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Title: The Firedrake by Cecelia Holland ISBN: 0-595-17582-1 Publisher: Backinprint.com Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Symbolic Comet
Comment: This is Cecelia Holland's first novel, maybe her best, and the first book of hers that I read, and it made me an instant fan of Ms Holland. It is now a classic of historical fiction. Her prose is economical, which may be almost unique among historical fiction writers who tend to be windy. This spare writing style lets the reader's imagination engage more fully. She has a knack for making horses seem incredibly true in her books, possibly from having been raised on a ranch or farm, this being a good artifice for making her fiction seem more real in eras when horses were commonplace in people's lives. One reviewer complained of a lack of conflict in THE FIREDRAKE. One wonders what type of conflict they want. Surely the Norman invasion of England was more than a dart-throwing contest at your corner pub. Our protagonist in THE FIREDRAKE, the knight-mercenary Laeghaire, alone in a world of chaos and anarchy in a time when most such men were bound to a leige lord seems another major issue of conflict: one man against the world. Don't we all feel like that sometimes? Of course, William the Bastard seeks to make Laeghaire his own man, another point of contention. I see Laeghaire as the Modern Man born in the wrong century. Myself, I rooted for Harold Godwinson and his grim shield wall on Senlac Ridge in the climatic battle scene of the book, but then I've always tended to support an honorable underdog. The firedrake was a comet and THE FIREDRAKE is a symbolic comet, announcing Ms Holland's arrival as argueably our foremost writer of historical fiction.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Remarkable Feat
Comment: This was Cecelia Holland's first book, published just after she finished college. As the first work of an extraordinary and very young writer, The Firedrake is a remarkable feat, all the more so for having been written in the days when historical fiction was inevitably plodding, overly-detailed, full of unreal characters and endless, pointless descriptions, and way too long. Ms. Holland's cold and brutal spareness of language, her unblinking depictions of life as it had to have been lived by actual people, her fully-realized men and women, blew a bright, cold blast of reality onto the dull, smoking coals of historical fiction (sorry! couldn't resist such a terrible metaphor!), and the genre has never been the same. For lovers of historical fiction who have grown up since the 60's, you have, first and foremost, Cecelia Holland to thank for an incredible transformation that MADE the genre you love...If you're not sure you believe me, try reading Mary Renault!
The Firedrake is not a perfect book. It was and still is, however, a strikingly original one, and one well worth the time spent to read and appreciate it. It gets 5 stars with pleasure, not for perfection but for its astonishing originality.
Rating: 4
Summary: Firedrake
Comment: Cecilia Holland is one of my very favorite authors; I think I know _Great Maria_ by heart. That being said, her books are different. Often the main character dies. In one book, the first character died in the middle of the book, and I was left wondering who to care about. She writes passionately and accurately about historical times; she is especially passionate about California's history. If you want a peek into another era, she'll give it to you--and other eras may not always have an ending. I still read her books whenever I can. _The Angel and the Sword_ was great, too.
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Title: The Kings in Winter by Cecelia Holland ISBN: 031286888X Publisher: Forge Pub. Date: 01 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Until the Sun Falls by Cecelia Holland, Holland Cecelia ISBN: 0595007996 Publisher: Backinprint.com Pub. Date: 01 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
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Title: The Earl by Cecelia Holland ISBN: 0671813951 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: September, 1979 List Price(USD): $2.50 |
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Title: City of God: A novel of the Borgias by Cecelia Holland ISBN: 039441277X Publisher: Knopf ; distributed by Random House Pub. Date: 1979 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: The Soul Thief by Cecelia Holland ISBN: 0312848854 Publisher: Forge Pub. Date: 01 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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