Druid Sacrifice

by Nigel Tranter

Book Overview

Thanea, Christian daughter to the pagan King Loth, survives being set to sea in an oarless coracle as a druid sacrifice, and is taken in by St. Serf as the only woman in his monastery. In due course,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0340599847
• ISBN13: 9780340599846
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.3" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Druid Sacrifice

As a whole, I tend to be oriented more tworads science fiction then historical fiction. However, Nigel Tranter draws you in form teh first sentence and keeps you intrigued throughout the whole story. This is not light fiction! Princess Thanea, teh main character, suffers deeply for her faith and is not the only character to suffer the trials of a minority in this book. Violence is not the focus in any way but where it appears Tranter uses no euphuisms. It is touching to have a story of a strong woman portrayed in a time when woman were not supposed to be strong, and also to watch Mungo grow up, and see such insights into what time does to us all by using teh three primary characters of such different generations. The story also focuses well as a whole on the clashing religions of christianity and paganism, and on the state of mormaordoms in that time period. Tranter writes with an uncommon historical accuracy, but sacrifices nothing of his characters power in doing so. Definetly a book to read if you can handle the weight.

Reads Like Historical Fiction Done Right

Even though I am a fan of Trantner's work, I cannot say that I like everything he has done, equally well. Even though I am a fan of Arthurian literature and associated characters, I don't like everything written about them. Druid Sacrifice however, is an incredible read -- a top notch effort. The book, with great pace, portrays the land and the charcters in rich detail. The political-religous climate of that era is, for a fictional work, finely portrayed (the competition between Christian and non-Christian faiths). The villains are villainous, and the heroine heroic. However, be forewarned, that though the main character is female, this is a harsh world portrayed, and a tragedy told. She undergoes no shortage of cruelty in defence of her faith. Violence is not exploitive, but this isn't prissy fantasy either. I highly recommend you pick up Druid Princess, and discover Gawain's sister, Princess Thanea, and her son who would be known as St. Mungo. I was truely surprised at how absolutely caught up in this story I was.