- Paperback: 544 pages
- Publisher: Earthlight; paperback / softback edition (15 May 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0671037285
- ISBN-13: 978-0671037284
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 10.6 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 534,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Set in ancient Ireland and blending historical fiction and fantasy in a tale of the relationships and conflicts between paganism and Roman and Celtic Christianity, The Circle and The Cross has been described by Dr Colleen McCullough (author of The Thorn Birds) as "a sumptuous feast of storytelling". First published in Australia in 1995, where it was an instant bestseller, the book is both a first novel and the beginning of The Wanderers trilogy with The Song of the Earth and The Water of Life following. The multi-talented Caiseal Mór also creates his own Celtic-inspired art and has composed and performed successful albums of harp music as the "soundtracks" to each book! Mór certainly can tell a rattling adventure with the voice of a born storyteller, "Hear the wind wailing down a chimney on the darkest night of winter. Sit at the fire warming flesh that has blued in icy air. Rest eyes that ache, feet that are weary..." even if at times, writing Celtic fantasy from down-under, his vision does seem contrived and just a little too self-consciously poetic.
While Mór strives for balance with sympathetic individual Christian characters, his heart lies with the pagans, whom he romanticises enthusiastically. Beginning with Taliesin, Stephen Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle covers similar material with greater maturity and more excitement from a Christian perspective, while Melvin Bragg's Credo is an epic of love and religious war in 7th century Britain and is simply one of the most brilliant novels written in years.--Gary S Dalkin
Product Description
Mawn knows little of the world outside his village. But his island home is in turmoil - monks have made their way from Rome and set the people at war. The High-King and the Druid Council know they cannot survive the might of Rome so they must find a way to save their ancient magic and traditions.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a virgin reader of Irish legends, I discovered the Circle and the Cross. Happily, it has instilled an addiction for Caiseal Mor's enthralling tales that is yet to be quenched.
The Circle and the Cross is perhaps a bit deceptive in its opening. The monk Palladius and his band of Christian monks are not at all the main focus of the story, in its entirety. Yet the description of the characters and their surroundings is so good that it makes this book easy to become lost in.
I was pleasantly surprised when the tale takes an unexpected twist to.... Now that would be telling, hmm?
Throughout the whole novel there are many surprising directions to the plot. Its fast paced in parts, and balanced appropriately with some inspiring concepts and insights of human quirks.
Caiseal Mor's Circle and the Cross is filled with a realism and buoyancy that has made the Gaels and their magical Faerie folk my most prized choice when wanting to curl up with a good book.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What first attracted me to this book was of course the text on the back cover. It was written in this really rich descriptive language that just draws the reader in. The back cover was just a taster, the entire book was written in a similar style! Really beautiful language, the author clearly knows how to use the English language and shows it! Unfortunately though it does sometimes get a bit tiresome. The author is prone to long rambling prose and it just gets a bit much! But other than that it was a fairly good book, well written. I wouldn't call it a gripping book though. It revolves around an age old conflict (an old pagan religion coming up against Christianity for the first time) that seems impossible to solve! The characters struggle vainly on trying to beat the inevitable tide that seems about to wash away their country, religion and people (classic really). The druid rituals are particularly interesting. Some parts of this book tended to be a bit on the boring side but other parts more than made up for it! It does need some real perseverance however to get through those boring bits. There are also several good battles for those so inclined! All in all it makes for a very appealing read.
2 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book, as well as the immediate sequel, the Song of the Earth, in the hopes of reading some quality fantasy tinged with Celtic elements... There is, however, a difference between being able to write well and being able to write a good book. Let us see.
1st and foremost. Mor doesn't know what to do with his characters. All of them can either be described with a single adjective, or not at all. They are not personalities at all, merely collections of gestures and actions or monolithic representations of a single trait.
2nd. The action is so unimaginably slow. Here is mr. Caiseal Mor describing the end of an era, and all you have so far is a battle or two, a skirmish or two, pregnancies, attempted rape etc etc. The book is out of focus, truly. True, sometimes the scope widens to include scheming and long-term planning, but even that is all laid out for the reader, in a see-all-know-all manner that denies you the biggest thrill of seeing politics in the making: gradual understanding. Discovery.
That leaves us with poor characters riding out a mediocre plot. The two crowns are for the Celtic reference value, and Caiseal Mor's effort. But that doesn't make this a good book...
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