- Hardcover: 464 pages
- Publisher: William Morrow & Company (Feb 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060012811
- ISBN-13: 978-0060012816
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.1 x 3.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,969,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Patrick: Son of Ireland
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Product Description
Review
‘An enjoyable, sweeping and often touching tale of bravery’
SFX
‘This is a rip-roaring adventure story; the pace rarely flags. There’s scheming, murder and betrayal aplenty’
Interzone
‘A vivid historical setting and a lengthy and satisfying plot’
Publishing News
Review
'An enjoyable, sweeping and often touching tale of bravery ' SFX 'This is a rip-roaring adventure story; the pace rarely flags. There's scheming, murder and betrayal aplenty' Interzone 'A vivid historical setting and a lengthy and satisfying plot' Publishing News
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CONCESSA LAVINIA LIVED in fear of thieves carrying off her spoons. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
CONCESSA LAVINIA LIVED in fear of thieves carrying off her spoons. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is another enjoyable novel from one of the most consistent authors in the fantasy/ historical fiction genre. Lawhead is the Original and still the Best when it comes to Celtic historical fiction, and Patrick doesn't disappoint. This book, unlike some of his others, is easy to get into, and while the middle is not as good as the beginning or end, the overall quality of the book deserves 5 stars.
Lawhead again shows himself to be ahead of his time, as there is a Hollywood film about Patrick coming out which will no doubt bring interest to Lawhead's work. If you want to read the best and most imaginative account of St. Patricks life, you need to start here.
Do yourself a favour, buy Patrick, find a comfortable place, turn off your phone, and immerse yourself in Lawhead's world, just remember that you have to sleep at some point!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Stephen Lawhead's take on Patrick is a bit of a curate's egg - good and bad in parts. It shares a number of themes with Lawhead's other works - like a good evocation of the celtic world; a rather mystical and almost pantheist view of religion, contrasted with the rigidity and authoriarianism of Roman Christianity; and a warts-and-all take on significant characters in history.
However, there are serious flaws which mar the book for me. There is a big gap between the final section of the book and the epilogue, in which Patrick finds the conviction he has been lacking throughout the text and lights his bonfire before that of the High King - providing the catalyst for the conversion of Ireland. But the story of how he gets to that point from his return to Ireland is absent. We are left with a fulfillment of the prophecy of the druids which feels a bit too pat - Prince Hamlet suddenly metamorphoses into Dan Dare.
There are other diappointments. Normally Lawhead has a real talent for evoking a sense of place, but this is almost wholly missing in the Irish sections, as previous reviewers have remarked, but also in the British sections. Patrick's homecoming journey north should be a triumphantly drawn, but it is lifeless and barely memorable.
There are also some elementary errors, like the information thast Sliamh Mis is in the North West of Ireland, when it is in the North East; this causes problems with the passages that deal with Succat's escape.
However, there are parts of the book which are very good, and it still manages to draw the reader in. The Roman and Gaulish sections are particuarly lively and well-depicted.
Overall the book manages to be greater than the sum of its parts, but only just. It gives the impression (as many of Lawhead's more recent books have done)of being poorly edited, and so reads like something written in haste. This is not the best of Lawhead's books, or even the best to begin with if you've never read him before. But for seasoned LAwhead fans, this is unlikely to put them off.
Good, but could so easily have been much better.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I feel a bit mean only giving this book three stars. The beginning and latter parts of the book are definately worth 4 or even 5 stars. However the book is let down by the Irish section, and an epilogue which I found a bit spiritually far fetched.
Lawhead has developed a powerful talent for evoking the past warts and all. This came across particularly in the Roman section of the book - which I guess was also the most well researched. He has also developed his skills as a story teller. Compared to the slow, almost languid start of Byzantium (a better book overall), Patrick starts like a rocket. Succat (Patrick) finding himself in Ireland by page 24.
The book's flaw is in the section concerning the druids. While most of the books's characters are well drawn, the evil druid Buinne is a caricature. While I think Lawhead is right to be sceptical of the established church of Patrick's day I found the concept of Christianity being spread through Ireland by a druid sect a bit far fetched. Is there any historical basis for this?
Overall, though I enjoyed this book. Worth reading.
Lawhead has developed a powerful talent for evoking the past warts and all. This came across particularly in the Roman section of the book - which I guess was also the most well researched. He has also developed his skills as a story teller. Compared to the slow, almost languid start of Byzantium (a better book overall), Patrick starts like a rocket. Succat (Patrick) finding himself in Ireland by page 24.
The book's flaw is in the section concerning the druids. While most of the books's characters are well drawn, the evil druid Buinne is a caricature. While I think Lawhead is right to be sceptical of the established church of Patrick's day I found the concept of Christianity being spread through Ireland by a druid sect a bit far fetched. Is there any historical basis for this?
Overall, though I enjoyed this book. Worth reading.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Very small print.
I just received the book. I haven't read it yet. I hope it's going to be as good as the other Lawhead books I've read and liked a lot. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Eleftheria Chaldeou
Not Great History but an Enjoyable Tale
his is another good work from Stephen Lawhead, in which he uses his usual blend of history and myth to spin an engaging tale of one of Ireland's patron saints. Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2009 by Sir Furboy
Patrick
I loved this book and I'd recommend it as the story is compelling and its a book you can't put down.
The only thing that I found confusing was the last chapter... Read more
The only thing that I found confusing was the last chapter... Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2009 by deborah r clarkson
A Spellbinding Read
Stephen R. Lawhead is an internationally acclaimed author of mythic history and imaginative fiction. Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2007 by J. Chippindale
A Spellbinding Read
Stephen R. Lawhead is an internationally acclaimed author of mythic history and imaginative fiction. Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2007 by J. Chippindale
A great insight into early Christianity and Britain.
Although I have given this this five stars it is not as good as Byzantium by Lawhead (just read both!) but i would still definately recommend it to anyone. Read more
Published on 2 April 2006 by Andrew Rossiter
Irelands apostle as you never known him before
In a typical Lawhead-setting, St Patrick becomes a man and not only a myth. The man who is known as the apostle of Ireland, celubrated 17 march every year all over the world with... Read more
Published on 14 April 2003 by "lindve"
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