Light

On the book arena, thanks to Stephanie’s suggestion, I hopped on over to BookMooch, where I started to poke around. This led me to click on a link to LibraryThing, a catalogue and recommendation website, where I opened an account to try to put a dent into my list of owned books. As I entered my third author, Donna Gillespie, the search revealed that she had another book coming out!

Let me tell you a little about this author. She’s only ever written one book, The Light Bearer. She took twelve years to research and write that book. It was published in 1994. The sequel, Lady of the Light, is finally coming out this year in November. I am so excited. I mean, I can’t tell you how exciting this is.

The first book was a carefully researched historical fiction about the Roman Empire, during the time when it was conquering the Germanic tribes. The main character is the daughter of a chieftain, who takes the oath to become a shield maiden at the age of sixteen, going on to be forced to become a gladiatrix. I couldn’t help but imagine Sophitia during her fight scenes. 🙂

I picked it up while I was in college. At the time, all I wanted was the longest book I could get for my money because, like most people, I was a broke college student. It was 1024 pages (the copy I linked is 800 pages, but it’s in a different format thant the out of print format I had originally purchased) for about $7.50, so I got it. The richness of historical detail is incredible. It covers the emporers from Nero to Domitian, who reigned about 100 years before Marcus Aurelius (I know you watched Gladiator). Each scene is so real that it feels as though you could reach through the paper and touch the characters, feel their pain of loss, their urgency in battle, their dedication to honor and dignity. Their need for independence and freedom is palpable — the author clearly illustrates why the characters value these things over even individual survival, even if you don’t, and how that can impact society.

I think I read this book around 1996 or 1997. Since then, I’ve been waiting for the sequel.

Since it’s been twelve years since the last book was published, I expect this second book to be just as well researched. I have to go into a cave and read the first book over again before reading the second one.

Thanks, Stephanie! 🙂

P.S. Don’t be put off by the cheap-looking cover with a woman that looks supiciously like Neve Campbell.