Nancy Jardine
Author of The Beltane Choice
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Works by Nancy Jardine
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Reviews
Awards
Statistics
- Works
- 9
- Members
- 18
- Popularity
- #630,789
- Rating
- 4.5
- Reviews
- 2
- ISBNs
- 15
Here for those who want to see a love story develop, and then, as classic tropes have, barriers bar the way, Jardine provides a tale that will delight and give you a bang. Though getting there, you will encounter a great deal of tsuris leading to the very edge of a cliff, not once, but multiple times, so that when our couple finally finds happiness, the trouble has been well worth it.
That the tale suffers and does not receive a full five stars is in the surrounding tale of Rome, and in the dialogue. Our premodern hero and heroine have a few too many modern words in their vocabulary that are in the arsenal of skilled authors, but would ever fit in the mouths of ancient Celtic tribespeople. They take you out of the story wondering where a tribal warrior, or maiden would learn such a concept.
Jardine also dilutes the strength of the love story where it could have been stronger with the lack of urgency by the threat of the Romans. This is not a piece of ancient military fiction, for their are many of those now about with love stories added on. This is the reverse, a love story in the times of war. Constant warfare in the case of tribal disharmony, and the threat of the Romans. A threat made real surrounding all that occurs in Jardine's work. And therefore when the Romans are mentioned I begin to wonder why are the warriors not acting more expeditiously to deal with the threat. A legion is thousands of men and as the book shows nearly unstoppable, yet to not give the entire detail of our story away, our warriors recognize the threat but do not work hard enough to prepare for it. The pace and speed that they do work at seems more to do with ensuring that the calendar of events that the author has chosen is met, and this works for the true story of love and romance.
Putting that aside, and knowing that in history, the Celts, as so many others, have been consumed by time and culture, one can look at the big picture and see that this is a preparation of things to come. That there will be a dynasty of love and romance founded here in the defiant Celtic tales that Jardine has to spin for us. Tales that will entertain many when reading this first, or the others that follow.… (more)