≫ [PDF] Island of Ghosts A Novel of Roman Britain Gillian Bradshaw 9780812545142 Books

Island of Ghosts A Novel of Roman Britain Gillian Bradshaw 9780812545142 Books

Download As PDF : Island of Ghosts A Novel of Roman Britain Gillian Bradshaw 9780812545142 Books

Island of Ghosts A Novel of Roman Britain Gillian Bradshaw 9780812545142 Books

First, I am sensitive to price, so I bought the book on deep discount.

In the beginning of the book, the characterizations felt a little off. Couldn't put my finger on it. The Barbarian Warrior Prince, the main character, seemed to be too civilized. The Roman commanders seemed to be a little too easily manipulated. Portions of the storyline were all royal court intrigue; plots and spies, and such. Then the story got a bit more interesting, until the last third of the book when I realized it was a Harlequin Romance book without the heaving bosoms and bodice ripping. A book for girls, not for boys. It wasn't wasted time nor money, so there's that.


Tags : Island of Ghosts: A Novel of Roman Britain [Gillian Bradshaw] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <div>Ariantes is a Sarmatian, a barbarian warrior-prince, uprooted from his home and customs and thrust into the honorless lands of the Romans. The victims of a wartime pact struck with the emperor Marcus Aurelius to ensure the future of Sarmatia,Gillian Bradshaw,Island of Ghosts: A Novel of Roman Britain,Tor Books,0812545141,AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION,FICTION Historical General,Fiction,Fiction - Historical,Fiction Historical,Fiction-Historical,General Adult,Historical - General,Historical fiction,MASS MARKET

Island of Ghosts A Novel of Roman Britain Gillian Bradshaw 9780812545142 Books Reviews

Gillian Bradshaw is one of my all-time favorite writers. This is my favorite of her books (although Wolf Hunt is a close runner-up). Something to keep in mind, is that if you prefer historical fiction 'gritty', Gillian Bradshaw is probably not for you. I've always been frustrated by historical fiction in which motivations are completely alien to a modern reader. I realize customs and cultures shift with time, but I don't believe people now are fundamentally different from people at any other time in history. Gillian Bradshaw's books feature likable characters who I enjoy spending time with, outstanding historical detail, and fast-paced well-crafted plots.

The Roman conquered Britain in Island of Ghosts is far from gentle, but its characters are educated, compassionate, and have a sense of humor. They are easy to root for, without feeling anachronistic. Ariantes, the protagonist, does border on being a little too good to be true, but he's still this side of believable. It helps that his special genius for bureaucracy is such an unromantic (but profoundly useful!) gift. There are several well developed side-characters who are also very likeable (especially the bitter Roman solider, Facilis), and there are a handful of very funny scenes, and subtly hilarious one-liners. The conclusion is satisfying, if a little sudden. I will forever hope for a sequel focusing on Eukairios after his manumission, though I doubt it's likely to happen.

That said, the kindle edition is badly mangled. Lots of typos, a few misplaced passages. Read the book anyway
Note If this says the review is for the mass market, it's wrong; I read the version.

This is a wonderful read! Bradshaw does a fantastic job of setting the scene and keeping all the characters true to their setting. I tell people this books is written in first person, barbarian. Ariantes is a prince among his own people, but in his culture, even a prince lives in a wagon and roams the countryside, raiding for wealth and glory. The Sarmations were warlike and even took scalps as trophies, and yet Bradshaw makes Ariantes into a sympathetic character, a decent, honorable man.

In addition to a great protagonist, this book has it all conflict, humor, action, battle scenes, and a love story. The conflict is built-in. The Romans have forced several thousand Samartians to leave Asia Minor (I think it was Asia Minor) and travel to Roman-occupied Britain. The Samartians were fierce, well trained fighters who fought on horseback, and the Romans may have looked down on them as barbarians (some Samartians wore their scalp trophies on their coats) but they respected their skill. Samartians customs were different enough from Roman that not a day goes by that doesn't have some new problem crop up that Ariantes must solve. I enjoyed every "page."

Which makes it a real shame that the formatting in the copy is such crap! There were typos, stray characters, an excess paragraph and words missing. It looked liked they had scanned the paper copy with OCR and then not bothered to proof the results. Sometimes Ariantes is spelled Aliantes! For crying out loud! This is a crime. The book appears to be out of print so you have the choice of way overpaying for a print copy or paying a more than reasonable price for a crap copy. Not good!

I loved this book, but I hated the ebook formatting. Ariantes/Aliantes deserves better, and so goes Gillian Bradshaw.
First, I am sensitive to price, so I bought the book on deep discount.

In the beginning of the book, the characterizations felt a little off. Couldn't put my finger on it. The Barbarian Warrior Prince, the main character, seemed to be too civilized. The Roman commanders seemed to be a little too easily manipulated. Portions of the storyline were all royal court intrigue; plots and spies, and such. Then the story got a bit more interesting, until the last third of the book when I realized it was a Harlequin Romance book without the heaving bosoms and bodice ripping. A book for girls, not for boys. It wasn't wasted time nor money, so there's that.