Dreaming the Serpent Spear

by Manda Scott

Delta, 455 pp, $14.00

Dreaming the Serpent Spear is the final novel of the Boudica saga, which includes Dreaming the Hound, Dreaming the Bull, and Dreaming the Eagle.

It is 60 AD, 20 years after Rome’s invasion of Britannia. The Eceni tribe awaits Boudica to rise up and grasp the Serpent Spear of her ancestors and lead the battle against Rome. Her warrior spirit awakened, she gathers her forces; certain that the brutalization of her daughters must be paid for and her people freed. Her brother, Valarius, once lost to Rome is by her side, Her son is ready for battle, and her daughters, Graine, broken by Rome, and Cygfa, angry and strong, who holds the future of her family in her warrior hands, are ready. As Boudica leads the tribes to war, the spirits of the living and dead surround her as she approaches the crossroads of History.

This is an exceptional book, well-written, with characters you become involved with beyond a mere suspension of disbelief. The richness of her world, blending historical fact and fantasy, will draw you in becoming a moving tale of courage, passion and heroism that makes it hard to put down. I’ll be hunting the previous three as well. This a gotta-have-it to lovers of good fantasy, and history. - Pam Allan