Lady of the Light Paperback – Bargain Price, November 7, 2006

From the moment I finished reading my all time favorite book "The Light Bearer" for the first time two years ago I have been waiting for the sequel to come out. I was desperate to find out what happened with Auriane and Marcus Julianus living together in a sort of no mans land between the roman lands and the Germanic territory. I wanted to know what happened to Decius, Auriane's first lover and father of her elder daughter, Avenahar, and if Avenahar ever forgave Auriane for essentially missing her early childhood because she was a captured prisoner of war in Rome. I also wanted to know about the baby Auriane was pregnant with at the end of the book, and a few other things.So, did this book answer my questions? Yes. Set about nine years after the events of the Light Bearer we are launched into a time of intense change for our main characters. Auriane is being pressured by her people to come back and help them defeat another encroaching tribe, and will not return, though she has been secretly sending them money to buy swords with for years. Additionally she is pressured to take up the spiritual leadership of the tribe, but refuses (as previously) to do so. Marcus Julianus is finding out how having engineered the assignation of an emperor (Domitian in the last book) affects the way the current emperor and those high in power view him. Avenahar, who is very proud of her Germanic heritage, just wants to run off to war and has no idea who her real father is-she thinks he's a tribesman. Arria, Auriane's and Marcus' daughter is wholly Roman and is almost nonexistent in this book, except for a very small side plot that I felt could have been much expanded upon. And of coursse, Decius comes back, and I loved him here. He's funny and sympathetic. Give him a chance.In the end five stars. Donna Gillespie is not capable of writing a bad sentence, let alone a bad book. This is a great continuation of the series and provides a picture of a very different, grown up cast of characters who have matured and evolved and changed with their new lives, and so this is a different kind of book. There are more small characters and more points of view in this book then in "The Light Bearer", where Auriane and Marcus were essentially the only view points we ever heard. That doesn't diminish the "super-sized" impact of Auriane (who we all know and love) in any way) while the Auriane of "lady of Light: is very different from the Auriane of "The Light Bearer" because she has chosen to guard her people from afar and her family from up close, but she as compelling a character as always and remains my favorite fictional person. I love this series, and all of its characters, more than I can say. These two books mean so much to me.Now lets all hope the third book takes less time to come out then the twelve years this one did-"Lady of Light" has so many cliffhangers in it that I just have to know how this all ends.As a side note-In "The Light bearer" it says that Auriane was born two years before Nero became Emperor, or AD 52. In this novel, which is set in 105 AD, Auriane is 40. This doesn't make sense. She should be 53. It also implies that Avenahar was born when Auriane was 27, which confused me a little because I don't remember that much time passing in "The Light Bearer" between when Auriane became a shield maiden at 16 and when she became pregnant. It really didn't seem like eleven years. But I think perhaps the author did some time condensing to fit in all the emperors' reigns she wanted in her book and left out some stuff. If you can figure the time thing out let me know.

Donna Gillespie has done a magnificent job of producing a truly worthy sequel to her bestseller "The Lightbearer".Set several years after the conclusion of her original, and set totally in Roman controlled "Germania Superior" (The Rhine), you have but to wait 10 pages for the action to fly thick and furious off the page. It is this action that see's the start of the unravelling of Aurianes peaceful, secure and stately family life with Marcus and their two daughters Avenehar and Arria.Donna uses the difficulty of balancing conflicting loyalties such as that owed to self, family or ones people of origin to drive the books plot unlike the original where plot was "revenge" driven. The love and loyalty Auriane feels towards Marcus is offset by her need to syphon monies from her Gallic estate bequeathed to her by him. Without her help to fund them, the Chattian people will lack the necessary weapons to fight off their tribal enemies, the Cherusci. A potentially life forfeiting risk as Roman Law forbids her tribes arming with iron weapons.This loyalty dilemma of family over culture is beautifully detailed in the two children. Avenehar (13)is truly her mothers child. As impetuous as she was at the same age. A liberation seeking Chattian dreamer. Arria (Marcus true child with Auriane at age 9) is the Roman culture loving "fathers" girl. Donna's portrayal of the two girls frictional relationship with each other and their parents is truly masterfull characterisation by a masterfull writer and will have any parent or person who had sibling rivalry smiling. They play a pivotal part in the story. For Auriane is duty bound to them and when her duplicity towards Marcus and Roman law closes in on her she cant simply and selfishly melt away into the Chattian forests as in book one.She is caught in a world where she is neither comfortable or wholly accepted within the provincial community as a Roman citizen , and wrestling with the belief she is not doing enough to save her own people from the northern menace; the fabric of her new life is finally shredded when someone else is accused of her own life forfeiting crime. Someone dearer to her than anyone outside family.The deep and superb characterisation and interactions of the main stories players, unpredictability of the plot and uncertainty of what outcome will prevail are all prevelant in this superb work. Couple this with the descriptive imagery of life for the peoples of the cold Rhine lands and provincial Roman settlements and its an absolute page turner of a book. The richness of Donna's writing is once again vividly evident. Its not as "epic" as book one which was a book that could stand alone but thats only because this book is designed to leave you deeply anticipating the third instalment. I know i am and I am sure you will be too.

I read this book right after reading Light Bearer and found it almost as good. In the middle I was losing interest and then Ms. Gillespie brought in the nine maidens with their string skirts and I was hooked again. Scholars say that the skirts were worn high on the waist and did not fall low enough to cover the private parts (not sure of the reason why) but this is a minor inaccuracy. I await book three when I am sure the family will be temporarily reunited after many adventures, of course. I am curious to see how Ms. Gillespie resolves their final living arrangements.

This book is one of the two best books I have ever read. Light bearer is the other. The amount of research Donna must have done is astounding. There is religion, philosophy, military knowledge, Roman history, even herbology and food. The world she creates is so alive. I couldn’t put it down.

I read the first book of this series many years ago, I thought about that book many times throughout the years but couldn't remember the author's name and the book was packed away. I was hoping to read more by her and was excited when I accidently ran across this one. Loved it. I love her style and the characters are interesting and the story line is facinating. Can't wait for next book in series.

I have been following for ten years or more if Donna Gillespie publishes a new book. Our bookshops knew nothing or could not provide me with this book. So I was very satisfied to find out that you have this on your list.I have just started to read this book, so I give only three points at this stage.

Could not believe how the threads intertwined together. Decius coming back to protest his daughter Avenahar.The infighting after the trial off the priestess Ramis and being carted of to Rome. The backstabing by tribesfrom the north of Auriane home village, because of Romen law forbidding her village to have arms made fromIron. The store flowed at such a pace I could not at times put the book down, hopefully I can wait for thethird part. Both books so far give a history lesson about the era.

not as good as i had hoped, took a while to get into the story

I had the hardcover German version of this Book, called "Mondfeuer" (Moon fire) and read it many times over the years, so it got tattered, ragged and torn. I loved the Story of Aurianes Youth as daughter of the Chief of the Chats in the German Village, how she is forced to decide her fathers fate, how she fell in Love with a captured roman soldier who taught her secretly to sword fight, and got pregnant without anyone knowing it. On the magic island proteccted by a mystic priestess she gives birth to her daughter Avenahar.In bitter cold winter time the whole Chat tribe flees to a secret location, barely able to feed their children, and as a traitor discovers their hiding place to the Romans, the tribe decides to fight their last battle with Auriane on her silver Arabian Stallion Berinhard leading them.Many die, she got captured, is transported to Rome and trained as a gladiatrix. Soon she wins the hearts of the unforgiving audience, and in one of the many masterly woven threads of the story she also wins the heart of a wealthy but goodnatured and philosophical roman senator.The story is written wonderfully and touched my heart.

I read this book many many years ago - decades ago - in its German traslation and loved it then. I love it still, spanning the bridge bridge between life and beliefs of the Germanic tribes and Roman society drowning in decadence.