House ward? An aging priestess, mentor of Eilan, narrates, tells the sad story of lovers' deaths, and takes the child Gawen (of mingled ancestry, presaging a new British people) to the vale of ``Afallon.'' With the sure touch of one at ease in sketching out mystic travels (``It can be very cold between the worlds''), Bradley writes with an unhurried pace and uncluttered staging. And there's a complete list of characters and places (then and now) and a map. Certain to circulate.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
